The Magic Circle is one of my favorite props - talk about getting DEEP into those core muscles!  It also takes a lot of control and concentration to be able to use it correctly and most efficiently.  Joseph Pilates actually created The Magic Circle using the ring around a beer barrel!   

The shape of the ring mimics your body.  As you breathe in, the circle will open, as you breathe out, the circle will close.  When the circle compresses, so do your abdominals, which can help you feel your abdominals on a deeper level.  However, you never want to compress your body in Pilates, so instead of bearing down as you squeeze the circle, think length and lift.  It will help you to strengthen the body while also lengthening it at the same time, a major benefit of Pilates. 

I talk a lot about this concept in my free cheatsheet "How to enhance your Pilates practice using the 10 Most Common Pilates Mistakes".  You can get a copy <HERE>.

...

Sit up straight!  Stop slouching!  Pull your shoulders back! 

How many times did you hear this growing up?  And then we forced ourselves into “proper posture”.

This forcing into position made it appear like we were improving our posture, but really the spine was never lifted or lengthened.  All we did was brace and tighten superficial muscles around the chest, back, and abs resulting in restricted movement of the spine.  And when you think about it, our spine IS NOT straight, so we are actually forcing it into something it's not meant to do when we push up straight.  

Oh, our poor spines!  As restless kids sitting in the classroom to lining up rigidly in single file when walking to art class, to never having the freedom to run around except for a 20-minute recess (which didn’t always mean outside playing) and a 40-minute gym class once a week. 

Fast forward many years and we’re still sitting at desks, in...

The name of the game is quality.  

• The quality of a calorie - 100 calories of broccoli or 100 calories of a donut
• The quality of relationships - lof of surfaced or a few filled with depth and joy
• The quality of sleep - 8 hours of restless or 6 hours of deep satisfying energizing sleep
• The quality of water - sipping toilet water or ice-cold filtered water on a humid day
• The quality of exercise - an hour of cardio on the elliptical or a 20-minute focused workout session geared towards alignment, form, and intention.

It comes down to quality.  When you aim for a higher standard, you expand and move forward.  

Pilates is all about quality.  It's a practice that involves connecting with every single pose and posture that you do.  You don't learn it all in one session; it takes years.  I’ve been doing Pilates for 20 years, teaching it for about 17, and I’m still learning new things every day.  I love how each stage of life...

As I get older, I feel less connected to traditional fitness.  It’s structured in a way to never feel good enough and I’ve always felt like I never measured up, especially as a fitness instructor.  Now in 2019 mind/body fitness is much more acceptable, but in the 90s it was not the case. Step, boot camp, cardio kickboxing, body pump... The more intense the class and the more fit the instructor looked, the more popular the class. 

I was just a regular girl wanting to feel good in my body and wanting to help others feel the same way.   I remember comparing myself to the other instructors and feeling like such an imposture. Then I found Pilates.

I dove deep into a two-year training program, craving the comprehensive learning about the body. I loved how I felt after every training.  Never depleted.  Always energized.

In traditional fitness, everything physical is measured in numbers - how fast you are, how many reps you do, how many pounds...