Another Great testimony

When I first started teaching Pilates- I thought, no brainer I will be working with dancers and it will be fun! a piece of cake... yea right, not saying that my job it tough, but it has brought me to a new levels with working with a TON of different type of people... and it has brought me out of the dance world shell.... because being a dancer... you are in your own world :)

Last year I had the honor and blessing to work at a Physical Therapy clinic where they had Pilates. I had been wanting to work there for years, sent my resume in and waited...and waited... Finally, one day I got a call. The timing, so I thought wasn't perfect.... but it ended up being a saving grace and PERFECT TIMING. I had just moved my studio into where I am now, the economy fell apart and I lost 5 clients in a matter of 3 mos. So, I needed the job. This place introduced me to a new level of Pilates, working with many different kinds of injuries and People. During my time there, I had the pleasure to met and train Laura. She was kind enough to follow me to my studio and since, been taking the Pilates Mat Class. Her growth is amazing and I am truly, truly honored to have such nice words from her. Here is Laura and her story:

I began learning Pilates with Heidi several months after an above-the-knee amputation of my right leg, and it has been great for my recovery. Heidi is an outstanding instructor -- patient, encouraging, and wonderful at explaining exactly how to move my body. She devised adaptations of some exercises that enabled me to work around my limitations, so I never felt left out as the class went through its routines. The core strength I've gained has made all the difference in learning to use my leg prosthesis, and I'm surprised by how much I enjoy doing Pilates. I highly recommend Heidi as a Pilates instructor for people recovering from illnesses, injuries, or surgeries for whom increased core strength would be beneficial (with approval of their doctors, of course). --Laura Ellingson

Thank You Laura, you are an inspiration to so many people. New heights are waiting for you in the future ... Can't wait to witness them for you :)

Happy Hour+ Pilates= -beer gut

I was asked just some time ago- how does Happy Hour and Pilates go together? Well, what is Happy Hour....??? Happy hour is either you or you and a friend going to a bar/place BEFORE or AFTER the rush of customers. What do you get from going at this "Happy Hour" ..... a DISCOUNT. Yes, you've got it. Here at Pilates Body we have a Happy Hour the difference between our Happy Hour vs. the other place.... you walk away- 1) not dizzy 2) not bloated 3) minus calories 4) Toned and stretched 5) and refreshed. Don't try to tell me you've never walked back into work red cheeked before.... now you can walk back into work with red cheeks and a smaller waist line. ;) When is Pilates Body's Happy Hour? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays during the 1, 2, or 3 o'clock time. You are getting 20% off the original price... NOW that is a steal.

I know what you might be thinking... oh I could NEVER leave the office...or I just don't have the time..... the list goes on for excuses... you could think up a bunch I know- but let me challenge you with this workout for thought-

Do you go and surf the web? For how long? Do you ever take a little longer for lunch? Do you ever go and chit chat with a co-worker? Do you leave work early? .... Well, add up that time... I am sure it would come to about 1hr to 1hr and a half. If you are biting your nails about your boss- go talk to him/her, what is One time a week going to do, other than bring you closer to better health. The bottom line is we all need to think about this - Who lives in our body? Is your boss going to take your neck tension away? Is your boss going to fix your hunched over posture? I think NOT. You will be dealing and living with the outcome of your lack of taking care of body. Only ONE person can stand up for themselves... only ONE person can get off there butt and exercises.. one ONE person can CARE about themselves... who is it? YOU. May you find the well power to start becoming a healthier you during a HAPPY HOUR :)

You can always fix it :)

Last week Noah had his first BIG PERFORMANCE! He was in the Apostles Lutheran Fall "Moosical" he was a funky Chicken . Cutest thing EVER!!! granted I am his mom, so I with out a doubt in my mind he was the BEST :) I couldn't help, but only to watch him...proud mama, just call me. I took a backstage for the first time in the whole preparation of it all. I made his costume, which was: sewing feathers round the neck line and around the wrist of a white shirt. Finding fuzzy orange socks, and sewing a red glove on top of a hat, a neckless and some cool sunglasses....

Then I was asked to bring cookies. Since I had chocolate chips I thought no- brainer I can just do these up. Now, to be honest- call me no fun, but in general we hardly ever have candy, sweets, or cookies in my house....except if I'm pregnant- then it's a different story. These days it's been OREOS. I think Noah is in heaven and it seems to be a tie between him and I on who has been eating the most. LOL So, I wanted to dig deep into my domestic self and I was going to make these cookies. I think it has been about year maybe two since I've made any cookies. I know how sad- well, go to my mom's house you can find them there. :) Noah was soo excited and could not wait to make these cookies so we start it up, and he was such a great help. Finally, the batter was all mixed and the chocolate chip were in-

I have to admit at this point I was excited too :) We pop them in the oven they were cookin' - about 6 minutes into the cooking I look into the oven.... My eyes got wide, my mouth dropped open... and I started laughing so hard!!!! I missed a cup of flower- they were flat as pancakes- Noah came running back into the Kitchen, "mom what happened!?" his next question, " Can I try it." Oddly enough they didn't taste that bad- probably due to the sugar, but they had no chewiness to them
So, who else do I call - my mom- 3/4 of a cup of flower later, the batter was much better and this was then end result- Which would rather eat? (ps no worries I did wash the batter spoons) LOL. So see, whatever mistake happens you can always find a way to fix it ;) Have a great week-treat yourself to a cookie.. I know I will.

