Week 43 - “Backbone”
Hello Pilates People!
What a week. Thank you for being with us and taking some time for yourself throughout it all. It's important and we are so proud of you for recognizing that.
Oh , and happy Sunday :)
Last call for our workshop today with Jenni and yours truly! "Empowered Spines" is happening from 10-12pm (in place of our normally scheduled LIVE class). It's $25 and we will be going over and moving through:
spine anatomy
common misalignments, conditions and injuries such as
scoliosis
prenatal/postnatal bodies
bulging and herniated discs
osteoporosis
spondy
contraindications for each and the alternatives
a healthy, neutral spine class
any questions you may have
To sign up and join us, please click here
Can't make today's workshop? We'll miss you but you should check out the workshops we've got coming up! We're super excited about our winter line up and hope you save the dates :) click here to take a peek!
Following the lead of our workshop, we're diving into spines this week in our classes (SO it might be good to get all the info from us today at 10am, ya? *wink*) and I want to get into some complex material today.
Not complex in the way that I feel like it's not understandable, but complex because it's uncomfortable.
Possibly for all of us.
Definitely for me.
I am scoliotic. I've stopped saying I have scoliosis because somehow owning it makes me feel better. It's not something I allow to be impressed upon me anymore. It just is what it is and this is my body. And that ownership has made me feel much better on a deeply personal level.
But that wasn't always true, and some days I really have to work to remember that new mindset.
When you're working with a scoliotic spine, a few things are generally true (in my experience):
At some point in your life, you were made to feel like some kind of malformed creature that belongs in a horror film, rather than a living, breathing human with emotions
EVERYONE around you has an opinion about how you can "fix" yourself so that you no longer look like aforementioned monster
To compensate for these things and to avoid any further discussions on the matter, you work hard at learning to hide yourself - "correcting" the issue by lifting a shoulder to your ear to "even" it out
You either NEVER talk about it when you enter a movement class or you IMMEDIATELY tell the teacher EVERYTHING, apologizing for your body and the way it moves
My question to you - what the actual f*ck? How is that okay, helpful, empowering or healthy?
Let's unpack that a little, shall we?
Our spines are crucial to our body's wellness - physically, mentally and emotionally. Your spine is your metaphorical and literal backbone - it houses your spinal cord (the thing that transmits messages back and forth between your body and your brain), it connects everything into your core (which we know is crucial to efficient, healthy movements), it is the only bony structure around your vital organs and basically, we'd be nowhere without it.
So when something happens to your spine, it's no small thing. It affects everything. And, in the opposite direction, when something happens to you, your spine responds.
For example: I am not always great at saying what's actually happening with me or what I need, so often, my body has to tell me and everyone else. And the way it does that? Well, it starts with very severe hip flexor pain that turns into low/mid back pain that makes me so stiff that I can barely sit up straight.
Yes, this is your Pilates instructor talking. It happens to me too.
At that point, we (me and Jenni) know we've got about 12-24 hours before I need to shut down for about 12 hours and just sit on the couch and cry for a bit. Because, let's be honest, we've all needed to do that here and there this year. But when you're stubborn and can't admit to it, sometimes your spine has to step in and speak up for you.
The amazing part? Once I release that insane level of control and allow my emotions space, my back feels better. Almost instantly.
Which brings me back to my point. When you don't feel good about your spine, you're likely not going to feel good about yourself. And when you don't feel good about yourself (or you're holding things in), you're not going to feel good about your spine.
They're directly related. It's science and we can get into all the intricate nerdy stuff that lives in that statement, but I probably need at least 50 pages to do that...so we'll save it for another time.
All of this is just to say, let's take some time with our backbones this week. They need us just as much as we need them.
Please don't be shy, especially with this one, friends. It's important and we WANT you to ask questions. We WANT you to feel your feelings. And we WANT you to feel empowered, confident and strong.
Because you are all of those things - tears or not.
We're still here. Always.
All our love,
Cassandra + Pilates People
