Something Fishy

Our fish tank, which has delighted us since its arrival last summer, became a focal point during the Alexander Technique workshop we hosted last week. Robyn Avalon, our Alexander mentor, spent a few minutes when she arrived watching our goldfish and snails with me. My intent when I set up the tank (aside from satisfying a caretaking need) was to provide examples of fluid, integrated movement. Robyn pointed out another great asset: the sound the flow of the filter makes. During our workshop, as we trained each other on the GYROTONIC® equipment, she repeatedly asked: "Can you hear the fish?" She drew our attention to the importance of staying present in the room. At certain challenging moments in the exercises, both client and instructor tended to tense up and lose connection with our bodies and the space around us. We found we could no longer feel the equipment with the sensitivity we needed. When we became more aware of this tendency, and tried to remain receptive enough to hear the fish tank, we were able to move with greater ease, fluidity, and integration. What an awesome lesson!

Modified Reformer

Mike from Kula Solutions has helped us out with another project we've been thinking about for a while. Amy Alpers, one of our mentors from the Pilates Center at Boulder, gave us some ideas for making our Peak reformers more ergonomically correct. On one of our reformers, we've moved the shoulder blocks slightly forward on the carriage, which lengthened the headrest and allows people truly to REST the back of the head. This has been especially helpful for people with long necks. We also added a setting to the footbar height, so that we have more control of the angle of the legs on footwork. It is wonderful to see the way the weight of the springs can travel smoothly up the body when the angles of the leg joints aren't compromised!

New Custom Wall Unit

Mike Padykula at Kula Solutions made us an awesome new wall unit! We replaced our old springboard and worked with Mike to design another wall unit that allows us to do push-through exercises in trios. We also now have the advantage of the poles to hold during leg spring exercises. The new push-through bar is extra wide to accommodate people with very broad or tight shoulders, and both the push-through and roll-back bars are slightly thicker than normal, which allows for a more relaxed and comfortable grip! Mike also fashioned us new box mats for our existing wall unit and the new one, along with moonboxes. We love them.

Cleaning up the Lines

This week saw the arrival of our newly reupholstered Pilates mats. Mike at Kula Solutions (http://www.kulasolutions.com/) helped us out changing the ugly bright orange mats to black, to blend with our other equipment and quit distracting from our awesome new color scheme.

One idea this aesthetics work has brought up for me is moving and taking in the scenery, without passing judgement on it. We're so wired to place a value on everything; it's extremely relaxing to follow a spiraling GYROTONIC® line with the eyes while you're doing handles, without allowing what you see to trigger your consciousness. In my personal practice I think this has made room for greater self-acceptance as well, being in the body and trying to excel without passing judgement or wishing it were at a level it's not.