Joseph Pilates

Movement Is Always in Season: The Practice Of Being Present

by Leave a Comment

You are here: Home / Archives for Joseph Pilates

By Nichole Zuckerman — Pilates Educator, Teacher Trainer & Director of Polestar Pilates USA

Opening: Movement Changes

You’re a runner. You run through the spring, set goals, watch your pace change, feel yourself getting stronger.

Then summer arrives, it’s hot… and running doesn’t feel the same – so you swim!

At first, maybe swimming is the alternative, but hen something happens. You start setting swimming goals. You notice your stroke. Your breath. The number of laps you can swim without stopping. You start looking forward to the pool.

And then fall comes. You lace up your running shoes again, and somehow, you’re 5% stronger than you were last fall.

Movement has seasons, and maybe our job isn’t to resist them. Maybe it’s to notice them. Unless you live in a place with completely steady weather, the reality is you will have to adapt your movement throughout the year. And even if your routine is inside a gym, shifting modalities and goals will help you become a more well rounded mover and experience new fun ways of moving.

Sometimes the Season Chooses You

Sometimes the change is environmental: Summer gets too hot to run. Winter moves you indoors.

Sometimes it’s an injury: You assess. You adapt. Maybe the miles disappear for a while and the Reformer becomes your practice.

Sometimes it’s pregnancy: Your speed changes. Your capacity changes. The quantity of movement may change.

But none of that has to diminish the quality of your movement.

You can still bring your breath, your attention, your curiosity, your positive mental outlook.

Your presence.

Quality Is Available in Every Season

We often measure movement by what we can count: Miles, Laps, Repetitions, Weight, Pace, Classes.

But there are qualities of movement that don’t disappear when the numbers change.

  • How present were you?
  • How well did you breathe?
  • Did you listen to your body?
  • Did you notice the people around you?
  • Did you enjoy being there?

These are things we can practice whether we’re running ten miles, walking around the neighborhood, swimming laps, taking a Pilates class, recovering from an injury, or moving through pregnancy.

Notice Where You Are

There’s another gift in allowing movement to have seasons: you start noticing them. The light reflecting across the ceiling of the indoor pool, the first leaves changing on your neighborhood walk, the feeling of coming into the Pilates studio when the heaters turn on for the first time in winter, the energy of a class at the end of the school year, when everyone is talking about summer and getting ready for vacations.

Movement becomes one of the ways we experience time.

Instead of constantly asking, What did I do? How far did I go? How hard did I work?

We can also ask: Was I there for it?

Bring Your Vibe to Your Tribe

Presence isn’t only something we practice for ourselves. Every pool, studio, trail, gym, class and neighborhood has a community around it. You get to contribute to that community. So, if you can… Be the person who gives the high five! Be the person who says good morning. Learn someone’s name. Encourage the person next to you. Thank your teacher. Thank the person at the front desk. Notice when someone hasn’t been there for a while.

Bring your vibe to your tribe, support the people around you, and hopefully allow yourself to be supported, too.

The Practice That Lasts All Year

Your movement will change. There will be seasons when you feel strong and fast. Seasons when you slow down. Seasons when you explore something completely new. Seasons when your body asks you to reconsider what movement means altogether.

The goal doesn’t have to be holding onto one version of yourself all year. The practice can be learning to show up fully for each version.

Bring the quality, the breath, your presence. Bring the “good morning”, the “thank you” and the high five.

Because those are always in season.

You can find Nichole on social @nicholemoves and on the Polestar Blog

Read more from Nichole: The Best Teachers Teach In The Moment

The Sacred Intelligence of Movement

by Leave a Comment

You are here: Home / Archives for Joseph Pilates

By Christine Palumbo, RDH
Polestar Pilates Alumni

The word “spirituality” gets tossed around a lot these days, and it can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For some, spirituality is connected to religion or ritual. For others, it may refer more to presence, self-awareness, connection, or the experience of feeling more integrated within oneself. And when it arrives, I’m certain it does not always come wrapped in some mystical awakening experience. 

