Teacher Training

Six Tips To Better Cue The Breath in Pilates

By Polestar UK Mentor Kristin Loeer. If you are interested in learning more about Kristin’s approach to working with the breath in Pilates you may be interested in the upcoming workshop “The Movement of Breathing” which will be hosted by Polestar Pilates UK in November 2022.


I have never met a client who was not confused or insecure about the nature and function of their breathing. In fact, I have never met a client who, when asked about it, did not assume that they are “probably breathing badly”. People are exposed to plenty of breathing cues in Pilates and Yoga classes. Outside of the studio, there is also an abundance of breathing practices and breathing apps.

So why is there such confusion and lack of confidence about breathing? And secondly, I dare ask, do we, as movement professionals who cue breathing all the time, feel all that confident about it ourselves?”

After all, we may have learned that thoracic breathing is the way to go. Or we were told that deep diaphragmatic breathing is important. We may feel compelled to remind people to take deep breaths during movement because we see their tendency to hold their breath. Then again we may wonder about the exhale because if we do not breathe out we can not take in fresh air either. When we add Pilates to the equation and start talking about inhaling and exhaling in relation to movement we can easily overwhelm our clients, if not ourselves.

The Breath as Autonomic and Conscious Process

The reason why the subject of breathing causes never-ending confusion is that breathing is both a very finely tuned autonomic process, as well as under our conscious control. Hence it can be altered, but we may wonder whether it should be. This will always have a very complex impact on the rest of our being. 

Just like digestion or heart rate, breathing is orchestrated largely by our autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is influenced by our life experiences. It is constantly responding and adapting to external and internal changes. Its main concern at all times is homeostasis and survival.  

The Breath As A Tool

As mentioned, unlike heart rate and digestion, breathing is also under our conscious control. I can choose to lengthen my exhale or to hold my breath. I do not have the same control over my heartbeat or digestive processes. This makes breathing such a powerful tool. We can use it when we want to become calmer or more alert and of course, it gives us the opportunity to optimize movement through breath. 

I am a practitioner, who specializes in somatic trauma work. My belief is that it is important to remember that while we can alter our breathing and create powerful change through it, breathing is a carefully and deliberately orchestrated nervous system process. No matter how inefficient or dysregulated a client’s breathing pattern may seem, in my experience, it is never random. There is no such thing as “lazy breathing”, “wrong breathing” or “I forget to breathe”.

There is nothing the nervous system does without good reason or without its key concern being survival. 

This does not mean that we should not work with our breath. It means that we need to go about it gently and respectfully. We need to be aware that there is a reason for the client’s current breathing pattern, and that if we try to alter it, there may be pushback from the client’s nervous system. We can bring about positive change indeed if the nervous system recognizes that this change in breathing is helpful. On the other hand, if we are not careful we might promote a messy interference with the nervous system’s autonomic process, which does not serve the client well.

Here are my six top tips for how to work with the breath in both private Pilates sessions and group classes:

1. Observe The Breathing Pattern

Particularly in private sessions, we have the opportunity to observe our client’s breathing both in stillness and motion.

Let’s not be too hasty with our wish to help them use their breath better. Let’s be curious about what their body is naturally doing. Also, consider how breath might change automatically as we work with using other cues. It is very possible that your soothing voice or their awareness of their body’s movement against the ground settles their nervous system. This alone might regulate their breathing without you having to address it directly.

2. Make Breathing Cues Relevant To The Client.

As with movement, respond to what you are observing rather than using generic, popular cues.

Some people do indeed breathe shallowly. Others have already been told they do so and are now stuck in compensating patterns of excessive abdominal breathing. Many people inhale more than they exhale, however, there are also a fair few people who stretch their exhales and barely feel the need to inhale. The point is that no one person breathes the same and we need to be careful not to generalise and give people cues that are not useful to them.

3. In Group Classes: Offer Different Breathing Cues To Explore.

In group classes, it is much harder to observe and attend to individuals of course.

We need to be aware that not one breathing cue will work or be right for everyone. Let’s provide different options so that they can explore and be inspired by the cues that feel good to them. You might ask them to become aware of how much they breathe in compared to how much they breathe out. You might suggest they try out opposite options within an exercise to let them decide what feels right for them. Also, give people the option to ignore the breath-related cues altogether. They may simply not be in a place where they feel safe to explore their breathing patterns. 

