Written by Christi Idavoy – Polestar Educator and Polestar Pilates Biscayne Studio Owner “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything, what we think, we become.” – Buddha
Recalling a happy moment in your life can bring feelings of joy, as reminiscing on a challenging period in your life can bring feelings of pain or suffering. You can smell something that makes you remember a moment, place or person from you past, while listening to music a song may bring back very intense memories! Through our senses we experience thoughts that provoke both emotional and physical feelings. At Polestar Pilates, we spend a lot of time observing what thought-provoking images we use while we help restore and improve movement.
There are many schools of thought that have contributed to the field of imagery and what is called ‘Ideokinesis’. This form of somatic training was first conceived by Mabel Todd in the 1930s and it refers to the use of visual and tactile feedback that is meant to guide students, either during static postures or physical movements. Many have contributed to this body of work and along with the understanding of neuro-linguistic communication, we at Polestar have developed effective imagery and communication skills as a vehicle to improving movement.
If you take a moment and reflect on how you and others physically react to feelings like fear and anger or happiness and love, it will not take long to notice that what we feel is directly reflected in how we hold ourselves physically. When we are afraid we tend to crouch down. When we feel rage we tend to feel a rise in our body temperature and an accelerated heart beat and breathing pattern. When in love we feel light and hold our heads up high. We can use this increased awareness when we are guiding others through movement, especially when we are helping restoring movement after pain or injury, to bring about a positive experience. The thoughts that we hold while we are moving or teaching will make all the difference in how the nervous system responds. It will also make us better able to communicate and find empathy with clients who are in pain or are having difficulty moving.
As we become aware of how our emotions effect our posture and the functioning of our involuntary systems, like our respiratory and circulatory systems, we can really start to appreciate how important our choice of words are as movement teachers and healers.
Visualizing the movement within the mind’s eye (either as movement within the body or in space), without any conscious muscular effort, primes neural pathways and reprograms unnecessary and unwanted muscular tension. We allow our body’s unconscious intelligence to pave the way for the desired movement. Brent Anderson often speaks about cueing the nervous system rather than the muscles, which makes complete sense when analyzing animals and children in nature, as the ancient yogis and our more contemporary Joseph Pilates did. When you go about your day, when a child plays in the park, when an animal hunts for its’ prey, it does not solicit conscience muscle activity in order to perform its activities. These activities in a natural environment occur unconsciously. With this understanding, if our training is to be ‘functional’ and prepare us for real-life activities, we should train in a way that mimics and promotes what we will need in order to safely and efficiently perform our tasks, namely healthy unconscious movement coordination. So how do we do this? We rely heavily on meaningful imagery cues!
Photo credit: Pilates Anytime“Physical practice combined with mental practice can lead to more improvement in motor performance and strength than either physical or mental practice alone. Physical practice combined with mental practice can lead to more improvement in motor performance and strength than either physical or mental practice alone.” 1
If you regularly teach and take classes, and even if you tend to practice or work-out on your own, observe your thoughts and the feelings that arise and ask yourself if they are helping or hindering your performance. Keep a journal on your experience and notice your transformation!
Written by: Lana Johnson, Sydney, Australia based POLESTAR mentor and Physiotherapist
I have had many interesting and valid questions of late from a variety of health professionals and patients, centered around the question of core stability and its role in Pilates and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Many of them have been brought to light by Eyal Lederman’s article, ‘The Myth of Core Stability’ in The Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies.
I feel obliged to mention that my point of view is shaped by my various lenses; Physiotherapist, Pilates Instructor, ConnectTherapy Practitioner (formerly known as ISM Practitioner), dancer and human movement enthusiast! Given this blending of manual and movement therapy, as well as the intermingling of evidence based practice, it is little wonder at times that I feel stretched between different paradigms and constantly evolving evidence and beliefs.
I appreciate Dr Lederman’s work in shining the evidence-based torch on ‘Core Stability’. It helps to keep us as health professionals honest when making evidence based decisions for our patients and acts as a guide to highlight where the ‘Marketing Health Machine’ has extrapolated research findings for use in its own purpose. However catchy, his title, ‘The Myth of Core Stability’, does little to help clarify the inconsistencies of language and understanding which currently surround the manual and movement therapy worlds. I believe the only myth here, lies in our definition of the term “core stability”, rather than in the actual practice of it!
If you define core stability purely in terms of ‘strength’ and limit it to being region specific (ie trunk musculature only), then the myth of core stability is rampant. Tighten all of your ‘trunk’ muscles and notice how you feel and how your movement is. For most people it feels limiting and stiff. Any good movement therapist will tell you that the body works as an integrated whole and practising only chest lifts on the mat, or holding a plank for 5 minutes will not cure nor prevent back pain brought on by 1 hour of sitting!
