It’s that time of year again Pilates lovers! It’s March Matness and that means all 34 exercises all month long. BUT what if you are not into some of the 34? What if you’re not going overhead or you’re new and you’re still working on that Roll up? This week’s class is going to be full of prep’s for all the 34 exercises so that each week you can sub in your favorite and still enjoy a good time.

See you on your Mat

xx-LL

Upon request from the OPC members only FB group a class with the 100 as the theme is back in action! It’s all new and full of ways to feel the 100 both in the 100, upside down, right side up and everywhere in between.

On the Mat get ready to pump where you usually don’t. Breathe a little deeper and exhale a little longer. Over on the Reformer you’ll be asked to find your 100’s curl in a whole lot of different places.

Yes, the 100 gets your blood pumping. But, it also helps you move through your entire Pilates practice!

Happy Hundred-ing,

xx~LL

Opening your front without closing your back!

This week’s class is a special request from one of YOU! While I don’t work hours in front of my computer I too am on my devices or working hours rounded forwarded working with a client.

In today’s day, it’s more common that we are rounding forward than sitting or standing tall. But, how do you open your chest without crunching your shoulders blades onto your back and causing your shoulders to rise into your ears?

This week’s class is going to take a tour through our regular mat order but with an open front and a wide back!

See you on your mat!

xx-LL

Are Single Leg Circles a Circle? What about Hip circles? And how many other exercises do we create a circle? Or, are we simply twisting? Let’s investigate how each of these exercises sets us up for the next!

xx-LL

Whether you have a Magic circle or not you can still find a little bit of Magic in your Pilates practice. It happens over time. It happens in big and small ways. It happens when we let the Pilates exercises work the way they were intended.

In this week’s class we will use the Magic circle (if you have one) a little bit but then we will take it away and see how you can use what you learned to make your Mat practice happen!

Each time you take this week’s class you will find a new bit of magic! So, try to take it more than once.

xx-LL

It’s that time of year! The holidays are here. Crazy schedules, lots of food, parties candy! This is the time when your Pilates mat practice counts the most!

This week, we will go a little out of order, and make our way to our fabulous hundred. Like it or love it the Hundred ahem the Holidays are here!

And this week I hope you find more than a few times to hit the mat. I know I will!

xx-LL

While not everyone has a set of hand weights laying around if you do grab them. If you don’t or you have a shoulder or neck injury skip the weights and join in for class anyway. Props are only a suggestion to help you feel something different in your mat practice.

xx-LL

The other day in our OPC members only group I had a request for Hip Circles being a theme. And so, if you don’t love this theme…do it anyways! haha!

My friends, some exercises in Pilates are teaching tools for our bodies. They strengthen or stretch us. And other exercises are revealers. They show us where we still need work. Hip Circles is one of those exercises.

In our Mat practice, we will use every exercise to prepare us to FLOW through our Hip Circles. On the Reformer, we will use the equipment to help us strengthen, stretch and make our Mat work a flow we enjoy!

See ya in class!

xx~LL

Good morning, it’s (almost) the final class of our retreat and today I asked our group what they want to do in this class. After a week of doing Pilates every day, there are just some exercises that our bodies haven’t opened up to yet and some that they really love. So before we do class I’m going to ask them what they want and that is what class will be about – right there on the fly!

So in 2019 you have to just come and join us!

xx-LL

The midline is an often underused area of our bodies. It’s easy to think you are squeezing your inner thighs only to find out when you get to the shoulder bridge that your knees roll out and you’re not engaging your inner thighs at all!

This week LL focuses on finding that inner thigh connection with or without a prop. She uses a magic circle. You can use one if you have one or a squishy ball or yoga block will work as well. If you don’t have any props you won’t need them. Your imagination and attention to detail will wake up your inner thighs as well.

xx-LL

Do you ever wonder how you are so strong on one side in one exercise and then in another exercise it switches? No, just me? Ha! I am pretty sure we are all in the same boat when it comes to being asymmetrical! So, this week we take on our sides! One side at a time that is.

On the mat we will play more with exercises that are play with asymmetry and then seeing how we can take what we learned and change up how we do our symmetrical exercises.

Then, over on the Reformer we play around with exercises where we take away one leg or one arm. Get ready to do Stomach Massage with one leg! It’ll be fun I promise.

Can’t wait to see a side of you!

xx~LL

P.S. Which side will you be doing twice next time?

Let’s find out how we can work our midline without losing our outer thighs too! On the Mat, we’ll use the Magic Circle for a few exercises to discover what our midline feels like when it’s working. On the Reformer, we’ll use the Foot Bar and springs to discover our inner strength not just our “go-to” muscles!

Let’s do this!

xx~LL

Ok, I’m coming clean! I absolutely hate stretching post a run or workout with my trainer. I mean, I would rather do a full on mat workout after a run or training session than sit and stretch or roll. And while there are plenty of opinions on whether or not stretching even works. What I can say from experience is that using Pilates as my cross training has kept me injury free even when I was a competitive runner. So, this week’s class is taking the mat workout as a post-run/spin/elliptical or cross-training workout. How can we use the mat to open up what those workouts tighten up? How can we strengthen what those workouts overlook and how can we check in with where our body is that day?

I hope you enjoy this weeks mat class!

xx-LL

It’s easy to think that Rolling like a ball is just a back massage. Or that Seal is weird – and don’t even try open leg rocker. But…. there is so much good stuff happening in these rolling exercises. And even if you think your tailbone will hate it, trust me, if you’re doing it right you will not be perching on your coccyx.

Grab a mat (and if you are sensitive maybe another one or a small folded blanket) and get ready to feel the full body strength of all the rolling exercises. Understanding Pilates rolling exercises will change your entire Pilates practice. Are you ready?

xx-LL

Arlene here, and this is my studio Bodywork & Pilates right on the beach in Maui, Hawaii.

We’re about to have a really nice mat class because I’m going to demonstrate the traditional pushes and pulls that I learned from Jay Grimes. Everybody’s going to get a nice hands-on stretch as they do their exercises. So get ready!

Arlene