Category Archives: Pilates

My Pilates Mentor

Does the world really need another Pilates book? I think yes, as long as it is something different and unique!

My Pilates Mentor will be the Pilates Book that I hope you have always been waiting for. It will contain the opinions of thousands of Pilates Teachers from all over the world, all asked the same set of questions, so you can get the best possible advice in the shortest possible time. My Pilates Mentor will include the opinions from teachers of all the different Schools of Pilates. After all, we all love Pilates and we want to share our experiences.

For over two years, I have been planning and working on this project, My Pilates Mentor. First things first, it is important to me that you know that I am not writing this book because I think I am better than you. In fact, I am writing it because I know I am not. I know that there are thousands of amazing ideas out there that I will never think of, and I decided that it was time to ask the family of Pilates teachers to come together to create a book that will serve as not only a great reference book for teachers and all lovers of Pilates, but it will also make them smile and realise that the wonderful Pilates community is like no other.

Any book takes a lot of time, sweat and tears to produce. You don’t write books to make money; there are much easier ways that take a lot less time and sleepless nights. This is more a labour of love, so I hope that you feel that on every page. And please remember that 50% of any profits from this book will go to the Pilates Carnival Charity Partners and to Save the Children.

I have been planning and working on this project for more than two years, and I am still in the process of receiving information from Pilates teachers, so if you are a teacher and you want to be included in this amazing project, then please CLICK HERE.

What this book aims to be:

• A resource for Pilates teachers and all people who love Pilates to quickly understand the opinions of thousands of Pilates teachers and to gain their years of experience on a number of topics in a few hours of reading.

• An interesting and fun expose on the world of Pilates teaching.

• Focused on both mat and machine Pilates to make sure that we can appeal to everyone who loves Pilates as much as we do.

Just to be clear as to what this book is not:

• It is not an anatomical guide – there are already many wonderful books dedicated to the anatomy of Pilates.

• It is not judging one of the many Pilates schools over another, so there will be no mention of any schools in this book other than under each teacher’s qualification details if they chose to have their name mentioned.

• It is not a technical guide as to how to do exercises, again there are plenty of those about.

So why might you decide to join this community project by contributing?

• You will be contributing to the Pilates community.
• You will be helping to introduce people to Pilates.
• You will be raising the profile of Pilates
• If I use one of your answers or a quote from you in the book (I will always seek your permission first), then I will give you a name credit within the book.
• At the end of the book, there will also be a list of all of the contributors who want their details published.
• You will be helping to create a geographic study of different trends and opinions.
• I will pay 50 percent of any profits to Pilates Carnival Charity Partners and to www.savethechildren.org.

My Pilates Mentor was and remains a massive task, but as soon as it is finished you can be the first to know be registering your interest. You can register your interest now and be one of the first people to get the e-book by contacting us.

Thank you for all your support! As ever, if you want to contact me then please leave a comment and I promise to reply.

Are you a Pilates grunter?

Are you a Pilates grunter?

www.pilatesevo.com

In a week dominated by “that” Puppy Pilates video (has the world really gone that mad?) I noticed another news story about celeb Kate Hudson and the fact that she isn’t afraid to grunt whilst doing Pilates.

Kate is well-known for being a lover of Pilates, and the story got me thinking about the effects of grunting during exertion. Am I sure that you have experienced this in Pilates classes and we are all familiar with grunts on the tennis court. So is there any scientific evidence?

Of course there is! Researchers in past studies have looked at the effects of making noise during workouts, with two of the most notable cases being a 2014 study (The Effects of “Grunting” on Serve and Forehand Velocities in Collegiate Tennis Players: O’Connell, Dennis G.; Hinman, Martha R.; Hearne, Kevin F.; Michael, Zach S.; Nixon, Sam L.) examining tennis players and a 2015 study (Effect of Vocalization on Maximal Effort Dynamic Muscle Performance: Sinclair Smith and Justin Smith) dealing with jumping distances. In both cases, results showed that grunts and groans boosted athletes’ physical performance.