Clutter, Clutter go away.....

At times I wish I were Samantha from Bewitched .... I would wiggle my nose and everything would be in it's place, whatever I have to do would be done and I would be able to sit back and distress from knowing all I had to was... WIGGLE MY NOSE. Yeah, well I live in real life and if it's going to get done I have got to get to work! Peter came home the other night and he says to me, "I read today on the Yahoo page that if you aren't getting good sleep, one of the suggestions was to declutter...." At that point I wanted to strangle the man, but I composed myself turned around and just rolled my eyes. I said back to him, "yea well it takes two to declutter and are you saying that this is all my stuff!?" I totally got offended, and my poor husband was just sharing what he read that day. I know you know, during the week things just get piled and piled up, soon you look at your table and it's covered with... EVERYTHING. I do have to agree with what Peter read, I do feel better when the clutter is gone, so oddly enough I found this article talking about just that- but for work. So Yesterday, I went into our home office and cleared up the desk and it felt GOOD, so I went to the studio and did it there too- and it felt GOOD! No I don't have a before and after pictures, because it was totally on a whim. I JUST DID IT. So hoping these tips help you here is some 411.

Being that you are most likely at work for 40 hours a week, the office plays a huge role in your health. High stress jobs can take on a toll for a women, just as much as smoking. So, which do you think would be better your desk looking like this? ( thank you Internet)

OR

I think we all agree that a Clear desk is like an oasis in the mind. Feel a lack of control and chaos in the first picture? I know that is how I feel when see crap everywhere on my desk. When you have a clear desk you are taking back control and your stress level has started to lower.

When you think of the rich and famous.... do you think they care about us? Sure there are those stars you may think "what are they thinking" but let's look at Donald Trump.... He may not have the best hair do and have a weird thing going on with his month while he talks, but the man has got to be doing something right. What is it? He doesn't give a crap about what you or I think of his hair or that month thing- As a women I know I take too much personally, take for example what my hubby said about the decluttering. I automatically thought..."OMG! he is saying this is MY CLUTTER!" But when I re- thought about it- maybe I can't deal with all of it, I can dismiss that "personal feeling" and just put the crap away. Think of criticism like an obstacle to overcome, get over yourself, and keep moving forward, take it them like an inconvenience not an insult.

Is everything out on your desk? I know both my home desk and office desk everything was out on the desk. My accountant is always putting things away... and I'm like "out of sight out of mind" no, no, that is just an excuse to NOT put the stuff away! So I FILED, imagine that :) Need ideas take a look at the book, Making Work Work: New Strategies for Surviving and Thriving at the Office.

Create a to-do-list, label, label, label. Have a file fold for .... file it, read it, shred it, boss' s desk, furnace, 911, take home.






How would you like to have inner peace in less than a half an hour... AT WORK. It is an necessity to give yourself 20 minutes of down time EVERY DAY. I have to admit, I am shocked and sadden when my clients come in and say they don't even get out of their chair except for lunch. PEOPLE come on you are killing me... and your poor hipflexors, your cervical spine.... your wrists.... please get out of your seat... or just take a time out. Who will be living in your body when you are 80 years old??? And who will be dealing with the hunched over body that you live in? Just some questions to think about. So, flip the switch - do some deep breathing, mediate, a short walk, listen to your favorite music. If you think you can't take all 20 minutes at one time some days, just do it in mini breaks.

Here is Clearing off your desk and taking back the control you lost when you couldn't find that really important paper with the important phone number on it... :)

So what is Pilates.....

Exactly? Well, It like NO OTHER exercise method .... and on one level it's more that just an exercise routine. It becomes a way of life, it's an understanding of one owns body and a restructure of misalignment within the body. It's also has more than just one reason for doing it. Reasons being, just a name a few:

• Strengthen bodies in all levels
• stabilize misalignment's
• gets you out of pain
• create a longer line in body appearance
• increase flexibility
• become more mindful in everything you do

When you first walk into a Pilates session, you begin to get taught a new way of thinking of how you are going to go about "this exercise", you're taught a new way of how you are going to stand walk, breath, and even work at your desk. I would say that for about the first 5 to 8 sessions, you are A) totally confused and wondering "why the hell would I care about "that"?" and B) Wow, I felt like I did absolutely NOTHING and my muscles felt something!? By the time your 10th session comes around, you are getting the fundamentals are NEVER going to change, you feel great from doing these silly breathing, lifting the pelvic floor to move, and weird rolling bridges. You understand balance and all these little muscles you didn't even you had work. :)

Often I get the question: Why can't I just get into a trio or semi-private? That is a GREAT question by the way- the ANSWER is: because you don't know or have the fundamentals down. It would be like doing a type of activity that requires technique- You wouldn't throw somebody in with the Olympic swim team, just because they know how to swim, right? There is a type of understanding and technique that the Olympic swimmer knows that someone who just have been taking swim lessons at the neighbors pool wouldn't know. Could anybody come to learn technique, I think on some level everybody could.