4. Use Positive And Invitational Language

Whether you work with individuals or a group, when it comes to breathing I strongly recommend using invitational language.

Let’s remember that the nature of our breathing is closely linked with our sense of survival. It is important to put the client in charge of their breath. Encourage them to be present and curious with their breath. Reassure them that while they may want to try out making changes, their natural breathing is not wrong and they can return to it whenever they want.  

5. There Is No Failure. 

A client may simply not be able to access the shift in breathing we are encouraging them to find.

This may bring about a sense of failure in the client. Let’s remember that the nervous system always has the final say and if it does not deem a change safe it will not allow it. You can communicate this to the client by explaining how their body is “saying no” to this today and how over time it can change its mind”. Encourage the client to explore and “play with this again later.”  

6. Bring Awareness To The Impact

If the client’s breathing does change, allow them time to experience this without adding any further new information or cues.

It can take a few minutes to explore this and to become aware of the holistic impact this change has had. They may feel calmer, stronger, or experience more flow in the movement. This positive shift is really worth exploring! It has the potential to integrate and perhaps become the new normal. They may become emotional, anxious, or irritated and feel their movements ‘disintegrate’. It is important for the client to experience whether this shift is positive for them or not. They can revert back to their previous way of breathing if they need to. 


If you would like to learn more about my approach to working with the breath in Pilates you may be interested in my upcoming workshop “The Movement of Breathing” which I will be running for Polestar Pilates UK in November 2022. For more information please contact me @kristinloeer_movement .

Kristin Loeer

Why “Exercises To Fix Back Pain” is a Headline to Avoid

Watch the #PilatesHour Episode 105 “Chronic Low Back Pain” with Brent Anderson and Juan Nieto Here.

Juan Nieto PT, DO, NCPT is the director of Polestar Spain and a frequent international lecturer specializing in rehabilitation through movement and athletic performance. In 2016, along with Brent Anderson and Blas Chamorro, Juan founded RUNITY, a start-up created with the purpose of transforming the Running industry by providing runners with the tools and knowledge they need to practice “painless running”.

Brent Anderson PT, PhD, OCS, NCPT, Polestar Founder. With over 30 years of experience in rehabilitation and movement science, Brent is passionate about the power positive movement experiences have in changing the world. Early in his career as a Physical Therapist with a specialty in dance medicine, he discovered the power and efficacy of Joseph Pilates’ mind-body work to expedite rehabilitation outcomes. This early testament to the power of the Pilates Method inspired him to create a program that merged the worlds of traditional rehabilitation with the mindful movement that Pilates provides.


JN: The results of our survey match the prominent studies on chronic pain, and we often see the knee having prominence in chronic pain.

BA: That’s right – our work together with RUNITY has shown us the most common causes of knee pain in runners. These include lack of dorsiflextion, hip external rotation, and thoracic extension.  When we look at society’s sedentary lifestyle, it’s no wonder we see knee pain across the board. 

JN:  If you look at the load management model it makes a lot of sense. There has to be this balance between the load which you apply to the tissues as well as movement distribution and segmental movement. When there is a lack of movement somewhere there has to be excessive movement somewhere else. Especially in places like the low back and knee (hinge stable joints).

Is chronic pain a measure of tissue damage? No, pain does not equate to tissue damage, and typically anything over 3 months is considered chronic by definition.

JN: Most of my patients have had chronic low back pain for 3 or more years and I see a significant amount of clients for this reason. How can we really get a whole perspective of what is going on with clients with CLBP?

We cannot help everyone. It can be hard to accept that there are some patients that we may not be able to help. We may not know enough, and it may not be a perfect fit. Your interventions will work sometimes and other times they won’t. We need to be ok with that.  Every practitioner has limitations. 

The body will heal, especially in the beginning, as in the first episode of back pain.  Each week you may see improvements. By the 20th episode of back pain, things become more complex. This is when the client is usually referred to a physical therapist. 

One of the best things you can do is deal with the acute situation or manage the pain well. The goal is to not allow it to escalate to a chronic situation.

 BA: I really admire the military model of dealing with low back pain. In this, the first two weeks of early intervention are spent differentiating and managing the symptoms. Many of the people following this model get better and do not need MRI’s, medical injections, surgery, or pharmaceuticals. 

