Stott Pilates Basic Principles
Breathing – Place your hands on the ribs with fingertips almost touching. Breath in, feel the rib cage widen and the fingers moving away from each other. Breath out, feeling the ribs close together and the fingers move closer together. Be aware of the rib cage in the back. Try to be aware of the ribs fill from the back along the floor.
Pelvic Placement – “Neutral” position of the pelvis means that the natural lower back curve is present. When lying on the back, place the heel of the hand on the top of the hips; the fingertips meet at the pubis bone and the thumb meet across the abdominal muscles just under the belly button. If you balance a bucket of water in the triangle formed by the hands the water will not spill. Practice spilling water towards the chest and then towards the legs to get a better awareness to the neutral position.
Imprinted spine - means the normal curvature of the spine being lengthened toward flexion of the lower back. There will be a slight posterior tilt of the pelvis however the lower back will not touch the mat and the tailbone will not lift from the mat.
Ribcage Placement – To keep the rib cage in good alignment and to keep the abdominal muscles engaged there should be an awareness of not allowing the lower ribs to “pop” off the mat when lying on the back or “popping forward” the mat when sitting with neutral spine. To create an awareness of this, place the thumbs on the lower ribs and the thumbs on the tops of the hips. Without moving the pelvis bring the ribs about an inch closer to the hips. Think of allowing the ribs slide down the front to the body.
Scapular (shoulder blade) movement - Lie on the back with the arms reaching towards the ceiling, palms facing each other. Try to touch the ceiling, then with out bending the elbows bring the shoulder blades together, repeat this a couple of times. Try to keep the shoulders away from the ears. Next …..Repeat the previous exercise but pull the shoulder blades towards the bottom at the end of the movement. Think of sliding the shoulder blades down the back.
Head and Cervical spine (neck) placement - Lie on the back and keep your head on the floor. Place your fingertips at the base of the neck and lightly run the fingers up to the base to the skull. This should just tilt the head slightly moving the chin slightly to the chest but not jamming the chin into the chest.
* all these exercises are performed lying on the back with the knees bent and pointing towards the ceiling.
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