We interviewed Polestar Educator Deborah Marcus! From Dancer to Pilates Instructor, Educator and Studio owner, read on to meet one of the best!
Polestar: What do you love about teaching / Pilates / Owning a Studio? Where did you take your Training and who was the educator?
DM: I love being an agent for another person’s discovery of their own self efficacy. Pilates is the perfect tool for this.
I meandered into the Pilates world in the 1980’s New York City via teachers like Andre Bernard and Jean Claude West while pursuing a career as a dancer and choreographer. I moved back to my hometown, San Mateo, CA after my first daughter was born and opened a studio, now called Movement Refinery Pilates. I found my way to the Polestar Teacher Training in 2008 where I studied with Sherri Betz in Santa Cruz, CA. It was an eye opening and transformative experience for which I am forever grateful!
Polestar: What are your current inspirations? What do you love about them?
DM: Many things inspire me every day: my clients who never give up, all quadrupeds, birds that fly solo and birds that fly in groups, human acts of bravery and kindness.
Polestar: Why Pilates? How did you find the practice?
DM: The continuum between assisted to resisted movement, closed chain to open chain, breath as a tool….these and other pathways inherent in the Pilates studio repertoire allow an individual to find her/his way from pain and dis-function to movement ease and function at any level of fitness. Personally, Pilates has eased my way through this journey before and after multiple surgeries. But what originally attracted me to Pilates was the specificity of the movement forms. I have to go back to my experience as a dancer trained in the style of Anton Decroux. It was incredible movement training that gave me an appreciation of how form and function are intimately intertwined in the health and well being of every human.
Polestar: What do you hope to convey in your teaching?
DM: The most powerful thing you can do for your own progress is to be in the moment. Easier said than done!
Polestar: Where would you love to vacation to?
DM: Antarctica and Japan. I have a second cousin who moved to a village deep in the Alaskan wilderness. I’d love to visit her.
Polestar: What is your favorite Quote?
DM: I don’t have one.
Polestar: Describe your movement style?
DM: Depends on the day and the place. Somewhere between sensuous and sharp, like the precision in a Bob Fosse jazz number . I recently had a Watsu treatment and I loved giving up to that movement state.
Polestar: What is your favorite apparatus or favorite way to move? What do you love about it?
DM: I enjoy the Chair. It takes up so little space and gives you the biggest bang for your buck with regards to gravity.
Polestar: What are you reading or learning about?
DM: I just finished Haruki Murakami’s surreal 1Q84. Another great read from him is What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir. Right now I’m half way through Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything, by Randi Hutter Epstein.
Polestar: How does Pilates inform your profession?
DM: Pilates as a profession is evolving on every level. The opportunity to learn more is always there thanks to organizations like the PMA, Polestar Continuing Education, and Balanced Body to name a few. I also am grateful for the privilege of being a Polestar Comprehensive Educator where I get to share my expertise gathered during many years of practice and learning from talented teachers. And, of course, teaching is learning. It never stops!
Deborah Marcus is Currently a Polestar Educator and the owner of Movement Refinery Pilates Studio in San Mateo, CA. Check out her post “Helping and Healing Through Pilates“
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I will be brief since this is a whole course in itself! We know that Idiopathic (no known cause) Scoliosis (IS) is a 3 dimensional spinal disorder that begins with anterior vertebral wedging due to RASO (relative anterior spinal overgrowth) during bone development. We also know that the rotational component of scoliosis exists as
both inter-vertebral torsion (rotation of one vertebra relative to another) and intravertebral torsion (an internal rotational distortion within each vertebra), most notably at the apical vertebra (the vertebra most deviated laterally from the vertical axis that passes through the sacrum).1
This distortion contributes to less joint motion at the apex of the curve and more at the transition points of the curve.
We see this to a greater degree in adults and to a lesser degree in adolescents who have a more flexible curve before bone maturity. This is apparent in a supine lateral flexion X-ray that assesses curve flexibility.
Better posture can be achieved by emphasizing the most fundamental principles of all intelligent movement disciplines: axial elongation and breathing. Scoliosis curve concavities are constantly under compression by gravity. Axial elongation encourages a natural re-alignment of the spine by using neuromuscular activity to reduce multi-plane compression and collapse of the concave side of the scoliosis curves.
Once the concavities (which include the ribs) are expanded, then breath can be used to further open the collapse through:
A research article was published in 2014 claiming that scoliosis curves can be reduced by doing side planks on the convex side of the curve, and was sensationalized in a WSJ article.2 But the research had many flaws3 and while interesting, it cannot make that claim. Muscular activity on both the concave and convex side of a scoliosis curve is inefficient and exercises that address each side are optimal for IS, including the Side Plank. Consider benefits of the Side Plank based on curve type:
Life takes us out of neutral spine…shouldn’t we train our scoliosis clients how to move their spine effectively out of neutral? The answer is of course yes…. but which movements and how much? This depends on your assessment of the client: Are they in pain? How much movement does the apex of each curve have? What is the curve type? What other muscle imbalances or injuries exist? What are their goals? Considering that the scoliosis spine tends to move more at the transition points and less at the apices, we may want to limit end range movements and emphasize elongation in postural shapes that minimize compression of the curve concavities. This will be more difficult for those with a double curve. So it is important to make critical decisions with your client based on your evaluation and their goals.
BP: What type of supportive systems are used in a home that you design?
K: They are all wood framed houses so normally wooden beams, columns or structural walls.
Sometimes when we want a long span of open space we use steel beams.
BP: How do you determine how many beams to put up in your house to keep the roof from
caving in?
K: So over 20 feet and under normally requires some sort of wooden beam. Over 20 will
require a bigger/stronger beam.
BP: What would happen if you have to little support?
K: Well the structure would fall, obviously.
BP: What would happen if you have too much support?
K: Too much… nothing would happen to the structure, but it would be a waste of resources.
BP: What other things make your job fun but challenging?
K: It’s fun because it’s creative and each family I design for is unique. It’s challenging for 2
reasons:
1. When the lots are small but people still want to build a big house on limited space.
2. Trying to accommodate everything they want but sometimes those things conflict with each
other physically. For instance, you want a window in the bathroom, but the desired location of
the bathroom is not on an exterior wall. So we either have to move the room, or not have
windows.
BP: Based on this interview I have supported the reasoning for why the quote, “as little as possible, as much as necessary” is important not only in Pilates and architecture but in life in general. Using too much stuff during a job wastes resources; using too little doesn’t create enough support. I have also realized that my job and Kally’s have more similarities than I once imagined. We both have to figure out what is best for our clients through creative and critical thinking. She describes her process of designing a house like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Kally knows what they want, but it is not always a quick fix. Similarly, when a new client walks into my door, they may have a goal for their body, but I know it will take multiple sessions to make that goal a reality.
Becky Phares, PMA®-CPT is a Polestar Pilates Graduate, Practitioner and contributor to the Polestar Life Weekly Blog. With more than 10 years of teaching Becky teaches at her studio The Body Initiative Pilates Studio in Lafayette, Louisiana. Find Becky and her Studio on Facebook: 