JN:  We live in this world in which pain is something we think we need to eliminate. Think about the world “Pain Killers”. As if zero pain is the only valid amount of pain. I think that this is a poor framework. 

If you truly want to kill pain and reduce pain to zero, and this is the goal of your therapy – you are going to fail…

Juan Nieto

However, you must understand that pain is something that your body has in order to tell you that there is a potential threat to your health.

Magic Exercises

Stop chasing the “magic exercises” and “magic recipe” of what to do with your clients who experience low back pain. It does not exist.  People ask me “what is the best exercise for low back pain?”. This is like asking me “what is the best food in the world?”. Who knows! It is entirely individual and a silly question to ask because it depends on the person and the moment.  One exercise can have a beneficial outcome for one person and a negative outcome for another.  

Every time you see a thing on the internet like “exercises to fix back pain” – Run Away! Or at least keep scrolling. 

Juan Nieto

This will result in confusion. Can you imagine people attempting to do this magic exercise with their clients without understanding why they are doing it?  

BA:  So many people write to us asking “what exercises do I do for clients with low back pain?”. Ten people could have the same degenerate disease diagnosis with completely different exercise selections.  Like Juan said, there is no magic recipe.  But we can help you with things like your critical reasoning skills and asking the right questions.  

Critical Reasoning Skills: 

  • Is this a coordination and awareness problem? 
  • Could it be a behavioral problem? They could change the behavior and the problem goes away.
  • Have you considered a load problem? Perhaps they are not conditioned to handle the load in the lower back for longer than 10 minutes.  
  • Is the client presenting a mobility issue? Perhaps the client only moves from one place and has the strategy of moving from this certain place in their spine.  

I have had so many experiences where I have my client do bridging, some pelvic tilts, and breathing exercises. My goal is for them to learn to move from one or two more segments in their back. My patient says “wow I feel 50% better”. 

You have to keep in mind that low back pain can be very different for each individual.  There are times when two of my clients have the same diagnosis. I know there are differences in the individual’s work, relationships, stress, previous injuries, or beliefs, that interfere with their movement. This creates different paths to treatment for two clients with the same diagnosis. 

JN:  We can adopt the mindset of “let’s see what happens” when you prescribe exercises to a client.  There is no such thing as a certain exercise that will fix a problem with a client.  As movement instructors and physical therapists, we must become comfortable with this uncertainty. 

My online course on chronic low back pain, of which I receive terrific feedback from my students does not include any exercises. This was a deliberate decision that I made.  I can’t go and throw exercises into an online format course. Teachers will attempt to use exercises and if they don’t understand back pain and what they are dealing with the results won’t be good.  Treatment of low back pain needs to be based on the movement principles, assessment, interview, ICF model, and understanding of all of the variables and things that influence a client’s pain. 

ICF MODEL

What is the ICF model? International Classification of Function and Disability model developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

BA: We use the ICF model a lot at Polestar. It is particularly used by physical therapists and medical practitioners around the world.  It is used to classify a person’s physiological, functional, activity, and participation limitations.

At Polestar we put a big emphasis on “participation” in our assessment. We ask the client “what activities do you believe you should be able to participate in?”.  Maybe the response is “cycling 50 miles” or “hiking Mt Kilimanjaro”. Then as a movement instructor, I need to go seek, learn and discover what those activities require in my client’s body. I can then assess my client and look at where they currently are and where they believe they should be.  There is no “miracle sequence” you do twice a day, three times per week. 

Behavioral Bias

JN:  There is another huge group of questions we receive on low back pain. These are regarding the influence of posture, biomechanics, muscle firing, and recruitment patterns on low back pain. You may see some people with “bad” posture with pain and others with the same posture who don’t have any pain.  This is a good reminder that there is really no such thing as good or bad posture for everybody.  There will be certain movements, positions, and patterns that modulate and alleviate pain for some. The same movement can also irritate and create flare-ups for others.  

The wrong exercises for one person could be the right ones for another.  We need to really “move with them” side by side, and together.  Being together, learning together about their experience, and attempting to offer the little amount of movement that their system is able to accommodate.  If you are able to do this, the compounding effect of 1% over and over can lead to very positive results. 

So often people go to the physical therapist to be “fixed” and this is over the expectations of what the reality is. 

