Pilates

Educator Highlight : Kim Gibilisco

What do you love about teaching Pilates? Where did you take your training and who was the educator?

KG: I love meeting and helping others with their movement acquisition and also overcome their pain. I was trained by Brent Anderson and Cynthia McGhee in 1998 here in NYC when my husband, Bob Turner, hosted the Polestar series at his physical therapy studio.

What are your current inspirations? What do you love about them?

KG: I am deeply inspired by music, especially yogic chants. I am enthralled by the long history, the storytelling and the symbolism of the work. I also appreciate the flexibility in the interpretation of the stories and the music.

I am deeply inspired by my dance students and clients. Witnessing someone’s movement journey is a privilege and honor for me.

My husband of 20 years is an incredible inspiration to me. He is a truly gifted healer and mentor to young clinicians. He was raised on a farm and can literally fix or heal anything with his hands. I love that Bob recently began studying guitar. He plays every night before bed, no matter how tired he is.

Why Pilates? How did you find the practice?

KG: Pilates is very integral to the Nikolais/Louis Dance Technique floor barre. When I was performing with the Nikolais/Louis Dance Company, I dove deeper into the technique by studying Pilates on the apparatus. Pilates also helped me stave off injuries while I was touring.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

KG: Safety, support, compassion and encouragement

Where would you love to vacation?

KG: Fiji and Bora Bora while I am still willing to be seen in a bathing suit!

What is your favorite Quote? How do you live, embody and apply this?

KG: I have two that always play like a loop in my mind’s eye…

“If you’re not going to do it right, don’t do it at all.” – Benedicto Gibilisco (My Biological Father). I interpret this as, always offer your best effort, with an open heart and take pride in all of your work.

“Some teachers use their classes to exercise their own egos…Basically a good teacher feeds the class, and a bad one feeds from it.” – Murray Louis (My Dance Father), Inside Dance

Describe your movement style?

KG: Focused, passionate and dedicated

What is your favorite apparatus or favorite way to move? What do you love about it?

KG: I love any apparatus that challenges me, makes me laugh at myself and forces me out of my habit. Right now, I am experimenting with integrating the Oov, resistive discs and squishy ball into Pilates and Yoga exercises.

What are you reading or learning about?

KG: I dove into Deepka Chopra’s, “Seven Laws of Spiritual Success,” after our inaugural Polestar Retreat. Alexander Bohlander offered us a class integrating the 7 Laws. As soon as I got home, I purchased the book. I read it every day, like a bible, to set me up and also to offer gratitude and perspective for my life.

How does Pilates inform your profession?

KG: Pilates informs everything I see, everything I do and everything I experience. I am so grateful for how our Polestar Family exemplifies life-ling learning. You will NEVER see a PoleSTAR sitting on the floor during anyone’s class! Everyone is participating and learning from one another, no matter what level of education they have, no matter who the teacher is, no matter what the material being covered. We are encouraged to develop our own creative signature in our teaching and to hold each other up as we learn from one another. There is nothing else like it in the world!

You can find Kim @movement_colab and MOVEMENT COLab

and @5pointpt

Pilates or High Intensity Training?

by Polestar PilatesLeave a Comment

Why Slowing Down Might be Better for your Health and Wellbeing.

Ever since Joseph Pilates opened the first Pilates studio for dancers almost a century ago, Pilates has been widely adopted by people from all walks of life, all over the world. Pilates continues to be one of the most widely adopted forms of exercise to this day. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a relative newcomer to the exercise scene, and it’s also gaining a huge global following. So which is it better for your health? Pilates or high intensity training?

Here are four reasons why slowing down with Pilates might be better for long term health and wellbeing.

1. You don’t enjoy it

While high intensity training may churn through body fat faster, research also shows that many people simply don’t enjoy it. That can make committing to it more challenging than the exercise itself. The best exercise is the one you do consistently and makes you feel good. Today, as we age, and as people become more aware of their mind, their body, and their soul, Pilates fits.

2. You’re just starting out, or returning from injury

It’s important to gradually increase the intensity and duration of any exercise routine. If you’re new to exercise, or returning from injury, you need to let the body adjust. Going too hard too soon increases the risk of injuries like muscle strain, inflamed tendons, and plantar fasciitis. The most significant point here is that newbies get no additional benefit from pushing too hard. Your body responds to change. In the early days, any degree of resistance and increased circulation is change, and will stimulate results. If you’ve ever hopped on a horse or taken a light run after a long break, you know what I mean! The activity may not have even been that ‘hard’ but it was change enough to result in muscle ‘tearing’ and soreness causing a state of recovery.