If you however define core stability in terms of the whole organism (physical body, both peripheral and central as well as the mind) then there is no myth at all. Hundreds of manual and movement therapists understand that a well-constructed movement session helps a body recovering from injury or from poor movement strategies to regain options for movement both from a peripheral and central point of view. In fact what is happening in these sessions is not ‘core stability’ training as defined above but rather ‘integration’, whereby bodies are reminded how to ‘problem solve’ movement deficits through various central and peripheral paths.
Thus I think it is about time that we throw away the tarnished phrase ‘core stability’ and define a new term, like Polestar Pilates’ ‘Movement Integration.’ That helps build bridges between manual and movement therapists, aid communication and get back to improving the lives of our patients!
Testimonial from Polestar Turkiye Educator Akın Saatçi
“I was on Turkey’s national rowing team for over 13 years. During that time, I won more than 100 medals all over the world: world cups, championships, etc. Of course by the end of my time on the team, I had plenty of injuries: shoulder, both knees, 11 disc problems in all levels of the spine.
Doctors said that I needed surgery and that there was a risk of me not being able to do any sports again.
This was indescribable for me as a young athlete.
While attending Boston University and Bogazici University in Turkey, I studied management and marketing business in tourism, like all of my family. But after a year of work I realized that I wanted to do something with sports. By that time I had horrible, chronic pain in my knees, neck, and back.
One day I pursued Pilates education. I had no desire to become a Pilates instructor: I wanted to be a personal trainer. However, I thought that if I opened a gym, I would want to offer Pilates as well, so even though I thought I would never do or teach Pilates, I knew I would need to know [Pilates] so I can better manage my studio and staff.
In those 2 weeks, all of my pain went away and I fell in love with Pilates.
After some time I opened my own Pilates studio. I still took Crossfit education and certification, and without any surgery I started to run full marathons. I became a comprehensive Pilates instructor from a good 450-hour Pilates school.
But I wanted to do more and learn more. While I was talking with all of the well-known schools around the world, only Polestar replied with an interest in who I was.
Even before participating in the course I felt welcome, valued and worthy.
During the course and after it this feeling grew. Of course all Pilates schools value other people, but when I was in Polestar, even on the first day, I felt I was with my family; I felt like I was home.
During the course, I also realized how little I knew about anatomy, teaching techniques, principles of Joseph, etc. I knew a lot of exercises, but now I know something deeper than that.
Most of all what changed in my life with Polestar is that I realized how little I was doing for the world and for people. Yes, I teach Pilates in my studio, but what do I do for the people with no expectation of something in return?
I found out that what Joseph expected from all movement professionals is to be beneficial to the world.
Now I know what “impact the world through intelligent movement and lifestyle” means.
We as Pilates lovers should impact the world, help people, and do good for the world, not just with our money or donations. We have to impact the world with our body, mind and spirit.
“I am Polestar.”
Follow Akin on Instagram (@akinsaatci_polestarpilates) and at Polestar Turkiye
Runners Knee – Discover the science behind the injury and how to prevent and treat PFPS.
Many of our online followers have been asking us about patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), more commonly known as runner’s knee. What is it? What exercises can prevent it? What exercises can treat it? With the abundance of conflicting information on the internet, finding answers to these questions can feel like a wild goose chase. We called on Juan Nieto, Polestar educator and co-founder/master trainer of Runity, to shed some light on the science behind runner’s knee and what you can do to prevent and treat it.Among runners, lower extremity injuries are very common– up to 79.3% of runners will experience these injuries, about half of which occur in the knee (Van Gent et al., 2007). Patellofemoral pain syndrome, also called anterior knee pain syndrome or runner’s knee, describes an overuse disorder that occurs in the patellofemoral region and results in pain behind or around the anterior knee. The causes of PFPS can vary widely due to the complex interactions between intrinsic anatomic and external training factors (Collado et al., 2010). In other words, runner’s knee describes the symptoms of a painful knee injury, not the cause of the injury. The cause is subjective and depends on the runner’s anatomy, strategy, and training.Searching the internet to find specific exercises for your runner’s knee will produce a mixed bag of results due to the subjective nature of the injury. Depending on whether your injury is associated with vastus medialis/vastus lateralis imbalance, hamstring tightness, or iliotibial tract tightness, the best exercises to treat it will vary. What can you do to prevent runner’s knee? According to Juan, there’s no standard set of exercises to prevent the injury since it depends on the person and their movement strategy. When choosing exercises, it’s important to pick exercises that bring relief and do not flare up pain. The only true method of prevention is to make sure that the tissue capacity of the runner is bigger than the workload. In other words, the runner has to be fit enough to run the distance they want to run and allow the appropriate resting periods in between to let the tissues recover. Additionally, technique retraining could reduce the amount of ground reaction forces that the runner is receiving, meaning they can run the same volume but reduce the workload for the tissues.If you already have runner’s knee, what can you do to treat it? Again, there’s no magic routine to treat the condition because causes vary. The best thing you can do is see a movement specialist who can conduct a proper assessment and use sound clinical reasoning to design an exercise plan, test it out, and modify it as necessary to settle on a final selection of exercises that create gradual, positive adaptation (strengthening) without irritation. If you have runner’s knee, it’s important to remember to avoid irritative exercises and to try to resist running too much too soon. Most importantly, KEEP MOVING! Movement heals and having positive movement experiences throughout the body will quicken the healing process for your injury.Want to learn more about efficient, pain-free running, try RUNITY