As I say often, Pilates, the fundamentals of it, the understanding of it, the core base of it, amazes me in what I see in my clients all the time. Sure, I want to give myself credit, because it is I who gets your program together and teaches you the exercises, but it is the pure fact that I sick with the fundamentals, the understanding of what I was taught and what your body is telling me that Pilates works so well.

If you want to learn more about the history of Pilates click here!

SI Joint

A.K.A. Sacroiliac joint:

I wanted to give a little history about how I ended up finding out about Pilates. I did not have a clear direct path to it, but through avenues and byways I got there. As you know, I was a dancer. In high School, I went to Lincoln High here in San Jose, I went there for the dance....of course musical theater played a role and so did women's choir. When I was a freshman it had already been discovered that I had one leg longer than the other. This is not uncommon among the general population. Because of this problem I have uneven hips. So, one day I was doing a forward hamstring stretch, i.e. leaning forward with my chest towards on thighs. When I came back up, the pain is/was indescribable! It was horrible! The pain was like an electric shock that went from my low back, in my glutes, and down my leg. It was so bad I was flat on my back, couldn't walk, and my big brother had to carry me into the car and up to the Chiropractor's office. Praise God, my mom believed in Chiropractic care, after the first adjustment, I felt some release. The chiropractor told me, if I wanted to continue dancing I better learn how to use my core, (my pelvic floor) to support myself. I was pretty much all glutes and quads back then. I worked out HARD CORE back then, but I was using all the wrong muscles. It took YEARS of chiropractic care and with the help of AWESOME dance teachers at UCI that I haven't had any SI instability that set me back like that did.

Without getting overwhelmed I want to lay it out for you what this SI joint is and what it all about and of course how you can help yourself-
So, here is where you might feel the on set of pain. If you still need a better idea of where it's located on your body- you can see these joints as the two dimples on each side of your low back, at about the belt line. There are many reasons why the pain might be set on, but there is no ONE reason as to why pain happens. It can come from

• degenerative arthritis


• leg length inequality


• pregnancy


• gout


• rheumatoid arthritis


• psoriasis


• ankylosing spondylitis

Also, basically any thing that alters normal walking pattern.

• leg length inequality


• hip


• knees


• ankles


• foot

It can also come from lack of movement in the joint or two much movement in the joint. Really there isn't too much movement that even happens in the joint. As you can see, this joint holds all of the weight of your body. So, hate to break it to you, if you are overweight, you are more prone to having low back, and SI joint pain. Hormones that are released at the end of delivery causes the joint to become more flexible. With multiple births for one mommy, this can lead to arthritis in the SI joint. That in turn causes stiffness and less movement in the joint.

Here it is! What your pelvis looks like:) Your Sacrum (AKA spine just above your tailbone) is being connected on both your right and left side Ilium ( AKA your hip bones) with the Sacroiliac (AKA SI joint). The SI joint are VERY STRONG ligaments, which is covered by cartilage, it is a fairly large join in the body. The SI joint is what connects the spine to the pelvis. This joint is what you call a synovial joint, similar to knee, hip and shoulder. It slides, tilts, and rotates.

When in pain you may feel it in your low back, back of hips, groin, or thighs.

Some general ways that if you have experienced this pain, to get out of pain or to deal with it are:

• Anti-flammatories
• limit activity
• Physical therapy
• a Sacroiliac belt
• injections
• fusing the joint surgery
• PILATES! ;)

The key is to stretch and strengthen the muscles around the area. Your core, glutes, thighs, muscles around the hip, and back. Lucky for you Pilates touches all these areas.

To end my story of my history with Pilates: I continued to go the chiropractor all threw high school, about once a week- as it felt better I could limit the once a week to maybe once every other week. I had to use a lift in my shoe. As I went off to College, I would still have the on set of pain at really any given moment- the only thing is, I just didn't know when it would come. As I learn more about it, I could say it may have had something to do with my plantar fasciaitis.... maybe? With my GREAT teachers at Irvine, they really taught me how to lift out of my hips while dancing, use the correct muscles, not my glutes and quads for everything. I was however still going to Chiropractor, till I had Pilates one quarter. I hated it at first, it was so hard for me to find my "neutral spine" I didn't like the way it shaped me, and it was just weird!!! But as I used my fundamentals of Pialtes in my dance classes, I never really had SI pain. Yes, it came by, but it was more due to stress, and just back in August, it flared up, but that was due to my own stupidity: Note to self do not pick up your 46pound son, during the first trimester of your pregnancy. Also, I am always going to be prone with my leg length issue, but with practicing Pilates daily as my most blessed job, I am keeping my SI joint stable. A good Chiropractor on hand is always good too.

So, if you have SI pain, give Pilates a try, the only thing you have to loose is pain :)