They need to get a little new way to deal with their pathology. Just change the trend slightly by 1%, this is the start. Chronic pain is a marathon and this is going to take time.  Some people come into my clinic who have been experiencing pain for 10 years. They have been building this pain for 20 years. They expect to see results in 25 minutes. This is entirely unrealistic. 

What we can do is provide a new way of dealing with it. A more active plan based on what they can do. We can show them the changes they can make in their lifestyle to make little improvements. Maybe we change the pain by 5%, but their perception of quality of life improves by 70%. Just that little bit of relief of disability makes a huge difference in their life. It’s like night and day.  These small changes can give them hope and something to work on which is great.  

BA:  I refer to some of this as behavioral bias. Sometimes we keep looking for a mechanical, physiological, or structural bias. Often times it is a behavioral bias.  They doen’t realize when they are sitting that they are starting to hurt. After 30 minutes of sitting they start to hurt. The goal is to change their behavior to know that the pain is an indicator to get up and move around. They need to catch the warning signs that they need to alleviate that pain that is starting to manifest. It is that first warning sign they often miss.  

JN:  You cannot learn if there is no attention. When you are in pain your attention goes to the painful experience. Your brain gets hijacked and your perception of pain is magnified.  You need the behavioral and cognitive knowledge to examine “what is causing this to happen?”.  Perhaps it’s a long time of sitting.  Your body is telling you that something is not working well for it. You learn to think “what can I do to change this?”.  

Our best Tools – Our Clients

BA:  Our best tools as movement practitioners are in the information the clients give us. Not what we give them.  I ask them “How do you feel when you are in this position? What happens if you move your pelvis this way or another? How do you feel? Does it feel better or worse?”.  

We need to move away from the sedentary world, get on the ground to play. To listen to what the body tells us, and really respect that.  When we’re sitting on the ground we’re changing positions every five seconds. This is because our body tissues are telling us we’ve been in a position too long.  A big step is to heighten our clients’ awareness in of their own bodies. Then they start managing their own symptoms.  Their awareness often turns on at the stage of pain, and by this point, it may be too late. 

If they can learn to identify something that is pre-pain, they start to take responsibility and they have awareness of what is going on in their own body. The more they have these positive experiences, the more their brain will adapt to this to reinforce the new behavior.  We all have our biases.  Our experience influences us, but education can counter a lot of bias.  Clients come in saying “this position is killing me, there is so much pain”. I ask them if they believe there is tissue damage happening right now? Is something tearing, is something breaking?  Usually, their response is “I don’t think so” and I agree with them. If there is no new tissue damage then what do we need to be aware of?  The brain is telling them that they need to be aware of their body and what is happening.  

This “awareness education” is one of our superpowers as Pilates instructors.

Brent Anderson

If we’re telling our clients everything to do and what exercises are going to make them better, then we’re not really helping them as much as we could. I am always amazed at how well people move when they have to govern themselves in their own exercise regime. 

Joseph’s Pilates 

JN: This is of course implicit in Pilates.  In order to do a proper Pilates practice you have to align body, mind, and spirit. This is what Joseph said!  When we are teaching Pilates we have a source and philosophy and we need to be aligned with the method.  

You let the people move like Joseph did, and trust in the process (something I tell my clients often). In the beginning when you start doing exercises you are simply investing. You may not really be able to see any immediate benefit from it for two or three weeks. After that you look back and have gained many benefits.  In the beginning, especially if you are in pain, you are going to be putting forth a lot of effort and time to take care of yourself. During this time noticeable improvement can seem very small.  You have to remember you are investing and in a few weeks, you will see the accumulation of your efforts.

When you allow your clients to move they tend to self-regulate and move well.  When you teach in the style you mentioned, asking your clients questions in order to raise awareness in specific parts of the body…this is huge and an accelerated version of this. 

Are you instructing your clients all the time on how they need to move, what they need to feel, how they need to breathe, and how many repetitions they need to do? I don’t think this has the same effect.  Of course, they may be moving and are probably getting stronger. I don’t think they will be improving their movement skills or communication within their body. 

It’s about letting your clients have the opportunity to be the protagonist of the situation while you guide them. 

