Pilates is not only for women, but it is very wonderful for menopause.

Menopause is often a very challenging time with many changes and discomforts. My own personal experience is showing me just how valuable my practice of Pilates is for facing these changes and challenges!

I’m not going to promise that you’ll lose x amount of pounds or get your teenage sized body back again… but Pilates will help you build and maintain strength. It will support your spine and joints as hormonal shifts affect them. It will boost bone density and ease stress. It’s a time and space for you to connect with your body in a mindful and meditative way. Moving and breathing is deeply transformative and will improve not just your body but your quality of life.

If you’re finding peri/menopause difficult to manage please consider giving Pilates a try. I’m here to help.

Pilates is known for being good for your abs but it is actually much more than that At its core it is a practice of mindful movement

Going through the exercises with deep mindfulness was what made Pilates unique from the start. Today its been pushed in the direction of pure fitness but that approach cuts out a huge part of its original intent. The mindbody connection is the key to gaining true transformation. By practicing with mindfulness you will get the benefits both physically and mentally. Breathing and tuning into your body is deeply relaxing for the nervous system and helps relieve tension and stress. Allowing yourself to explore new ways of moving helps to change habits into more healthy movement patterns. Building awareness is just as valuable as building strength, and with a mindful Pilates practice they go hand in hand.

If you’re looking for a practice that gives both the body and mind benefits Pilates fits the bill!

Pilates promises to improve posture. What does that really mean?

People often think that ”shoulders back and down” is good posture. This is partly true yet holding the shoulders back and down isn’t the solution! We need to have balanced strength and flexibility of the muscles of the chest and upper back for the shoulders to find healthy alignment and ease of movement. Holding them in place creates tension, which is not what good posture is about.

“Stand up straight” is another common theme in the quest for good posture. Again, this is only achieved through the balance of strength and flexibility of the muscles of the back and the front giving the spine support in staying upright. Willpower won’t support your spine and just trying to hold yourself straight is not going to be effective or sustainable.

Pilates helps you improve your posture through strength and flexibility training but also through movement and awareness. Everyone has different habits and subtle imbalances and through consistent practice you can gain the strength and understanding of how to be well aligned and relaxed in your body. No one workout works for every individual which is why private sessions offer you so much in terms of making lasting changes. We all have different postural habits that need unlearning and through moving with awareness we can change these habits to find more balance and ease in our bodies. Good posture is not about effort or tension, it is the result of good movement patterns.

The sedentary lifestyle many people have now means that lots of vital movements are not experienced in daily life. the old adage “use it or lose it” is very true when applied to movement. Pilates gives you the opportunity to relearn those neglected movements and have a healthy balanced movement diet. Just like we need a balanced diet of foods we also need a balanced diet of movements!

With consistent practice of Pilates you will find your posture improves seemingly on its own. The awareness you develop coupled with the increased strength and flexibility give your body what it needs to find support with ease. Sitting and standing become easier and moving becomes more free. The benefits of your Pilates practice will improve not just your body but your whole life!

Most fitness focuses on strength. Strength is important but without healthy mobility it’s not functional. Functional mobility is is my focus and Pilates is the perfect practice for achieving it.

The mechanics of movement are integral to the Pilates exercises. The principals of “concentration, focus, precision, breath, and flow” are all essentially saying the same thing, it’s how you do these exercises that’s more important than which exercises you do.

Too often the aesthetics of what the body looks like has become the focus in Pilates. “Shoulders down!” and “Navel to spine” are often not getting to the root of the mechanics at play and these cues can lead to more tension than they intend. I strive to really see what each body is in need of and how to assist in helping each person understand how to move with freedom. As we build strength and flexibility there’s a focus on awareness and how these small adjustments make big changes in how you move in life, beyond the Pilates studio.

If you truly want Pilates to transform your body and your life it takes consistent practice and deep awareness. It takes time to build these and through learning the exercises you’re also rewiring your neuromuscular system. The changes you make will transfer into your life and give your body strength now and longevity for your future. In this way Pilates is a true investment in yourself.

Pilates is a real vehicle for change, beyond a flat stomach or toned butt. Those things may be achieved but they’re more superficial results of the practice, the deeper benefits are having a body that’s strong, flexible and functional in movement. If you’ve been building strength but not feeling like your mobility is improving it may be time to try a different approach. Pilates is no quick fix but it can promise lasting results with continued practice!

Pilates is a practice. Doing sessions in studio is great but to truly make progress and embody the benefits of the method you can add some home practice to supplement your time in the studio. Home practice can also be the whole of your Pilates practice.

As Covid contact to disrupt large in person classes many studios have moved their mat classes online. If you’re interested in learning the mat work but find a big class not to your liking you are welcome to try some private mat classes online with me! Having one on one instruction lets you go at your pace and learn specific exercises that work best for you. You can do a 30 or 60 minute class and are welcome to record it for your personal use. I love helping people create a personalized class to do at home and as you progress you can check in with me to add more challenge or tune up your form. You can choose to focus on whatever aspects you like, strength, flexibility, posture, restorative, it’s your time and you’ll be able to focus on your bodies needs instead of trying to keep up with a class. Email me at solarajean@gmail.com if you’re interested.

All Pilates is not the same. One can learn the exercises and go through a workout but without an expert teacher it’s just a workout. The thing that makes the transformation is how you do the exercises.

I take care to listen to every person I work with and choose the exercises that will suit your body’s needs and your personal goals. I watch your movements closely and make adjustments to form and movement mechanics so you get the most out of every exercise. This adaptive approach allows you to get the specific Pilates that works best for you. Not all bodies are the same so no two people need the same set of exercises.

I always start working with you where you are and progress safely as you’re ready to. Workouts are challenging but never cross the line into too much for you to handle. Sometimes a vigorous session is best, other times a more gentle and restorative focus is best. Together we will find what works best for you and with consistent practice you’ll develop strength, flexibility and more functional movement that will help you feel better now and give your body longevity to carry you into aging.

Pilates is too often shown as a fitness method for young already fit people. Nothing could be further from the truth! I’m here to help you begin your Pilates practice from where you are now and help you reach your goals with appropriately challenging exercises that are best for your body. I’ll help you learn how to move in ways that have been neglected but with practice will be restored. Gaining balanced functional movement will transform your body, mind and life.

If you’ve been intimidated by Pilates please consider giving it a try. My approach makes Pilates fit you, not the other way around.

Pilates is often touted as some magic method that will transform you into a long lean dancer look a like. I’m sorry to say that it’s not quite true. We’re all born with our own genetic make up and that plays a huge role in our bodies shape. Pilates can transform how you move and help you maintain functional strength and flexibility into aging.

The real “magic” of Pilates is not the exercises themselves but how you do them. You can go through the motions of the exercises but without the awareness of how your moving you won’t get the full benefits of the method. Taking the time to tune in to your body and address patterns that are not working will allow your body to learn how to move in ways that support your joints maintaining healthy mobility. This is that mindbody piece of Pilates that has gotten less focus as fitness has become hyper focused on attaining a certain “look” over building truly functional movement. Of course with practice and training your body will change, becoming stronger and more flexible and most importantly better at moving i all the ways that life requires. A functional body comes in all shapes and sizes and Pilates really is for every body.

Pilates was created by Joseph Pilates and carried on by many of his students, who are referred to as “elders”. Not surprisingly they all had different approaches to teaching the work to their students. This has led to many different “schools of thought” but it’s basically a “Contemporary” vs “Classical” landscape. This leads to quite a lot of confusion for people seeking Pilates. For anyone interested in the history of Pilates and how it’s become what it is today please read “Caged Lion” written by a former student of Joseph himself.

Basically the gist of the difference is that the Classical viewpoint sticks more closely to the exercise routine that Joseph used in his open workout studio, set exercises in a particular order. The Contemporary viewpoint has added different exercises, many of which were created as “pre-Pilates” to help people build the strength and awareness to progress into the more traditional exercises which can be challenging for those who aren’t professional dancers or athletes. It takes a prescriptive approach instead of a dogmatic one.