“Most investigators believe that the deep breath with the momentary breath hold actually helps to stabilize the spine during heavy efforts,” Dennis G. O’Connell, PhD, lead researcher of the tennis study explained. The sound-emitting portion of the breath cycle comes from exhaling, and the whole process contributes to a controlled breathing pattern. “This serves to protect the athlete from injury, and subsequently provides a stable base of support for a powerful effort.”

From a scientific standpoint, the grunting noise is made as we exhale against a closed, or partially closed, vocal fold. The vocal folds, or vocal cords, refer to the two bands of muscle tissue that open into the windpipe. The vocal folds are open and relaxed when we breathe in, sometimes producing a rushing noise. But when the vocal folds close as we exhale you might going to hear some turbulence. Some experts say that we get an extra Ooomph by grunting that is probably related to a communication signal from the part of the brain that controls breathing to the part that controls muscle function. When we forcefully push air out, the brain sends information down to the muscles, which either excites muscle groups or decreases inhibition — or both. The result might be enhanced performance.

Because making noises can be so beneficial, some trainers encourage it during their sessions with clients. I have also heard it said that making noise helps students channel their frustration or pain in a helpful way and remain focused.

Of course on the flip side is that particularly noisy clients can be a big distraction for other people trying to focus in a Pilates class.

Personally, I do not encourage grunting to the PilatesEVO students and trainers here in Barcelona as for Pilates I do not think it is appropriate, necessary or conducive for the correct form. So are you a Pilates grunter? What is your experience and opinion? Are you a Pilates grunter? Do you encourage or discourage grunting, or do you not mention it at all? Have you had a particularly noisy client and if so, how did you deal with the situation? Please let me know by emailing me at chris@pilatesevo.com.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez teach lessons about Hot Pilates

So this week we learned that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez had a Pilates session together!! Wow, big news! But wait…. Before we dismiss this as throw-away celebrity nonsense, there are actually some good stories here. So what is Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez teach lessons about Hot Pilates all about?

Firstly, any time that Pilates makes the headlines is a good thing because raising public awareness is something that our industry always needs, even from the transient realms of pop stardom.

Secondly, for me a man doing Pilates and getting headlines is another step forward in the battle to show men everywhere that Pilates is for us too.

Thirdly I think it helps for the world to see that Pilates is for healthy, young people, and not only to be done after referral from their GP.

And lastly, I have always loved the idea of couples doing Pilates together. To share activities with your significant other (obviously we do not know if Justin and Selena are back together and let’s be honest, we really do not care that much….) is in my opinion something that is very healthy for any relationship.

So, from celebrity headlines we can take far more positives that you probably thought possible when you first saw this blog!

The title of this article is Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez teach lessons about Hot Pilates. So how is that possible? Well, the other thing worthy of note here is that the couple were reportedly doing Hot Pilates. This is a topic that I think needs some further thought. Unlike some, I am not against all new adaptations of our beloved Pilates system per se. The world is always changing, and to stay still is never such a good idea.  If I can see that a new idea brings something new and beneficial without compromising on the principles and qualities that we all know and love, then I am open to try it.

We have all heard of Hot Yoga, and many of us have had the pleasure of using a studio after a hot yoga session and having to open windows to disperse the heat and the smell. Pilates seems to be following with more and more hot classes springing up, but is there any proven benefit in exercising in high temperatures that make the body sweat? We have moved on from running in bin bags, but is hot exercise just the same but trendy because they do it in Hollywood?

Having looked at recent research, I have to say that it does not look good for exercising in heat.  Some experts say that it only serves to raise heart rate and blood pressure which for some people will be a lethal cocktail. A study in 2013 conducted by the University of Wisconsin concluded that the effort required to do a Bikram-style yoga class was all but identical to that required to do a normal yoga class (the exercise intensity was on average around 56 to 57% of maximal heart rate, which would classify both as “light exercise not dissimilar to a light walk). Cedric Bryant, chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise said that the benefits of heat are largely perceptual. “People think that the degree of sweat is the quality of the workout, but that is not the reality. It does not correlate to burning calories”.