Juan Nieto

BA: When you look at motor learning and movement acquisition, there is a balance of external and internal feedback.  In the beginning, it’s going to be a little heavier on the external feedback. This is us as Pilates instructors. As your clients progress into more procedural learning it’s going to be more internal feedback.  What we see sometimes is this “cueing vomit” from new Pilates instructors which can just be too much information for your clients.  We can do so much better! Think of that long-term plan and developing body awareness and mindfulness of their movement. Try to work on taking one step at a time. Just for today let’s start to get an idea of where your head is in space. That internal awareness creates long-lasting change.  When Joseph pilates talked about practicing Contrology every day, he didn’t mean going to a Pilates teacher every day – he meant something else.  


Juan’s Online Course is Live! This self-paced workshop presents the most up-to-date and evidence-based intervention tools for the management of clients with a history of Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP).

Assessing the Full Squat

Those of you who have been following Polestar for our critical reasoning, case studies, and problem-solving – I invite you to join me in our “Critical Reasoning for Rehabilitation & Post Rehabilitation” course.

Join me for a complete immersion over three days as we dive into assessment skills, the Polestar Assessment Tool (PAT), the International Classification of Function Model (ICF), designing movement programs, hands-on labs, and much more.

I hope to see you there!

Brent



What are we looking for when assessing the full squat? 

  • Can they perform a full squat? 
  • Can they keep their torso vertical? 
  • Are they able to disassociate at the hip? 
  • Do they have enough ankle dorsiflexion to be able to fully squat without lifting their heels? 
  • Do they understand the concepts and the relationships in the body that add up to the performance of the full squat? 

Common Movement Faults: 

  • Pitching/leaning forward 
  • Heels lifting off the floor 
  • Lack of Balance
  • Poor Leg Alignment
  • Rounded Spine

What are some reasons they might not be able to perform the full squat? 

  • Myofascial restrictions or muscular tightness could inhibit the motion in their spine, ankles, hips, or knees. 
  • They may have a fear of falling or fear of pain. 
  • There could be capsular problems in the ankle, knee, or hip.  
  • The client may have weakness in their lower extremities.

As Well As:

  • They may have knee pain or previous knee injuries that prevent them from moving into deep knee flexion.  
  • The client may not have enough thoracic extension to stay vertical in such a deep position.
  • Clients who’ve had a total knee replacement surgery often have restrictions into full knee flexion and will only get 120 or 130 degrees of knee flexion. 

How do we know what is important? How do we understand what we see? 

Asking questions is key to understanding what you see in your client.   The goal is to rule out some of the above reasons to help identify the key issues to focus on. It is also important to seek to understand. Take the time to run through multiple scenarios regarding what is causing the limitations in movement.   This practice and more will be workshopped at the upcoming “Critical Reasoning for Rehabilitation & Post Rehabilitation” course with Brent Anderson this June – find out more here.

How do we rule things out? 

One of the best ways to rule things out is to go through the reasons one by one and test them individually. Here is how I would rule out the following: 

Coordination and lack of awareness:

  • How to rule out: Use tactile and verbal cueing to see if you can improve the quality of the squat. 

Fear of falling or pain:  

  • How to rule out fear or pain: Offer support to decrease load, increase confidence or assist balance.  

Lack of control and strength: 

  • How to rule out: Have the client perform a half squat and see if they have the strength to straighten their legs or return from the squat. If it looks extraordinarily strong, this may not be their main issue. You may also try giving them some assistance to mitigate the load and see if their execution improves. 
  • How to rule out: Give your client a hand hold or allow them to perform the squat with balance assistance and see if their movement improves. 
  • How to rule out: Ask your client to be vocal with you. Throughout the movement, inquire why they think they are unable to perform the movement. 
  • Note: If they are lacking ankle dorsi-flexion and hip mobility, you may work toward increasing movement in the ankle and hips to decrease the stress on the knee and hopefully restore some semblance of a normal squat. You can immediately mitigate ankle load by adding a lift under the heels as stated above. 

Structural restrictions could inhibit the range of motion in their spine, ankles, hips, or knees:

  • How to rule out decreased ankle mobility: Put a prop like a wedge under their heels and see if they can move through the squat without issues. If they can, slowly decrease the lift and see how much assistance they need.  
  • How to rule out: Test thoracic extension separately and see if they have the required mobility. I would also look at the strength/control to hold the posture.  They may have the spine mobility but not control of it. 

What the Research Says 

We have seen research by Christopher Powers, Ph.D., PT from USC identifying weak hip abductors and rotators in the deceleration phase of our walking and jumping activities which correlates to knee pathologies.  

There are many who teach that the knee should not move in front of the toes when squatting, especially with lifting weights.  However, natural human squatting requires the knees to go in front of the foot.  We believe that a lot of the inability to comfortably and naturally squat can be attributed to a loss of ankle dorsiflexion which is thought to be a result of a long-term sedentary lifestyle.    


Join Brent Anderson for a deep dive into assessment skills and more.

How To Keep Your Groove After Two Hip Replacements wit Pilates

My hips needed some love.

I had osteoarthritis and my bones were wearing out from all of the movement that I did. Raising kids, being an early childhood educator, and my daily exercising, swimming, and walking, I have been very active.   I think all of this movement, plus my genetics wore out my hip joints! When you are able to move, and then you realize “I’m just not moving” someone needs to have a look.  My first experience doing Pilates was taking a couple of classes with my daughter at the Polestar Physical Therapy Center in Miami, Florida.  We thought “let’s try something new, a new way to exercise”.  Later I was invited to a Pilates teacher training at the center to participate as “a body” with student teachers who were practicing.  They led me in Pilates and assessed my skills, and between my two hip replacements, they did a fantastic job!  What I liked about Pilates is it’s all about me, it’s “me time”.  Even when there are 5 other people in the room my instructor says “you can make it heavier, lighter, or try alternate positions”.  I love that this helps me customize my movement and it keeps my joints lubricated. 

My New Motto: “Good to Go”

Before my hip replacements, I was an event planner at an elementary school. I remember as my hips were getting worse thinking, “please don’t give me a job where I have to walk across campus to the other building”.  After the first hip replacement, I was able to take long walks with my husband, bend, stoop, balance and move, and be with my grandson Zeb.  I could take trips with my sister without worrying about pain.  My motto became “good to go!” and I was thrilled to walk anywhere pain-free!  For both of my hip replacements, I received physical therapy at the hospital.  I loved moving with my PT and thought to myself “I bet she is a Polestar Pilates graduate” and not to my surprise she was.  We did movement on the elliptical machine, walked on the treadmill, and presses and lifts on the equipment.  Then I learned the clamshell, bridging with the ball, quadruped, and what I call the “donkey kick” – you push your leg up, up, up!

Pilates helps me keep everything moving!

Pilates helps me be with the people I love, other like-minded people at the studio, my husband, and my family. It helps me feel comfortable in my movement and helps me feel happy (it even helps in your romantic life) I Can Move!  Pilates is really a total self-care practice, for well-being, mental health, emotional health, and of course physical health.   My sense of well-being improves when I’m moving and I don’t feel like “the number 67” (my age). I feel younger in my body, mind, and heart.  Pilates is “me time”, I get to give myself the love and care that dominoes to the other people I love and care about.  Now I go to my neighborhood Pilates studio 2 or 3 times a week during the summer and fall.  

I have fully recovered from two hip replacements, I enjoy providing childcare for my 18-month-old grandson Zeb.  From picking him up and holding him, bending over, sitting on the floor with him, and playing in the tunnels. He even rides my back like a horse as I crawl around. I can enjoy bending over to change his diaper, walking him in the stroller, and playing with him at the park. We go to music class to play instruments, sing, and dance, and I love it all!  I think for a senior person, especially,  it really is all about moving.  If you lead a sedentary life and are not active, not with people you won’t feel great.  You just have to move!  Pilates gives me that opportunity to gently and effectively move and enjoy so many things like fully participating with the ones I love. 

Lyn Zuckerman is a retired early childhood educator living in Denver, Co.

A Yoga State of Mind

Christi Idavoy has dedicated her life to movement.  As a young dancer and philosophy student at NYU she found an instant affinity with the science and practice of yoga.  The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy in NYC was Christi’s second home as she studied the traditions of Swami Rama from 1999 – 2001.  On a voyage to share her passion for yoga as a healing art she moved to Costa Rica where she taught yoga and furthered her studies as a graduate student at the United Nations University for Peace.  In 2005 she stumbled into a Pilates studio in San Jose, CR where she started her career as a Pilates instructor. 

Today Christi has lectured and taught yoga and Pilates in many Latin American countries thanks to her role at Polestar Pilates Education.  When she met Polestar founder, Brent Anderson in 2009, she knew she had found the organization that would allow her to bring together her passion for international relations and development with her career as a movement practitioner.  With her extensive experience as a Polestar Senior Educator, Ambassador, and Examiner Christi is a truly a “teacher’s teacher”.


What if yoga were a mindset, a state of being, a way of identifying with ourselves?  What if we could bring this yogic identification into all of our activities, classes, and relationships? 

In celebration of International Yoga Day, we will have a look at what yoga is, how we can benefit from it and bring into our everyday lives. 

There is a universal order to which all things belong.  When we contemplate the natural rhythms of day and night, the way a seed becomes a tree, the rise and fall of our breath and heartbeat, we can see that there are patterns that repeat themselves, which are not dependent on our knowledge or understanding of them.  If we reflect on human development and the processes of the natural world we will find again and again a series of innate, unconscious living patterns that our lives depend on and yet, they do not depend on our cognition.  The observation of living organisms is what gives rise to many ancient schools of thought, including classical Hinduism. 

Just as these universal patterns inhabit and animate us, so are we able to witness and observe them with the right stimulation, guidance, and focus of the mind…this is where the yogic state of mind comes into play.

We often think of yoga as a series of movements and breathing exercises and while physical movement and breath is a part of the yogic system, yoga is actually a philosophical school of thought that addresses all aspects of life.  There are six schools of classical Hindu philosophy that originate in India, one of which is yoga.  The Indian sage Patanjali systemized yoga circa 200 BCE in the Yoga Sutras. 

Although references to yoga already existed in older Hindu scriptures, it is believed that the ancient texts were very varied and too complex for the general public.  It is also believed that Patanjali authored the Yoga Sutras by compiling the already existing teachings into a simpler and more concise format.  The Yoga Sutras are the most commonly referenced yoga text, making Patanjali the father of yoga in the eyes of many.  A sutra is a literary aphorism, or a small amount of text that contains a universal truth.  The word sutra literally means thread or string.  The Yoga Sutras are a series of brief statements weaving together universal truths, namely truths that are self-evident.  

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.2, defined yoga as the cessation of the fluctuations, or whirlings, of the mind.  We see here that the central focus of yoga is not the body or the breath, but rather the mind.  What is really interesting is that yoga is a verb. When we look at the etymology or origin of the word yoga, we find that the word yoga comes from the root ‘yuj’ meaning to yoke; to unite or bring together.  

It is something that we do.  So the question becomes, what is it exactly that we are bringing together?   

The human mind has the ability to travel in time.  We can spend countless hours reminiscing on the past or dreaming of what the unknown future has to bring.  Although it may not feel like it at times, our will determines where our mind goes.  We can choose to travel down the endless corridors of the imagination and we can also choose to think about how we feel in any given moment.  What we are yoking together in yoga is our mind with the present moment. 

The body and the breath are tools or vehicles that allow us to practice and embody presence.  Presence is the state of existing, fully immersed, in mind, body, and breath, in a present moment.  Realizing that you are not separate from your experience, but rather you are the essence of an experience. 

You are the agent of all that occurs because without you there would be no occurrence.  In order to simplify this concept let’s recall a moment when we experienced great bliss, happiness and joy.  So much so that it felt as if time and the world around us ceased to exist.  All we experienced and can remember to this day is that enormous sensation of joy that ran through our entire being, to the extent that the mind became fully immersed in that particular moment.  This absolute consumption of mind and body in the present moment is a yogic state of mind.  Sometimes it occurs during confusion or exhaustion. 

For example, have you ever been in a movement class where you are so focused on what you are feeling that your mind just doesn’t have the opportunity to jump out of that particular moment?  Or that when it does you are able to notice the wandering mind and bring it back to the moment when cued by the teacher?  Here you are moving in and out of a yogic state of mind.  