Sometimes it emerges much more quietly through breath, attention, embodiment, and presence.

Through both my personal experiences and my education within the Polestar model, I began noticing a close relationship between movement, nervous system regulation, body awareness, and what I have personally come to understand as spirituality when I began taking reformer Pilates classes in 2021.

Like many people, I spent a long time living primarily in my head. As someone who has struggled with anxiety, panic, chronic overthinking, perfectionism, and rumination, I became increasingly aware of how exhausting it feels to live disconnected from the body and trapped in constant mental noise. Pilates became one of the first practices that helped reconnect me to my body in a way that felt grounding, safe, and strangely sacred.

I often think of the mind like the surface of the ocean during rough water. Thoughts, fear, uncertainty, and endless mental loops constantly move at the surface. The mind is incredibly important for reasoning, creativity, and survival, but left unchecked, it can also pull us away from the present moment. Bringing awareness back into the body feels more like moving beneath the surface of the ocean, where things become quieter, steadier, and more regulated.

Modern life often encourages disconnection from the body. We spend our days multitasking, consuming constant stimulation, and functioning within chronic states of stress. Over time, many people lose connection not only to movement itself, but to the intelligent system continuously communicating through breath, tension, sensation, and physical patterning.

Then we enter a Pilates studio.

For one hour, we slow down and pay attention.

We begin noticing unnecessary gripping, breath-holding, or compensation patterns. We notice where the body feels rigid, unstable, or disconnected. Gradually, the body stops becoming something to criticize and instead becomes something to listen to.

One of the most fascinating things to me as both a student and instructor is that the body is constantly communicating information, whether we are consciously listening or not. Movement often reveals things people cannot access cognitively alone. A person may intellectually understand they are stressed or exhausted, yet the nervous system frequently expresses those patterns physically long before the conscious mind fully recognizes them.

In many ways, the body reveals truth.

The body adapts intelligently for survival, protection, and efficiency. Sometimes those adaptations are helpful. Sometimes they become the very patterns that keep people stuck in tension, fear, or disconnection. Pilates gives us an opportunity to observe those adaptations with curiosity rather than judgment.

Interestingly, research within neuroscience and psychology increasingly supports the importance of embodiment and interoception — the ability to sense and interpret the internal state of the body. Studies suggest interoceptive awareness plays an important role in emotional regulation, self-awareness, decision-making, and mental health. Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, known for his work exploring the relationship between emotion, bodily sensation, and consciousness, wrote that “the body provides more than mere support and modulation for the brain.” In other words, the body is not simply carrying the mind; it actively participates in perception, emotion, and awareness itself.

Research surrounding breath regulation and autonomic nervous system function has also demonstrated that slow, intentional breathing can influence stress physiology, emotional regulation, and feelings of safety within the body. From both instructor and client perspectives, this becomes incredibly relevant inside movement practices like Pilates, where breath, concentration, coordination, and body awareness are continuously integrated together in real time.

As instructors, I think we are often observing far more than movement patterns alone. Sometimes we are witnessing the effects of chronic stress held within the nervous system. Sometimes we are observing protective patterns that developed after injury, pain, or prolonged stress. And sometimes, we are witnessing a person fully experience themselves for the first time.

For many people, the studio becomes one of the few environments where they are fully present within their own experience. There are no external distractions demanding attention. There is only breath, sensation, concentration, movement, and awareness unfolding in real time.

Perhaps spirituality, at least in part, can be understood as the experience of becoming more connected to ourselves through awareness and presence. Through movement, many people begin recognizing that the body is not merely something to control or criticize, but an intelligent system worthy of listening to and understanding.

Ultimately, if we pay close enough attention, we can witness the subtleties of transformation within this work: someone taking a full breath for the first time in years, moving without fear after injury, or softening out of chronic defense patterns.

Perhaps that is part of the deeper power within movement itself: the experience of reconnecting to the sacred intelligence already existing within us.

