Keeping Limber After Injuries Part II

Australian cricket star Phil Jaques underwent three surgeries for bulging discs and used Pilates to rehab each time.  Now his surgeon tells him "You're not going to break down again.. . . a bomb could go off tomorrow, and [your] back would survive it. It's strong."  Coincidence?  I think not.  Check out the article in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Keeping Limber After Injuries

Who knows injuries better than former NFL stars?  Many have multiple hip and knee replacements, aches and pains, tears and breaks that haunt them well past the end of their careers.  One former NFL star is using Pilates and Yoga to stay limber and healthy!

Former Tennessee State and Dallas Cowboys star Ed "Too Tall" Jones, 57, said there was an adjustment period after retirement as he learned to deal with pain.
"I never missed a game even though I was hurt. I was just determined to play on the football field. But it took me four years after I quit playing to crawl out of bed pain-free. Four years," Jones said. "I think the reason I am doing OK now is because I work very hard — I do Pilates, I do power yoga, I go to the gym and work out. I have a professional masseuse. I have a therapist working with me all the time. If I didn't do that. …

"I look at other guys around me and they can barely get around. They've had back surgeries, had hips replaced, knees replaced. … Apparently if you played football, when you turn 50 you fall apart. So I worked hard to keep that from happening. I work out harder now than when I played.'' 

an excerpt from http://bit.ly/2CoIFF

Pilates and Yoga = Healthy Arteries

Flexibility on the outside equals a healthy cardiovascular system. A new studypublished in the American Journal of Physiology suggests that a daily stretching regimen helps keep arteries healthy and fends off the stiffening that can precede cardiovascular disease. The researchers found that those with less trunk (midsection) flexibility were more likely to have blood vessels that had lost their elasticity, contributing to arterial stiffness. So keep coming to class!!

And check out the full article here.

Pialtes for Breast Cancer Survivors

Lymphedema can be a painful and uncomfortable side effect of breast cancer surgery.  It is also detrimental to one's health.  When lymph fluid becomes stuck in the areas where lymph nodes have been removed immune cells can't travel to the areas where they are needed and waste material that has been removed from cells can't make it back to the circulatory system to be removed from the body.

The good news is that Pilates can help!  http://www.bit.ly/1jCLEY

Muscular contraction is the driving force of our lymphatic system. As you move through your Pilates workout, the slow, fluid movements gently squeeze your lymphatic vessels, pushing lymph back towards your blood vessels!  This is great for everyone, not just breast cancer survivors, but the nature of the movements in Pilates and the restorative and invigorating effects of this type of exercise are particularly helpful to those who have had lymph nodes removed.

A preview from our upcoming newsletter . . .

The Principles: Center/Breath
The difference a breath can make....
Article by Alea Eurich

Healthy adults take between 17,000 and 28,000 breaths per day, an average of 23,000 breaths. Amazing, right? This happens mostly without our conscious awareness. Breathing is so simple and obvious that we often take it for granted; ignoring the power it has to bring body, mind and spirit together. This month we encourage you to consider the difference a breath can make.

Living the busy and full lives that we do, it is no surprise that there is an ever-increasing need for us to consider what it means to be "centered." Many thoughts may come to mind on consideration of such a topic: balance, focus, "the core", etc. But what ties these mental and physical properties together? It's the breath, all 23,000 of them. As varied as our daily activities are, so too is the nature of our breath. Musicians sing about it, "Just breathe", "Breath in, breath out", Poets write about it, "...it is no other than happiness itself, a breathing too quiet to hear", the Dr. asks you to take a deep breath when He listens to your lungs, and your Pilates instructor instructs you to inhale and exhale with each beat of the arms in the hundred.

A favorite author of mine, Wendell Berry, considers the delicacy of the breath so eloquently,

"Lately, I have found myself thinking about the differences between creatures and machines. But I had never so clearly understood and felt the differences as when John was in recovery after his heart surgery, when he was attached to many machines and was dependent for breath on a respirator. It was impossible then not to see that the breathing of the machine, like all machine work, is unvarying, an obvious regularity, whereas the breathing of a creature is ever changing, exquisitely responsive to events both inside and outside the body, to thoughts and emotions. A machine makes breaths as a machine makes buttons, all the same, but every breath of a creature is itself a creature, like no other, inestimably precious."

Precious it is and well said in my opinion.

Each breath we take is valuable. It has often been said that becoming conscious of our breathing slows our heart rate and helps us to focus our minds. Anyone who has spent some time as a student of Pilates, quickly learns the importance of the breath in their practice of these exercises.

Have you considered the unique design of our anatomy and the function of the breath? We have muscles between the ribs, a spine that is constructed of small attachments to each rib, a diaphragm that moves similarly to an umbrella opening and closing changing the pressure on the lungs and in the abdomen, and muscles spanning the front and back of our trunk in supportive slings. We were made to take deep breaths.

The breath is essential to being "centered". It is the only means of supply of oxygen to our organs and assists in ridding our body of toxins and waste. Deep diaphragmatic breathing massages our internal organs, aiding in digestion, and acts as a pump for our lymphatic systems, further helping to remove waste and pathogens from our bodies. As you exhale forcefully you contract your deepest abdominal muscle, which serves to stabilize your torso and protect your lower back. And what sits nestled between right and left lung? The heart. Every breath is like a hug for our own heart. Focusing on our breath requires mental attention and awareness. With conscious awareness of our breathing we can reap the benefit of better recruitment of appropriate muscle groups, better circulation and blood flow, clearer heads and sounder thinking, and overall better movement.

As if all that wasn't enough, this fantastically simple thing called the "breath" uses the abdominal muscles to connect form and function. Consider the preciousness of the breath this month as you go about your daily routine or in your Pilates practice. You might be surprised to find that the breath makes a dramatic difference in centering you mentally, physically and spiritually.

Take deep breaths... appreciate the place you find yourself in at that moment and value life with each one.