In order to ‘cease the fluctuations of the mind’ or practice yoga, you do not need to do any physical exercises.  Yoga as a mindset is achieved through the same non-judgmental observation our ancestors engaged in.  The accepting and curious mindset is the one that arrived at the axioms that form the foundations of the modern world we enjoy today.  Perhaps our greatest power lies in our ability to observe and listen.  To guide our mind into our body and feel how we expand as we take a slower, deeper breath.  To guide our minds, without judgement or the need to classify sensations and perceptions as good or bad, right and wrong, but rather simply accept what is, opens us up to endless possibilities.  When the movement of the mind is centered on anything occurring in the now moment we feel can feel presence.       

As movement teachers and practitioners we have endless opportunities to bring ourselves and others into presence. 

How one acquires this skill takes time and is quite simple.  Notice your body and breathe.  Acknowledge how you feel. Do this over and over again until it becomes a habit.  When you are in a Pilates class, notice where your mind is, are you wondering if you are ‘doing it right’ and if so, pause and shift your attention into noticing what you feel, what you are doing, and how you are breathing.  Keep asking your mind to notice, acknowledge and accept what is, for here is where every now moment is occurring.  


You can find Christi on Social Media @christiidavoy

Educator Highlight: Claire Sparrow

Describe “the Spirit of Polestar”:

CS: Polestar is a true community that empowers people from where they are to grow and succeed. Not without challenge but by providing a safe and positive environment that makes it easy for people to move forward in new ways.

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

Community

Creative

Empowering

What do you love about teaching Pilates? 

CS: I love that moment when people discover something new in themselves that feels like an uncovering or unravelling of their truth, their inherent movement – like it was something that was always there they just didn’t know how to look for it or find it. My first Polestar training was at my own studio in Leeds with the amazing Alastair Greetham. We were a small group new to Polestar in the North of England and were overwhelmed by the generous and knowledgeable teaching from Alastair.

What are your current Inspirations?  

CS: I recently took up mediation and I love how this restores my mind and body. I am also doing business coaching because I think it is possible and important that we strive to build our industry as a viable sustainable business. I feel a responsibility to do what I can to build a solid foundation for the future of our industry through the quality of teaching and approach to business that doesn’t sacrifice our values and ethics.

Why Pilates? 

CS: I was studying dance at university and suffered knee injuries preventing me dancing for almost an entire academic year. I was blessed to have a Pilates studio on site and spent my days there on the Reformer and assisting the teacher. I wasn’t a fan at the time and then when I returned to dance and felt the results in action I knew I would love Pilates forever. I always say that Pilates isn’t here to help us get good at Pilates it is here to help us get good at life and all we want to do with it!

Why Polestar Pilates? 

CS: I had trained with many other schools before discovering Polestar. I had looked at Polestar over the years and never pursued it because I was scared of the physio influence and that it would be over my head. It turned out to be exactly what I needed to answer all the questions I had. I am creative, lateral thinking, and intuitive so learning scripts, teaching rote, and not knowing the why behind what we were doing really never worked for me. Polestar allows us to be creative, to be who we are as humans, and teach from there.

What do you hope to convey in your teaching?

CS: There are no boundaries. There is always something you CAN do!!!

What is your favorite Quote? 

CS: Wow this is tough! I am a real quote person and there are so many. I even wrote a series of blogs about my favourite Joseph Pilates quotes. I have some great Brene Brown and Maya Angelou ones and right now it is actually this quote that I have kept with me throughout lockdown.

“Time is like a river that carries us forward into encounters with reality that require us to make decisions. We can’t stop our movement down this river and we can’t avoid those encounters. We can only approach them in the best possible way.”

Ray Dalio

When we accept that in our lives there are going to be many things that happen that are out of our control and we know they will come, we can bring our attention and focus to how we respond and work with these situations and events. We can ride the wave rather than trying to swim against the tide. In our movement and our Pilates life we can accept that we may develop inefficiencies, imbalances, or even injuries and that it is normal. We don’t have to berate ourselves or diagnose – only accept and move from there with the support of ourselves and the method. I also love the part about carrying us forward, we are in a time that only moves forward and I don’t like to look back and use energy comparing me today with me in the past and the same in my relationships with others. We have to forgive and accept ourselves and others to stay healthy and move forward “in the best possible way.”

What is your Favorite Apparatus or favorite way to move?

CS: I come back to the Reformer because of the moment you lie down it’s like a hug and the soothing rhythm and sound of the springs as you do footwork immediately brings me into myself.


You can find Claire on social media @Clairesparrowpilates and @polestarpilatesuk