You can find Christine on social media at:@christine_palumbo_pilates

References:

Craig, A. D. (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: The sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(8), 655–666.

Damasio, A. (1994). Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. New York, NY: Putnam.

Mehling, W. E., et al. (2011). Body awareness: A phenomenological inquiry into the common ground of mind-body therapies. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 6(6).

Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. New York, NY: Norton.

Zaccaro, A., et al. (2018). How breath-control can change your life: A systematic review on psychophysiological correlates of slow breathing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, 353.

5 Ways Pilates Can Support Your Mental Health

by Leave a Comment

You are here: Home / Archives for Joseph Pilates

“If you can relate to overwhelm, anxiety, or perhaps being ‘tired and wired’, then read on for ways in which Pilates as a practice can help you, and support your positive mental health.”

Sarah Edwards is a Doctor of Education and Comprehensive Polestar Graduate of Polestar Pilates UK.

Pilates is often promoted as being great for ‘core strength’ or ‘reducing back pain’, both of which it certainly can do. (I know, as back pain was the main reason I took up Pilates in the first place). Through personal experience and in teaching clients in private and group settings, I now know that Pilates has consistently supported me in managing my own anxiety. The practice can be instrumental in supporting the positive mental health of others.

Prior to teaching with Polestar and while I attended my weekly Pilates class, I was working as a Teaching and learning director in higher education. I completed a Doctorate in Education, raised a family, and I also experienced a number of traumatic experiences regarding my children’s health. Not surprisingly, I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder. 

Thankfully, Pilates really brought me out of that very busy headspace and, at times, my overwhelm. My experiences led me to train with Polestar as a Comprehensive Practitioner. I also trained as a mental health first-aider and, safe to say, I haven’t looked back.

Joseph’s Mind-Body Method

Joseph Pilates advocated a mind-body practice much before his time. In many aspects of holistic health, the context of “typical daily life” has changed in drastic ways. Modern lifestyle habits including chronic sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, and even social media use and ‘doom scrolling’, have fuelled the anxiety epidemic. Mental Health disorders, including anxiety, have also increased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the context has changed, the practice of Pilates, for the main part, hasn’t.  

How can Pilates specifically help? If you can relate to overwhelm, anxiety, or perhaps being ‘tired and wired’ then read on for ways in which Pilates as a practice can help you, and support your positive mental health.

1. Regular Practice

Pilates as part of your regular schedule will interrupt your overthinking and helps ‘press pause’ on any overwhelm. In our digitized, and always “on call” culture, we need to step away from our devices, and literally and figuratively “switch off”.

2. Break The Cycle

In turn, positive movement experiences can help break the chronic stress cycle. Chronic stress affects the nervous system, and influences related anxiety disorders. Stress can also have profound physiological effects. The long-term stimulation of the fight-or-flight response leads to the constant production and secretion of hormones such as cortisol. Long-term excessive cortisol is associated with a variety of consequences, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

3. Connect With The Breath

Pilates focuses on breath (it’s the first Principle of Polestar Pilates). Focusing on the breath, and particularly an extended exhale can help access the parasympathetic nervous system. This sends signals to the brain that all is well. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for the “rest and digest” function of the body which is why you can likely hear your digestive system at work once you relax!

4. Practice Embodyment 

A skilled teacher will give you both internal and external cues that allow you to move in a mindful way. When you focus on the internal sense of your body (interoception) you cannot be thinking about your overwhelming to-do list. Teachers who have also embraced an element of psychological fitness training (such as with Polestar) can also help clients come out of their ‘thinking brain’ by stimulating the vagus nerve. This can support reducing stress, anxiety, and even depression.

5. Empowerment

The benefits in strength, posture, and mobility you gain from Pilates can help your self-confidence (we call this self-efficacy) and your self-esteem. Any positive movement experience will release endorphins, and hormones that will reduce pain and stress, and improve your mood.

Sarah Edwards @positivepilateswithsarah is a Doctor of Education (with specializations in Teaching and Learning), a Comprehensive Pilates Instructor with Polestar, and a Mental Health First Aider. She is particularly interested in promoting Pilates for mental health and runs one-to-one, and on-demand classes from her recently completed garden studio in England (gardening being another of her passion projects)!

References:

i Vora, E. (2022) The Anatomy of Anxiety. Harper Collins publishing.

ii Mental Health First Aid England, 2020.

iii The Parasympathetic Nervous System (2022) Brittanica Science. Available at : Sciencehttps://www.britannica.com/science/parasympathetic-nervous-system (accessed 8th August 2022).

iv The Counselling Directory. What is the vagus nerve? Available at http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/member-articles Accessed 24th August 2022.

v As a Mental Health First Aider (1) I am trained to recognize when someone is struggling with an anxiety disorder, depression, or psychotic episode and to signpost them to appropriate help. It is not within my scope to diagnose these conditions.

The Influence Of Imagery On Neurobiology is Powerful

by Leave a Comment

You are here: Home / Archives for Joseph Pilates

Watch the full Pilates Hour Episode #108 “Does Ideal Alignment Really Matter” with Brent Anderson PhD, PT, OCS, NCPT, and special guest Eric Franklin, Franklin Method.

Imagery Influencing Neurobiology

BA: What is your gut feeling about imagery influencing neurobiology?

EF:  It must be happening. We know the influence of imagery on a variety of psychological states and obviously, we know its influence on movement. For any of that to happen, you are changing things in your neurobiology, from neurotransmitters to hormone release. But we haven’t looked at it directly yet at the cellular level, which is where we want to go next!

BA: One of the interesting things about the idea of neuroplasticity is how our experiences modify our neural pathways. The synapses change and some of the neuromodulators change because of our experiences. Something I am reading about is the belief that neuroplasticity happens at night time when we are in our sleep. We have these experiences during the day and when we are in deep sleep the nervous system processes them. It actually moves through that neuroplastic part, the hard part of changing biology. 

It is interesting to use that knowledge to see if people in their sleep are in conjunction with their imagery and movement experiences. To see if those who have a good night’s sleep have better neuroplastic, bio cellular, and neuro-cellular change than those with poor sleep and the same interventions.

“the fastest way to change your movement is to change your mind”

Eric Franklin

EF:  I would be pretty sure about that because I always say “the fastest way to change your movement is to change your mind”. That’s because synaptic waiting and synaptic change happen so fast. You change your mind about the movement and the movement changes. That’s a very fast approach. Changing muscles takes longer, and changing the fascia takes even longer.

It doesn’t mean those are things you shouldn’t do. If you want something that works fast then images are a great way to create relatively rapid neuroplasticity. It is not just to brag about imagery and say it’s so cool because it’s also about motivation. 

People get stuck in end goals like “I have to work out and train until I get my six-pack or until this or that releases”. Or “I have to get some more collagen laid down in that area…”. Instead, give them some motivational things. Give them some imagery so they can immediately feel a change. Of course, that is not going to change the fascia immediately. It will need a lot more repetition, but it’s very motivational. 

BA: You are the pioneer on a lot of this, and especially for making it known. Back when I met you 25 years ago at IADMS our thinking was more about “hard-wired”, suggesting everything was structural.  People thought “my plie is limited structurally, I have tight heels”. Then we play the bone rhythm game and all of a sudden they can move into another 10 to 15 degrees of ankle dorsiflexion. Releasing the hips just with the image of the sitting bones widening.

We love your work and have supported it from the beginning, and that was a big breakthrough for us. That experience led to part of my dissertation looking at the idea of creating successful movement experiences for people in chronic pain.  Having that successful movement experience shifted their paradigm and we created that by using imagery they could process.  This is key as a lot of times doctors use imagery that the client can’t process and is thus unsuccessful.

EF: It’s very nice of you to say all these things. To this day, we first look at the kinds of functions that are built into you structurally. Then we add functional exercise on top of that. If you are told that your bone structure won’t allow certain movement, that’s already negative imagery. This alone could be part of why it is difficult. You hear “oh my bone structure doesn’t allow…”, and if you think this, why even bother?