When something is very natural it’s often compared to breathing; an implicit trust in an unconscious process. 17, 000 breaths a day is as natural as it comes. That’s why you’ll be surprised to know there are better breathing techniques than regular breath that Pilates encourages. We sat down with our Director of Curriculum,Shelly Power, to set the record straight on breathing for Pilates. There are many ways the breath is useful and integral to movement.Generally, how does proper breathing help Pilates?Proper breathing’ is such a funny expression – as if there are good and bad breathers. We joke that most ‘bad breathers’ are dead. Seriously though, the main thing to remember, is to breathe. Joseph Pilates is often quoted as saying ‘breathe in the air and out the air’. That is great advice. What Pilates brings is breath awareness and control. Students often ask me ‘what is the right way to breathe?’ ‘Should I be inhaling or exhaling?’ What I really want to say is, ‘yes’. At first breath, however, it’s most comfortable. As a teacher, I observe what comes natural and decide when I can use the breath in a different way to assist or challenge the student. Sometimes we use breathing to help the body move and sometimes we use it to help the body stay stable. And, sometimes we move to help us breathe. So, the breath really depends on what you want. There is a quote from Blandine Calais-Germain about spontaneity, “This, in some activities (even very complex ones) there may be a total lack of breath training because ‘only spontaneous breathing will harmonize well with the movement.’Is there a certain “intensity of breath” across all Pilates movements? How might an instructor cue on the proper amount?In Polestar we like the intensity of the breath to match the intensity of the movement. You don’t breathe the same way walking as you do when you’re running. It’s the same in Pilates. Certain movements require a stronger breath, some require something softer. It often depends on what your desired outcome is. Is the current style of breathing making the movement better or is it getting in the way? If the student is distracted by too much focus on the breath, let it go and just let them breathe comfortably. Eventually, we should really be able to change the breathing patterns with ease.Dr. Larry Cahalin discussing improved breathing habits with PilatesWhich Pilates exercises are closely related to breath control?The most well-known Pilates breathing exercise is The 100. It consists of breathing in for 5 counts, then out 5 counts 10 times, all the while maintaining the torso in a rolled up position with the legs outstretched. It’s a challenging exercise, to say the least. There are others but this is the one most everyone knows.Why is too much of a focus on breath a negative?Focusing on exactly when to inhale and exhale often gets in the way of the movement being performed. Especially when a student is new to Pilates. Having students breathe comfortably is sometimes a better approach at first, so as not to overwhelm them. Too much or little of anything isn’t great. Find a happy medium until the student can coordinate the movement and the breath.Canbreath for Pilates be applied to other movement disciplines (high-intensity workouts/meditation)? Pilates movements help to create mobility throughout the body which is crucial for good and efficient air exchange. During high-intensity workouts, there is a lot of air that is exchanged. The better our ribs, spine, shoulder girdle and trunk muscles function, the easier it is to breathe. Conversely, resting breath should be efficient and should really just use the diaphragm, the primary muscle in breathing. No need to use a lot of other muscles.Can it improve daily functions around breath or movement?Absolutely. Practicing different styles of breathing can help to both improve mobility in the thorax and strengthen the muscles associated with breathing. If our torso is rigid, it makes it difficult to expand the ribs when inhaling and to narrow the ribs when exhaling. The latter is often associated with people who are obese, women who have just given birth, and in addition to the changes in the lung tissue, COPD. They often lack the mobility and strength to close the rib cage and squeeze the air out of the lungs. Many Pilates movements can assist in restoring better functionWhat are the consequences of poor breathing habits?One of the biggest consequences of poor breathing habits is a lack of energy. The first goal of breathing is gas exchange – to rid the body and CO2 and take in O2. In addition to the physiological needs, we also improve posture with better breathing techniques and can change our mood or state with more energetic or quiet breath styles. Long, slow breaths can bring us toward a more calm state. This is often the goal of meditation and relaxation techniques. A more vigorous breath gives us energy and can make us more aware and alert.Breath should be natural and spontaneous. Shelly and Brent delve deeper into breath in their video ondiaphragmatic breathing. It’s always good to take a step back and reevaluate the basics, even if you feel you mastered it centuries ago.