We’ve all heard the phrase “No Pain No Gain,” but is that even remotely true?

The results curve for beginners is the steepest because the body adapts quickly to new stimulus. Career athletes have to push a lot harder in all kinds of new ways to maintain their results curve. So if you’re just starting out or returning from injury, love yourself enough to bypass the boot camps for now. Focus on building a strong foundation of fitness and strength with 30 minutes of cardio a day and 2 x private Pilates sessions per week. Start with privates or semi-privates because it’s much easier to tell an instructor about your injuries this way, than to shout them from the back of a class. Keeping your spine ‘neutral’ for an hour is much more difficult than it sounds. Your Pilates teacher will get you into the right alignment, and good habits from the get-go.

3. Your mind and body are stressed

Stress takes different forms, but two of the common ones are mental stress from work, and physical stress from too much intense exercise. Both can lead to chronically high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. High levels of cortisol can lead to high blood pressure, a suppressed immune system and weight gain, or that feeling that it’s ‘impossible to lose weight no matter what I do’.

Pilates is no longer something people turn to just because they ‘want better abs’.

Pilates promotes body awareness by focusing on correct technique; this part of Pilates isn’t just physical, it’s mental. This degree of focus on the body and the breath can have a meditative effect. It’s a key concept of Pilates called ‘centering’, where the premise is that all movements originate in the core, and are fueled by the breath. Pilates has been linked to enhanced mindfulness and sensory awareness, which helps the body to relax, feel better, and stress less. Engaging in mind-body forms of exercise like Pilates, Tai Chi, or Yoga, will boost your mood, health, and energy levels while lowering your cortisol.

4. You Love your joints and want them to last a lifetime

Love it or hate it, high intensity training is often high-impact training, and that means impact to knees, ankles, hips and your spine. You don’t need to stop high-intensity training, just be sure to include rest days where you go for a swim on one day and take a Pilates class on the other, for example. This will give your body enough time to recover between your high intensity sessions. It’s during your recovery periods that your muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons repair, so this ‘down time’ is the most critical when it comes to your results.

While lower intensity training is kinder to your body long term, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy high intensity from time to time. Just be sure to prepare your body with some core strength first, and take a Pilates class if you start to feel exhausted instead of energized from your workouts.

What are your thoughts on high intensity vs. steady state training?

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Polestar Life Weekly

Educator Highlight : Angela Crowley

by Polestar PilatesLeave a Comment

Polestar: What do you love about your profession?

AC: Every day and every session is a new intriguing and fascinating challenge with rewarding results.

Polestar: What excites your thinking and inspires your day?

AC: The limitless possibilities of the human nervous system and beautiful powerful musical movement. I am honored by each person who walks through the door.

Polestar: Can you describe the path which developed your professional perspective?

AC: As a former gymnast and dancer, I always expected to have control over my body. A serious car accident took that control away. I lost fine motor use in my right hand and if I sat for an hour my right leg fell asleep. Traditional approaches including hospitalization in traction and intensive physical therapy didn’t lead to much progress or hope. I was told to learn to write with the other hand and that I would not be able to dance or do things like running or skiing again. I didn’t believe it. A pivotal moment was when I met a Naturopathic doctor Mark Manton who changed my life and is one of my mentors to this day. He applied and educated me in a holistic approach which included diet, acupuncture, neuromuscular therapy, osteopathy, meditation and movement re-education through Feldenkrais then Pilates. I became a massage and movement therapist integrating Pilates.

When I embarked upon a four year education to become a Feldenkrais Practitioner, I began yearning for an exercise system that would match the organic organization of systemic movement in the Feldenkrais system. I wanted access to greater freedom of the trunk and spine. That is when I discovered the GYROTONIC® system. Gyrotonic movements begin from the inside out, starting with breath and spinal movement which expand into full body movement. Different from any other system I know, the diverse and multiple pieces of equipment can support and challenge the needs of anyone from rehabilitation to training of high level athletes. Similar to Feldenkrais the movement is fluid, efficient and diversifies around all planes of motion and relationships with gravity. To this day my private practice focuses on the use of manual therapy, movement reeducation using the Feldenkrais Method and the GYROTONIC® Method. Furthermore, I enjoy being an educator of teachers in these fields and interfacing with the Pilates community.