If you are told that your bone structure won’t allow certain movement, that’s already negative imagery. This alone could be part of why it is difficult. You hear “oh my bone structure doesn’t allow…”, and if you think this, why even bother?

BA:  “I’m built this way…”

EF:  If you tell someone “you’re not built to do that very efficiently”, they may think “ok, I won’t even do it in the first place”. 

BA: Or, they might try to do it in a way that can potentially injure tissue. I love this idea of these two areas in particular that you’re focusing on right now. The idea of understanding biology in conjunction with imagery and the behavior, belief, or perception of how we mix the two. This connecting of behavioral science with the physiology and biology of things we’ve suspected for a long time because we see the change.  A lot of times the change is immediate, and when we think about the long-term acquisition of it it’s like you said, the tissue adapts with practice and repetition.

When someone can implement an image that helps them on a regular basis in their movement practice, you will start to see the shift in their motor control. We know the neuromuscular system shifts and is always seeking efficiency with the task, so we will often see that. 

The most exciting part of this is working with fascial gurus to understand the mass of science coming out about the communication system that exists inside of our fascia. In one study they removed fascial tissue from a living animal, put it in a dark room, and it continued emitting light photons for minutes after it was removed from the living organism. Just think about these tubulars that are talking to all the cells. The cells are very dynamic in their synapses, at least we know that –  really, really exciting!

EF: A lot of the research in motor imagery supports that if you rehearse the movement before you do it, afterward it’s better.  That is very interesting, but what about going further back even into the emotional aspect? What about working with the limbic system and how it affects all that movement and working directly at the endocrine and cellular level and doing imagery there.  So instead of just looking at the results and then trying to find explanations, go directly into the tissue with imagery and see if that’s measurable. No one has ever done that, why not?  

Maybe not measuring the amygdala and stress response on the cellular level. Maybe that’s a bit complicated, but there are other things that we’re going to look at -and to go further back, not looking so much at the result, but at the much earlier stage where these results are being created. Look at the imagery – what is it doing there?  That’s the next step.

BA: The neuromodulators can also be measured, like the serotonin type 2a and dopamine. Those things are tied to motivation and satisfaction.  I would find it really interesting to learn how a successful movement experience with imagery that they’ve embedded changes the whole neuro response. Specifically with the serotonin type 2a, which is thought to correspond to contentment or satisfaction, and dopamine, the motivation modulator.

EF:  Dopamine only gets released when you’re planning or thinking about what you want to achieve. As soon as you achieve it, the dopamine is gone. The serotonin for the contentment part, to give one answer – movement is good if it feels comfortable to you. If you enjoy doing the movement, then there must be efficiency on some level. There are several perspectives on efficiency and good movement. The inner perspective is:

“What is your experience of this movement?” and the external perspective is “What is the experience of the beholder?”. 

For example, you go to this incredible ballet performance or Cirque du Solei and they’re doing these incredible things. You say, “That was so amazing, so beautiful”, but meanwhile on the stage they are wrecking their bodies. 

There you have the conflict full on. A lot of things they were doing were dysfunctional, pushing their bodies way beyond what they should be doing. They were hurting badly on every level, but the audience thought it was beautiful and incredible movement.  They are basically ending their career right out there on stage.

Looks Good / Feels Good

BA: That’s a great topic, that “external versus internal”. Where is the feedback coming from? Who is giving the feedback that it was amazing? The observer or the mover? It’s the “looks good versus feels good”. When we teach, we provide external feedback “Move the pelvis in this direction”, “Allow this to happen”, or “Reach there”. The internal feedback is the question “How does that movement feel?”, “What do you observe with that?”, “What happens when you use this imagery versus that imagery?”.

EF: Starting way back, my experience in exercise classes and dance classes was all about positional alignment. You were told about the shoulders and ankles. Shoulder blades down, endless stuff like that, “Lift pelvis”, on and on until I felt immobilized, literally!  Is this correct now? Am I supposed to move from here? Well, I can’t really move because I’m going to wreck this great posture.

