Why is good posture so important to your well-being, stature and image?
Settling into a post-pandemic return to life? Travel, long days in the office, running from meeting to meeting. The last thing you are thinking about is your posture- even your health in general. At Endurance, we use Pilates to help our students engage, train and become aware, consciously and unconsciously, of the muscles involved in attaining a perfect upright posture.
Imagine walking into a room, filled with your colleagues and customers. You are tall, crown of your head reaching to the ceiling, shoulders back, chest open, tummy flat and glutes engaged to keep it all together. You are strong, in control of your body and pristine in your appearance, exuding confidence and expertise before saying a word. People smile at you, are immediately attracted to your grace and poise. You are already ahead of the game- in control of the room.
Now imagine the same scenario, you are stumbling in, shoulders slumped, little pooch in the belly showing over the top of your trousers or your pencil skirt, your head and neck straining forward. People turn away so as not to embarrass you by watching you shuffle toward your seat at the head of the table. You now need a little corrective, perhaps creative action to gain control of the room- your own meeting.
Enter Pilates. Pilates is a decades old exercise regimen emphasizing the muscles of the core. Now, the core encompasses much more than just the abdominals, the most superficial (in many ways!) muscles of the body. That six pack? Means nothing if you aren’t able to hold yourself in proper alignment. Joseph Pilates created his regimen to teach students how to use their mind to control their muscles. He wanted folks to build a suit of armor from within. Joe Pilates was a boxer, he wanted you to learn how to take a punch- using that muscle memory as you are simply walking down the street!
Pilates retrains the neuromuscular connections in your body to ensure proper and efficient movement patterns. Instead of using your shoulders or hip flexors to account for a weakness in the core, we will train the supporting muscles in your upper back, back of legs and deep core muscles to work all the time. Standing up is hard work! We will also help to stack the bones and joints in the strongest position possible, creating a strong frame to wrap all of the muscles around. Pilates will help with all you do, whether it is your yoga practice, your eighth Zoom meeting of the day or your first triathlon, we want you to be unconsciously competent at standing strong so you can move better. According to Romana Kryzanowska, the woman chosen by Joe to carry on his work, “Pilates is stretch with strength and control- the control portion being the most important”!
Joseph Pilates called his method Contrology. We work hard to put the pieces into place. At Endurance, we try to give some simple and quick hints that you can incorporate into your daily lives to become more aware of your body, where it is standing in space and how you can easily put things into place- even if it is just for a little while. We can help with getting that perfect posture “in endurance” pun intended! Enjoy our video with a quick hint- all you need is a wall!
Endurance Pilates and Yoga 