Polestar: Do you have any favorite quotes to share?

AC: “What I am after isn’t flexible bodies, but flexible brains.” — Moshe Feldekrais D. Sc.

“It is the moment between intention and action where there is choice and possibility.” — Moshe Feldenkrais D.Sc.

“Breath is Movement and Movement is Breath” — Juliu Horvath, creator of the GYROTONIC® System

Polestar: What is your favorite piece of equipment?

AC: The human nervous system.

Polestar: What are a couple of your favorite reads?

AC: The Brain’s Way Of Healing by Norman Doidge; Art & Physics: Parallel Visions In Space, Time, and Light by Leonard Shlain

Polestar: What do you hope to convey in your teaching clients?

AC: My goal is to educate and empower clients with the ability to feel better through their own movement. I hope for them to experience a renewed sense of freedom and well being in their bodies and in their lives.

Polestar: What do you hope to convey in teaching teachers?

AC: I hope for teachers to gain a theoretical understanding that empowers the paradigm of their thinking and creativity to refresh their teaching.

Polestar: Tell us about your current course, Neuroplasticity: An Exploration Through Movement.

AC: This course is a culmination of my life’s work and studies. There is currently a revelation in the way science understands the brain and nervous system. New information, research, publications and podcasts become available daily. Leading researchers have given recognition that certain approaches to movement can amplify the plasticity of the brain. In other words, as somatic practitioners we have the opportunity to influence lives far beyond strength and flexibility. For example, we can create opportunities to influence the way people respond to stress, sleep and enhance their creativity. Leading scientists today recognize Moshe Feldenkrais as a pioneering Neuroplastition 60 years ahead of current science. He understood how to use movement to communicate with the brain. Science is just now catching up with him. In this highly experiential course, I shed light on this relationship between movement and neuroplasticity through lecture, movement experiences within oneself and applications through labs and discussion.

Polestar: What do you hope participants experience in your course?

AC: We can only teach what we understand, so the experiential portion of the course shifts one’s approach to teaching exercise and enriches the depth of results.

Polestar: What do you hope participants take away from your course?

AC: Participants will gain tangible strategies to implement into their lives and practice as well as a wealth of resources.

Polestar: Who should take this course?

AC: This course is for anyone who would like to delve into the fascinating relationships between movement and the mind. It is for any healthcare practitioner who is curious and open to refresh their perception of movement in our lives.

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Discover 4 Surprising Benefits of Pilates

by Polestar Pilates4 Comments

Pilates is celebrated for its ability to sculpt and strengthen the body. Core strength, improved posture, and ability to lengthen and tone muscles are just some of the effects that come from a regular Pilates practice. In this article, you will discover four lesser-known, surprising benefits of Pilates.

A deeper understanding of the multifaceted benefits of Pilates can enhance your Pilates experience and further benefit your practice and teaching. When you understand Pilates’ potential to influence the body in these ways, you can also use it more effectively for rehabilitation, mental, and physical health.

1. Pilates for a Healthy Mind

Pilates requires you to focus intensely on your breath and the movement of your body. It’s no surprise then, that fans of the method promote Pilates as an excellent way to achieve greater body awareness and mind-body connection. These effects are not merely anecdotal. There is scientific evidence to back up the zen-like state achieved through mindful movement. A recent government study revealed a link between mindfulness and Pilates, and how the Pilates method can improve the psychological well-being of its practitioners. The PMA website says: “Concentrated and focused breathing initiates the relaxation response and reintegrates the nervous system for receptivity.”

Chemically, Pilates also appears to act on the brain and body by shifting it into a homeostatic state, as well as stimulating the brain’s frontal lobe, the area responsible for memory and creativity.