I was thinking that it feels very conflicted and it eventually donned on me that you can’t teach movement through a position. They contradict each other. Movement is movement, and a position is a position. We are not a statue on a wall.  That’s where it kind of started for me. If you want to align onto a wall, stacking the body like bricks, I think that works pretty well for a wall… but I’m not made for not moving.

In fact, we are very bad at not moving – that’s basically the crisis we have right now. We are more sedentary than our ancestors.  We are very adapted to a lot of moderate movement for hours daily. That’s what we’re adapted to and that’s why I was wondering about this postural teaching. If you try to move while you try to keep a position, you are going to create conflict and it expresses itself in tension. As we know, tension is the enemy of movement. If the movement from the beholder looks tense, and there are different ways it can be expressed, like discomfort, the suspicion should be high that this movement is not efficient. 

Watch the Full Replay of Pilates Hour Episode #108 “Does Ideal Alignment Really Matter” with Brent Anderson and Eric Franklin. For more on Neuroscience and Pilates check out the blog “Neuro-Concepts and Pilates”.

Community Highlight: Polestar Practitioner Peter Clerkin

by Leave a Comment

You are here: Home / Archives for Joseph Pilates

In your own words – describe “the Spirit of Polestar”:

PC: Using Pilates as a tool to create a positive movement experience.

What Three Words come to mind when you think of “Polestar Pilates”?

Holistic

Evolved

Legacy

What do you love about teaching Pilates?

PC: I love teaching because I can express and articulate what is good about Pilates as people do it – I know that a class or an individual person will feel better than they did before at the end of the session and I love to be present to see that change occur. I took my teacher training in London and my educators were Liz Bussey and Diane Nye.

What are your current Inspirations?  

PC: My current inspirations are researchers and physiotherapists trying to understand pain science so that it can be applied to Pilates, or movement practices in general, as a way to build resiliency in our clients. Polestar Educator Juan Nieto does a lot of good work in condensing this research and making it applicable to Pilates

Why Pilates?  How did you find the practice?

PC: I have been a Pilates teacher for almost 10 years – before that, I coached youth sports and earned an undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Science. Movement fascinates me and Pilates is a wonderful way of moving and making shapes that is in the moment, fun, and rewarding. Afterward, you feel improved emotional and mental health, and the physical, mental and emotional benefits continue the more you practice.

Pilates takes me into flow more than any other activity.

Why Polestar Pilates?  How did you come to join the Polestar Community?

PC: I felt that it was the gold standard regarding teacher training and I love that across the world we can all find common ground with the training and methods we use.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

PC: Moving is vital to being healthy and living a varied and fulfilling life. Also, that it can be fun, explorative, collaborative, and a way to understand your own unique body.

What is your favorite Quote? 

PC:

“The only constant is change”

Simple but powerful, I interpret it as trying to embrace what may come next and adapt to that rather than expecting things to be a certain way.

What is your Favorite Apparatus or favorite way to move?

PC: I love the ladder barrel – I think because a lot of the other apparatus are similar to each other. I like that the ladder barrel is a wonderful way of moving through many directions with your spine and also as a way to perform movements with a greater range of motion around the major joints.

You can find Peter on social media @peterdoespilates and discover teacher training opportunities here.

Unlock the Myth of Intra-Abdominal Pressure

by 1 Comment

You are here: Home / Archives for Joseph Pilates


What Is Intra-Abdominal Pressure And Why Does It Matter? 

Intra-abdominal (IAP) pressure is defined as the steady-state pressure concealed within the abdominal cavity and resulting from the interaction between the abdominal wall and viscera; IAP oscillates according to respiratory phase and abdominal wall resistance.

How do we educate people who have lost the capacity to appropriately use intra-abdominal pressure?  Think about the following statement: The appropriate amount of stiffness for the anticipated activity. What does this best describe? Stability? Core Control? Powerhouse? All of these things? 

