In front of you is the third (belated) edition of Teaser Thursday! Once again, I was practicing by myself, squeezing in a workout between commitments. Therefore, I had to use the mirror to take a picture of myself! It was a trick doing the exercise while positioning the phone camera with one of my hands, trying to maintain good form. After Marcelo's speciality devices workshop, I've been using the Magic Circle to create resistance and even more deeply condition the powerhouse.
The picture came out kinda spooky from all the mirrors next to one another. Early Halloween.
I've been improving my form after advice from my mentor and further practice everyday. Have a good night! Also, here's a belated photo of my shenanigans in Central Park on one of my days off.
Tease On,
Ian
This past Saturday, I made the trek into Westchester to my studio to observe a workshop on speciality Pilates devices with second generation instructor extraordinaire, Marcelo. Because of time constraints, the two and a half hour course was focused mainly on the magic circle (MC) and foot corrector (FC).
Many Pilates students and teachers have some knowledge of basic MC exercises, but Marcelo delved deeply into Joseph Pilates and Romana Kryzanowska's teachings in order to present some extremely helpful and extremely challenging workouts!
Some highlights: Marcelo introduced how to incorporate the MC into the Mat in order to challenge the existing intermediate/advanced workout. This includes resistance training on the hundred, roll up, roll over, double leg stretch, open leg rocker, corkscrew, neck pull, jack knife, side kicks, teaser 1-3 and hip circles. Marcelo stressed the importance of integrating the power house with the MC workouts in order to achieve the best results and add to deep conditioning of the Power House and upper and lower extremities.
The workouts alternated between putting the magic circle between the ankles, knees and hands--creating different resistance training in different areas.
Of course when it came time for the apprentices to volunteer, I just haaaad to do the teaser, which proved to be insanely difficult with the MC between my legs. Definitey something to work on!
Next, Marcelo introduced the MC when sitting and standing, using the arms and legs to demonstrate dance and gymnastics based positions to once again engage the powerhouse and strengthen the legs and arms. Even just doing these exercises slowly with the rest of the apprentices proved to be one of the hardest workouts I had done in a while.
On to foot corrector highlights. The focus here is on strength and placement of the feet and ultimately, balance.
Using the two by four to demonstrate, Marcelo called on one of the apprentices that is a dancer to show the strength and balance required to do traditional wall exercises with no stability and with uneven or elevated surfaces.
All in all the day proved to be very educational and exciting. I can't wait to integrate these exercises later on in my instructor career in order to mix up practice and help to challenge myself and my students.
Also, Simona was a peach and brought in an amazing Italian spread for people taking the workshop.
Time and money well spent. Below is a photo of the food spread :)
Tease On! (Even with the magic circle)
Ian
Taking a break from my daily Pilates ritual, I went into Manhattan to take a Balinese dance class I had signed up for the week prior. I've been studying Indonesian and South/Southeast Asian performance and I wanted to put my research to the test!
We learned a small routine for traditional male and female dances. The instructor is an industry professional whose directions were clear and concise. It helps me to take classes in other disciplines I have no knowledge of, in order to learn how to be a better Pilates instructor for those who have no knowledge of Pilates when they come to take a class from me for the first time.
I was happy that I was able to use my experience with movement to keep on rhythm and learn the positions, but it was still quite difficult to assemble each posture with the appropriate transition and maintain a good form.
**Something else interesting about the discipline of Balinese dance is that it requires different bodily strength and flexibility than western dance. In Bali, talented dancers can move their limbs, eyes, wrists and arms with incredible precision, however, dancers (my teacher in particular) do not have the flexibility to touch their toes, unlike most ballerinas and other classically trained western dancers, yogis and Pilates students, who can do so with relative ease.
All in all, I'm excited to continue my Balinese dance training and learn more about the culture and the way in which the performance relates to the body and of course, Pilates method!
My shoes and clothes are wet from the pouring rain as I waited for construction workers to assemble ramps for us to get on the train. Feet are tired from running to the studio to get there on time, but who cares--I had a bad ass time :)
Tease on,
Ian