2. Pilates for a Pain-Free Existence

While the positive effects of Pilates on brain function and mood are important, repertoire exercises also have the potential to “move the mind.” This in turn can have a significant impact on the way the body functions. As teachers, understanding this can be particularly useful, especially with regards to client rehabilitation. Dr. Brent Anderson, physical therapist and CEO of Polestar Pilates, explains that physical pain can be a manifestation of emotional trauma. Pilates, through emphasis on mind and body integration, can reveal the emotional rather than structural issues responsible for physical pain. According to Dr. Anderson, “perception influences motivation in movement.” So your feelings about your body and your capacity for movement can have a significant impact on physical pain. In his experience, exercises that incorporate the whole body create an “almost meditative state for the patient, enhancing body awareness and exploring new movement opportunities without pain.” Using Pilates equipment to challenge the body can radically shift perception of limitations and prevent one from bracing in anticipation of discomfort. This ultimately helps reduce pain during everyday activities.

3. Immune Booster and Detoxifier

While most people might associate the key benefits of Pilates with defined abdominals, a brief look at the origins reveals far-reaching potential to heal various systems within the body. Joseph Pilates refined his exercise system while he interned on the Isle of Wight in World War I and used it keep the prisoners fit. Conditions in the camp were poor, yet when influenza struck England the campmates were unaffected.While Joseph’s assertions that this was due to his training regime may be an urban myth, the potential of Pilates to support and improve immunity through its effects on the lymphatic system now have some scientific evidence. According to lymphatic system specialist Katharina Hesse, Pilates movement helps drain the lymphatic system and detoxify the body by mobilizing joints where lymph nodes are located and by stimulating the area around the navel, another site for lymph nodes. Pilates can also have a positive influence on the digestive system because of its massaging effect on the organs and the unique way it moves the body in all different planes. Exercises like single leg stretch on the mat or stomach massage on the Reformer are great examples of how Pilates can aid the digestive system and encourage detoxification.

4. The Benefits of Pilates for a Long, Strong Life

We all know about the weight-bearing benefits of Pilates, but did you know that challenging the body in this way is essential for skeletal health? Osteoporosis, the degeneration of bone density that can occur as we age, is a major health concern in the older population. This is particularly significant given the fact that over-65 is the fastest-growing age group in the country. Age UK predicts that nearly one in four people in the UK will be 65 or over by 2040. Rebekah Rotstein, a Pilates for osteoporosis specialist, explains why these exercises are so important for strong bones: “Bone is dynamic tissue, like muscle, that strengthens in response to forces it has to resist. Gravity is one such force, and working against gravity is what we refer to when speaking of “weight-bearing exercise.”

The Controlled nature of Pilates movements and the ease with which tension can be modified makes Pilates ideal for older people to weight-bear safely and effectively.

Balanced Body Inc’s. Ken Endelman explains how Pilates teaches control and stability. This is “crucial for older adults as it can help them improve much of their functional movement, including balance and posture.” The focus on balance, posture and alignment can help prevent older adults from falling, which is the main cause of fractures. Yet this emphasis on creating a strong, stable skeleton through movement should not only apply to the elderly. Rotstein, who herself was diagnosed with osteoporosis at the age of 28, champions Pilates as excellent for younger people, particularly as an accompaniment to exercise programs such as weight-training. The emphasis on correct alignment means that when performing movements under load, the forces are distributed evenly through the pelvis and spine. This makes Pilates a safe and effective way to boost bone health. Experts like Rotstein maintain that if you do this, you will reap the rewards for years to come.

If you found these benefits of Pilates insightful, please share with your social network or Pilates peers!

Blog Written by Moss Pilates London @Polestarpilatesuk

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Fascia in Pilates

by Polestar Pilates7 Comments

Chances are you’ve heard about fascia and its importance in the human body – But how do we take this information and apply it to our training sessions with clients? – Kate Strozak

Fascia is a connective tissue that runs continuously throughout the entire body. According to the International Congress of Fascial Research, the fascial system:

“…consists of the three-dimensional continuum of soft, collagen containing, loose and dense fibrous connective tissues that permeate the body. It incorporates elements such as adipose tissue, adventitiae and neurovascular sheaths, aponeuroses, deep and superficial fasciae, epineurium, joint capsules, ligaments, membranes, meninges, myofascial expansions, periostea, retinacula, septa, tendons, visceral fasciae, and all the intramuscular and intermuscular connective tissues including endo-/peri-/epimysium.

The fascial system surrounds, interweaves between, and interpenetrates all organs, muscles, bones and nerve fibers, endowing the body with a functional structure, and providing an environment that enables all body systems to operate in an integrated manner.”