The answer is all of them. Whether we are talking about stability, the powerhouse, or core control, we should be talking about the same concept. That is, does someone have the right amount of support for the anticipated load or activity? I intentionally use the word anticipated. The brain is using information from past experiences to determine the best approach. This enables us without thinking to know how much stiffness to create in preparation for picking up a jug of milk versus a bag of dried leaves for example.

Joseph Pilates implied that the powerhouse is where things start. What kind of tools do we as movement practitioners have to facilitate the appropriate amount of stiffness for the anticipated load? When asked how they would rank the greatest influencers of intra-abdominal pressure, our #PilatesHour webinar attendees answered as follows:  

A lot of people think it is about muscle control or abdominal strength. This is not the case. When we talk about the abdominal wall and intra-abdominal pressure with our clients, we often confuse them. This is because intra-abdominal pressure involves much more than just the abdominal wall. Intra-abdominal pressure is the stiffness inside the trunk, particularly in between the chest and the pelvic floor. It is this stiffness that is necessary to control the amount of movement based on the load. 

The Power Of Breath 

Breath is a powerful influencer of intra-abdominal pressure. The diaphragm is in fact one of the primary muscles and controllers of intra-abdominal pressure. Some people do not utilize the breath or the diaphragm efficiently or as part of dynamic control. This provides a terrific opportunity for Pilates instructors to affect IAP simply through training efficient and supportive breath patterns. 

The appropriate amount of stiffness is going to be determined by the activity and facilitated by proper alignment. For example, holding your breath in and of itself will create stiffness, but does it create the appropriate amount of stiffness? Is this a stiffness or support that can be maintained for a period of time? Proper alignment and practice lead to efficient and successful movement that seldom has to do with core strength. 

Most of our bodies are given the appropriate amount of strength to be able to handle the movements we choose to participate in. That does not mean that tomorrow, with my body in its current condition, I can go out and perform a 400-pound deadlift if I chose to. I am not conditioned for this activity, nor do I have a need to lift 400 pounds.

However, if I were training to perform that specific loaded movement, my body would naturally start gaining strength by steadily increasing the deadlift weight. Tissue adaptation would happen, meaning that my abdominal wall, my back muscles, and my pelvic floor would all start to change based on the demand that I would be making on those tissues. 

This leads to the question, How much control, mobility, or stiffness is necessary to accomplish the task at hand? 

Let’s say the box in this photo weighs 40 pounds. What parts of his body must recruit and create stiffness to keep him from falling? What if the box were 100 pounds, vs 15 pounds. How would that change the situation? 

When we look at the dynamic movement of kicking a ball, what are they doing and what muscles must be turned on for the person in the photo to be able to kick the ball? Which fascial trains or slings are being activated or tensioned to be able to have the appropriate amount of control of the trunk so that their leg and body can accelerate the foot through space and kick the ball down the field? 

How can we support clients in improving the efficiency of their intra-abdominal pressure? 

  1. Help them find their optimal alignment 
  1. Help them find efficient breath patterns within their optimal alignment 
  1. Progressively load them, working always within ranges where they can maintain the above 
  1. Work through the above points to help them perform the activities in which they want to participate 

With this basic introduction to intra-abdominal pressure, we see that it is more about alignment, breath, and load than focused abdominal work. I encourage you to try facilitating the above points with your clients and see how their quality of movement and integration with activity improve. 

Brent Anderson, PhD, PT, OCS, NCPT is the President and Founder of Polestar Pilates International. Brent is a licensed physical therapist and orthopedic certified specialist with more than 22 years of experience. Based on his extensive background in rehabilitation and movement science, Brent elaborates on Joseph Pilates’ mind-body work through the Polestar curriculum by developing tools for critical reasoning and applying supportive scientific research. He also infuses the integral role of psychology and energy systems on motor control and motor learning.

Brent hosts our weekly webinar #PilatesHour featuring special guests from the movement science field and Polestar community. Watch episode 82 “The Science And Myth of Intra-Abdominal Pressure” here.