I’m a Contemporary teacher. I was taught by a teacher who had been trained by Elders from both sides and she found that the adaptive approach works best for most people. The value of the work isn’t in the specific exercises themselves but rather how the movements are done. Every body is different so one routine is not really appropriate for everyone. Some exercises are just not suited to every body. Going through the same routine without variety can lead to an autopilot mindset which is the opposite of the mindful workout that Joe intended. Joe’s studio was an open workout space where people learned their routine and came and practiced it so the set routine was part of that. When doing private sessions there’s much more room for variety and giving each person the best exercises for them. There’s a balance between repetition and variation which allows you to master the basics yet continue finding new challenges.

Everyone is different and benefits from different things. For some people the Classical approach works well and they’re quite happy with it. But if you’ve tried Pilates in the past and didn’t feel like it was a good match I encourage you to try a different approach to Pilates with a Contemporary perspective. Pilates is for every body, just find the best fit for you!

“Pilates is a concept… you can learn every exercise on every piece of equipment and you don’t know Pilates.”
Eve Gentry, Pilates elder and Master Teacher

This quote really encapsulates my approach to Pilates. My teacher studied with Eve and I learned the work that Eve contributed to the Method. She created a repertoire of “pre-Pilates” exercises that teach the fundamental movement building blocks that the “classical” exercises are made of.

I also learned all of the classical Pilates repertoire but when I started to teach people I realized that many of those exercises are just not always appropriate for beginners, or even experienced practitioners. Someone who’s been inactive for decades and just wants to get out of back pain and feel more limber doesn’t need to be doing complex and confusing choreography. Struggling through a certain exercise that is not well suited to your body isn’t necessary when there are so many exercises to choose from! I always want to find the best exercise for each person to be able to access challenging movements with as much ease as possible.

What I find most valuable is learning how to move and breath. The concepts of Pilates give you a deeper understanding of your body and movement. Breathing, flowing movements done with control and precision are at the core of the method, so how complex and advanced the exercises are isn’t really the important piece. Different people benefit from different exercises. What one person finds easy another finds next to impossible so even so-called “beginner” exercises aren’t really appropriate for every student! Learning a whole bunch of repertoire without really learning how to move really misses the real point of the method. It’s not about what you do but how you are doing it.

My approach to teaching is always far more prescriptive than dogmatic. I look at each individual and listen to their issues and goals and decide what exercises will be most appropriate and beneficial for them. As they progress that will often change but I don’t have an agenda to get each person to learn every exercise or push to get more advanced just for the sake of being fancy. Some people enjoy the complex choreography but if they find those aspects deeply frustrating then we’ll stick to the exercises that they are both challenged by and successful at.

Learning to move well, breath fully, increasing strength and flexibility and finding more ease in their body is always the foundation of the work. The exercises are just a vehicle for reaching the goal of functional movement and fitness. When you’ve gotten a good grasp of the Pilates concepts then those skills will carry over into everything you do in your body, both in mundane life activities and other fitness methods. In this way Pilates can transform not just your body but your whole life.

Pilates is often marketed with very fit young people doing extremely intimidating looking moves. While those exercises are great for some they’re not really representing the kind of Pilates that the “average” person may want or need.

As humans we are made to move in many ways. Modern life has all but eradicated many ranges of motion that are vital for a healthy body that will function into old age. With Pilates you can re-educate your body in how to move through motions that have been long neglected. All the sitting we do can cause our spines to curve forward. In the Pilates repertoire there are many exercises that give the spine the extension that it requires for healthy mobility. There are small and gentle exercises as well as much bigger more advanced ones that achieve this. Depending on your body’s specific needs certain exercises are more appropriate for you than others. As you practice and build new strength and awareness you can increase the level of challenge and progress to more advanced exercises. But even if you stick with the basics you will be reaping the benefits. Don’t be intimidated by seeing a move that looks impossible, with practice it might be within reach but either way your spine will be healthier no matter what level of movement you work up to. When the practice is the goal you’re always winning!