Some in the field also propose that bone is calcified or mineralized fascia. Fascia is an important communication network in the body that communicates via photons. Its depth and function is remarkable!

Being aware of what fascia is and where it is located is a great start to incorporating our understanding of it in movement education and science.

Have you also ever wondered why continuously stretching what you think to be muscle tissue doesn’t consistently yield results in you or your clients?

Perhaps it’s not the muscles that need impacting but a fascial restriction that is producing sensations of tightness, restriction, or rigidity. How do you address this? I propose a whole body movement integration session with manual therapy, movement, or a combination of the two.

Some schools of fascial-based modalities advise long, sustained holds to facilitate fascial releases. Other modalities might advise movement-based techniques to promote tissue gliding and release. I’d recommend trying both and seeing how your client responds. Every body is different, so some people might respond better to one technique over another.

An example of a sustained hold would be a supine stretch over the ladder barrel where you can facilitate release of tissues in the front of the body by sustaining the position and breathing for 5 minutes.

The ladder barrel could be too extreme a range of motion for a client, in which case lying over a bolster, foam roller, or even on the ground might be more ideal. Make sure that your client is comfortable and isn’t feeling an extreme pull or tension anywhere. An example of a movement based fascial release could be book openings where you’re rotating into the position and rotating from the position in order to facilitate a release of tissues on the front of your body.

Fascia runs continuously throughout the depths of the human body, so how can we impact those deepest fascial tissues? As Joseph Pilates intuitively knew, breath!

Practicing 3 dimensional, natural breathing that embraces the movement of our rib cage and diaphragm is perhaps the most accessible way to influence the fascial system. Applying your breath to sustained holds or to movements will help reap more benefits from your intervention.

As one final thought on fascia and its role in movement, our tissues respond to the loads and demands we place upon it.

When we palpate and feel “tight tissue,” it might be there for a very good reason and not meant to be broken down or released. For example, our IT-bands. Our IT-bands have the tensional strength to lift a 2-ton car. In the human body, IT-bands support stability in the lower limbs and pelvis, help with knee tracking, and more. More so than releasing IT-bands, we could help people by addressing their methods of stability and their strategies for movement.

If you’re looking for more information on fascia there are great resources out there. The International Fascia Research Congress offers yearly conferences, many massage therapy modalities focus on fascial tissue, and you can find all of the latest research on fascia utilizing research databases such as pubmed.

Interested in Learning more? Try our Online Course:

Subtle Energy and Pilates

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Why are Pilates Chairs so Different in Design?

by Polestar PilatesLeave a Comment

You might have noticed that there is a big difference in the widths, heights, and depths of different brands and models of chairs, which lends itself to confusion when learning the Pilates chair repertoire and difficulty when deciding which chair to purchase. The great news is, you can choose your preference based on the outcome you’re looking for!

The dimensions of the chair affect the physics of movement. Some chairs, such as Stott’s and Balanced Body’s combo chairs, are noticeably higher from the ground and narrower in the seat. The benefit of this is that they are easier for people who are restricted in low sitting mobility to utilize the chair for exercises such as double leg pump/seated footwork. With this additional height, you’ll also notice that they align with the height of most Cadillacs, which can provide extra support with exercises such as swan or lateral flexion.

Have you noticed the distance between the pedal and the seat of the chair?

This is very important to consider when you’re doing exercises such as reverse swan and teaser when you’re seated on the chair and reaching back to the pedal. Having a shorter distance means that the spring tension will support you sooner in the exercise. On the flip side, having a greater distance between the pedal and the chair when doing swan will place less demand on the degree of your spine extension.

Lower chairs can be helpful when doing exercises such as forward lunge/step up. You have less distance to travel vertically if your chair is lower to the ground. A lower chair also means less distance between your client and the ground, which can lend itself towards increased comfort and stability. Having deeper chairs can be helpful in exercises such as reverse swan and teaser because you’ll have more surface area to support your back.

In a nutshell, there are a few important variables to consider when using the chair and these variables will impact the experience of an exercise for us and for our clients and patients. In my dream studio, I would have one chair of every brand and model, although I recognize this would make group classes impossible! Try a variety of exercises on each chair before deciding on the make and model of chair that would best serve you and your client/patient population.

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