Become Polestar trained and study with Senior Polestar Pilates educator Shelly Power at the upcoming Transition Intensive.Transition (Bridging) Pilates Teacher Training
Polestar Educator Dr. Diedra Manns of Monarch Wellness in Santa Monica CA shares her musings on Pilates, the Butterfly Effect and the “End of the World”.
My Hometown / About Me Although I live near Santa Monica, CA now I was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. Go Mounties! Woman of a certain age, physical therapist, scientist, entrepreneur, speaker/lecturer, content developer, dancer, coach, compassionate people lover who improves lives through movement.What is your favorite things to teach your clients?One of my favorite tips is to teach my clients how to use the wrinkles in their shirts as a guide to postural awareness. For instance, if the shirt they’re wearing has a lot of wrinkles in the back and not many in the front, they are likely standing in a hyper-lordotic posture (excessive spine extension) which can lead to compression of the facet joints in the lumbar spine, pain and stiffness. However, when the shirt wrinkles are smoother and more symmetrical from front to back it can signal better spinal alignment and can often result in ease with movement as well as standing.Tell us an “aha!” MomentOne of the most impactful moments of my life was during my adventure with cancer. During that time, I made the conscious choice to experience the journey as a chrysalis moment and integrated lifestyle adjustments and approaches that created an environment for growth into my next form. This is the time I discovered the “butterfly effect.”The butterfly effect is a term coined by Edward Lorenz a meteorologist, mathematician and one of the major contributors to the chaos theory. The theory can be pretty technical if you choose to go down the rabbit hole but to quickly summarize it says that small, nearly imperceptible changes made in a complex system can have a massive impact on that system over time. The concept is imagined with a butterfly flapping its wings in the U.S. causing a typhoon in the Philippines a few weeks later.I often refer to the butterfly effect when coaching clients. My primary goals are to help them recognize that they may experience some internal and external environmental chaos because they’re creating change. And to generate an awareness that the smallest fluctuations they make in their life (i.e. postural awareness) will likely result in a positive difference in moving towards a life with less pain. For more on the Butterfly Effect check out – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effectWhat are you Currently Reading?I’m on my third read of Explain Pain by David Butler & Lorimer Moseley.What is your Favorite Way to Wind Down?A sunset walk on the bike path at the end of the world (also known as the Santa Monica Beach).Learn more about Dr. Diedra Manns, Pilates and Monarch Wellness at:Monarch Wellness Inc. Santa Monica, CA monarchwellnessinc.com www.facebook.com/MonarchWellnessInc @monarchwellnessinc
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Although I live near Santa Monica, CA now I was born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey. Go Mounties! Woman of a certain age, physical therapist, scientist, entrepreneur, speaker/lecturer, content developer, dancer, coach, compassionate people lover who improves lives through movement.
What is your favorite things to teach your clients?
One of my favorite tips is to teach my clients how to use the wrinkles in their shirts as a guide to postural awareness. For instance, if the shirt they’re wearing has a lot of wrinkles in the back and not many in the front, they are likely standing in a hyper-lordotic posture (excessive spine extension) which can lead to compression of the facet joints in the lumbar spine, pain and stiffness. However, when the shirt wrinkles are smoother and more symmetrical from front to back it can signal better spinal alignment and can often result in ease with movement as well as standing.
Tell us an “aha!” Moment
One of the most impactful moments of my life was during my adventure with cancer. During that time, I made the conscious choice to experience the journey as a chrysalis moment and integrated lifestyle adjustments and approaches that created an environment for growth into my next form. This is the time I discovered the “butterfly effect.”
The butterfly effect is a term coined by Edward Lorenz a meteorologist, mathematician and one of the major contributors to the chaos theory. The theory can be pretty technical if you choose to go down the rabbit hole but to quickly summarize it says that small, nearly imperceptible changes made in a complex system can have a massive impact on that system over time. The concept is imagined with a butterfly flapping its wings in the U.S. causing a typhoon in the Philippines a few weeks later.
I often refer to the butterfly effect when coaching clients. My primary goals are to help them recognize that they may experience some internal and external environmental chaos because they’re creating change. And to generate an awareness that the smallest fluctuations they make in their life (i.e. postural awareness) will likely result in a positive difference in moving towards a life with less pain. For more on the Butterfly Effect check out – 
I’m on my third read of Explain Pain by David Butler & Lorimer Moseley.
What is your Favorite Way to Wind Down?
A sunset walk on the bike path at the end of the world (also known as the Santa Monica Beach).
Learn more about Dr. Diedra Manns, Pilates and Monarch Wellness at:
