WELCOME TO THE ENCORE PILATES BLOG
What is Physical Therapy and who is it for?
Why Physical therapy? Pilates comes under many a guise. It may be a fitness based mat or reformer class - choreographed (sometimes to music), all participants doing the same thing and enjoying the fundamental inclusions that this system of exercise offers. Pilates could be with a physio or osteo – a dry, dull version of stale movements never intended to inspire, repeated for clinical practices only. [...]
Marrying Kinesiology and Pilates
I like to focus on empowering people to help themselves maintain their health and well-being. When I work with people with physical pain, part of the treatment is to improve their alignment and activate muscles to work better. I like to use Pilates exercises to help clients maintain and improve their alignment and function so they can live pain free in the long term. Did you [...]
When meditation is mastered
And how consistent meditation practice can improve your life Meditation has guided me since I was 14 years old. My Mum introduced me with a weekend course and the practice has woven through my life as one of my greatest influencers, my most consistent practices, my most fulfilling experiences. At the time I didn’t realise the gift my mother shared. In fact I distinctly remember sitting [...]
Happy Birthday to Encore Pilates!!
14 years and counting... Happy Birthday to us! This month Encore Pilates turns 14 years old! I remember when we were coming towards our 10th year and it felt like such a milestone. Now, every year thereafter feels like a blessing. What a ride, what a journey – if someone had given me a sneak preview of where we would be today I wouldn’t believe it [...]
Why Inflammation is beating you
And when to say no to alcohol… Let’s say you fall over and fracture a bone or ‘pull’ a muscle. Your body is sore and tender and you don’t want to put any weight on it – an indication of the area being inflamed. The experience sucked (no doubt) so you go home, pop a couple of pills and wash it down with a glass of [...]
Why Social Media is Toxic
Do you ever find yourself in a scroll time warp? Do you have to make a conscious effort NOT to open your social media channel? Do you jump on ‘just to post a quick pic’ and then realise you’ve been scrolling mindlessly for 15, 20, 30 minutes or more? Well, you’ll be relieved to know that you are not alone! Social media addiction is real and [...]
How We Learn New Movement Skills
A major part of a Pilates Instructors’ job (and of many other practitioners in different physical movement fields) is to identify weaker or imbalanced movement patterns, across the whole body, in all different directions (or ranges of motion) and prescribe certain exercises or movements to help teach a client’s body to learn better ones. This might mean teaching, training or retraining a client, (including their [...]
Finding the right Pilates studio for you
As a teacher of teachers I travel interstate to share my knowledge and to create strong, informed communities of Pilates professionals. I meet such amazing, inspiring educators everywhere I go. The level of expertise is refreshing, the desire to learn and do good by our industry is humbling and everywhere I go there are pockets of studios who are paving the way for a bright future [...]
The emotion of pain
Is it possible to identify with your pain so intimately that it becomes a part of your identity? What would happen if you didn’t have the pain, the discomfort or the disease? Would you still be you? Have you become so deeply interwoven into your experience that you actually would not let it go? This is an extremely difficult, sensitive and taboo conversation, and not one [...]
Pilates, Posture, and Wonkiness
Definition: Wonky/ 'wonki'/ adjective not straight; crooked or askew synonyms: crooked, off centre, lopsided, askew, skew, skew-whiff (of a thing), unsteady, shaky, unstable, rocky, not functioning correctly; faulty. "I enjoy good health apart from my wonky knees". https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/wonky Definition: Posture/ ' posta'/ noun the position in which someone holds their body when sitting or standing synonyms: position, pose, attitude, stance, particular approach or attitude, attitude, stance, [...]