Ladies and gentlemen.
The dictionary definition of balance is.....an even distribution of weight enabling a person or thing to remain upright or steady, or..... a situation in which different elements are in equal proportion.
I am a Pilates instructor and my job is to restore balance.
Imagine a coat hanger and that coat hanger is your skeleton. Perfectly balanced.
Imagine a heavy overcoat, made up of muscles connected by tendons. Perfectly balanced. Put this overcoat onto the coat hanger and the combination is no short of miraculous and ingenious balance.
Where there is no gravity there is no stress.
Standing upright with your head balancing on your neck perpendicular to the shoulders which are directly over the hips and the feet. The feet are planted with equal pressure on the triangle of "big toe to small toe to heel". No Gravity, No Stress.
Your pelvis acts as your anchor which is central to your stability.
The pelvis is like a cage. Around that cage we have a weight belt. This weight belt is connected to the pelvis and the diaphragm. When breathing, on inhale we expand our lungs. On exhale the lungs empty and tug on the weight belt, the transverse abdominal muscle, activating it.
Deep breathing just on it's own will improve the lumber vitality.
The spine is a natural and gentle 's' curve consisting of 7 neck vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae, 5 lumbar vertebrae, a sacrum and a coccyx.
If you lie on your back the pelvis is central and acts as the fulcrum. Imagine a huge bolt with two equal levers made of steel attached. If one or both of the levers lifts then there is pressure on the fulcrum. The longer the levers and the heavier, the stronger the fulcrum has to be.
Your pelvis is that fulcrum and your upper body and the lower body are the levers.
Then we're thrown a curve ball.
We have a dominant side.
We develop habits over time which in turn create well worn brain paths to automatic movement.
Carrying a handbag over one particular shoulder for years will create in itself a few problems. Turning toward you handbag 20 times per day creates a rotation that number of times, which creates stronger muscles in that direction. How we drive our cars, turning a foot in a habitual manner or resting a leg in an automatic vehicle will create a stretch on that particular leg and work on the other.
How we sit and where you turn to your computer screen are all habitual movements which create strength in muscles in a certain position or direction.
Slowly we tip the scales and put more and more pressure on the body and often the lower back and pelvis. Eventually there's a breaking point at which the body doesn't cope with the imbalance and results in a torn muscle, ligament or debilitating pain.
Now you have 2 options. One is to go to a surgeon who'll cut the muscular coat to fit the coat hanger and even worse, adjust the coat hanger to fit the imbalance of the overcoat.
Your second option is to practice pilates.
The pilates instructor will take you and squeeze you in the middle like a closed toothpaste tube.
You will lengthen, taking the pressure off your lumbar spine and strengthen the muscles surrounding the pelvis, to cope with the movement of your upper and lower body. The muscular overcoat can be strengthened and stretched into balance over time. Your posture will improve.
Pilates is a mindful practice and purposeful movement is essential.
Correcting and creating new brain paths to new ways of moving.
Retraining muscles, creating new habits aiming at an upright posture.
Become aware of how you walk, how you sit and how you stand.
Balance is good.
Balance is attainable.
Balance is perfect.
Mr. Toastmaster.
