Sometimes we have to paint a picture for our clients to fully understand the Method. An image is powerful and playful. It makes the exercise come to life and demands a higher quality of precision. Use these cues once your client has become more autonomous in their practice. This will improve your class flow as well as promote creative minds in your students.
- Tall Spine/Flat Back:
- Fit yourself into a toaster slot
- Lengthen like a skinny pencil/banana
- Sandwich yourself in between two sheets of glass
- Fit yourself in a plaster cast
- Wear a corset...lace your corset together
- Pulling Straps/Extension/Long Stretch:
- Feel like a torpedo shooting through the water
- Glide on the surfboard through the water
- Feel like an archer's bow...rise up
- Visualize a fountain of water starting at the sternum and shooting up the crown of the head
- Side Bending/Mermaid:
- Paint a rainbow/arc with your bar/head
- Trace a large barrel
- Move like windshield wipers
- Rolling:
- Rock like a wheel
- Feel like someone is punching you in the gut
- Massage the spine into the mat
- Standing Roll Down:
- Try not to impale yourself on the picket fence/post
- Peel off like wallpaper/tape
- Pull yourself up by a golden cord through the crown of the head
- C-curve/Spine Stretch Forward:
- Round over the hot beach ball
- Roll out the dough in the middle of your spine
- Feel like someone is hugging you from behind
- Articulation/Roll Up/Bridge:
- Move like a strand of pearls/bike chain
- Place each bone of the mat like railroad tracks
- Melt like warm chocolate into the mat
Pilates is amazing!
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