So if it does not burn more calories then what exactly does it do? There is some anecdotal evidence that saunas have health and stress-relief benefits and can help in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (click to read my article about Pilates and RA). But the importance of sweating can be overplayed. After all it is the body’s heat control mechanism, a vital means of keeping the body cool. It’s the evaporation of sweat that actually cools the body, and as we will all know from our gym experience, no two people sweat the same, but this is not an indication of their fitness or health. There is also no evidence that sweat purifies the body. Sweat comprises mainly water with some electrolytes. It’s the liver and kidneys that filter out the toxins, not the sweat glands. Research by the University of California found sweating eliminates less than 1% of toxic metals expelled by the body, so clearly sweating is by no means the most important.  It’s safe to conclude that sweat is just that, sweat, and nothing else.

From the traditional side of the argument, I know many yoga masters who have a great dislike of hot yoga. They say it drains your adrenals and kidneys. This is one of three subtle energies called ‘Ojas’. In Chinese medicine it is called your ‘Jing’ energy. You are born with this energy, and when you burn it up it is very difficult to get it back. When you drain it you get more paranoia, impaired energy level and quality. Actual Yoga is said to build this energy very slowly over years and years.

They also argue that doing asanas in extreme heat mean that muscles, which would in normal temperatures protect the joint from overextending, become atrophied. The extreme heat makes the muscles flaccid and limp, and then the movement of the exercises hyperextend the joint beyond its normal range of motion. This stretches the tendons and ligaments, instead of lengthening the muscle. This creates instability and weakness in the joint. As a result the muscles have to over overcompensate to do the job that the tendons and ligaments would normally do. The body becomes bendy, but not truly open and flexible and strong. It is good to practice in a warm room, a reasonable temperature of up to about 30 degrees, but to practice yoga is temperatures up to 40 degrees they argue is harmful, and absurd.

When doing Yoga asanas the breath is essentially the thread that ties all the elements together. In the ancient text, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, it is said, ‘the mind is the king of the body, and the breath is the king of the mind.’ So the breath is the master that controls everything – the body and the mind. This works as the nerves that run through the central nervous system are connected to the top of the nose, this point in Yoga is known as ‘trikut́i’. When you learn through your regular practice how to control the breath through the nose, the vital air will stimulate the nervous system so that it slows the rhythmic pulsation of the nerves and then the mind and the body will be at peace and calm. However, if you are doing postures in 40 degrees heat, then the density and atmosphere of the environment will make the breathing techniques used in Yoga asanas impossible. It is argued that the heated, humid and smelly atmosphere is a terrible environment to be in period, let alone do Yoga asanas in.

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez teach lessons about Hot Pilates, which side of the argument are you on? Do you have personal experience of hot Pilates or yoga? Justin or Selena? Are hot classes just another way to get people into studios? Does it really matter as long as people are exercising? I’d love to hear your opinions.

In my Pilates EVO teacher training I tell my students that they must never switch off from their intuition and be influenced by marketing ploys. I tell them to listen to their body. Your nervous system and your body are telling you all you need to know if you just take the time to listen. You’ll feel the truth there.

Knees and fat: New studies Implications for Pilates

Knees and fat: New studies Implications for Pilates

Two interesting studies to talk about today. Neither are Pilates specific but both are very relevant and important factors when considering overall health and wellness and as such both are totally relevant to all us Pilates teachers.

The first topic is arthritis in the knees, something that all Pilates teachers see in a large number of our clients. Well the latest opinion is that it is a preventable disease rather than an inevitable consequence of wear and ageing, a study has concluded.

The condition is twice as common today as it was before the Second World War, according to researchers who put the increase down to lifestyle changes such as diet or footwear, as well as people getting fatter and living longer. Osteoarthritis affects 8.8 million people in Britain alone aged above 45. More than 18 per cent of this group have the disorder in their knees. Yet scientists who studied more than 2,500 skeletons, from prehistoric hunter-gatherers to the present, discovered that rates of osteoarthritis had surged over the past few decades after centuries of stability.

Daniel Lieberman, professor of biological sciences at Harvard University and a senior author of the paper, said that many cases could be averted if doctors could determine what had driven the change over the past 70 years. The researchers are investigating whether factors such as physical inactivity, diets loaded with refined sugars, the shoes we wear and even the hardness of pavements could lie behind the increase.

“Knee osteoarthritis is not a necessary consequence of old age,” Professor Lieberman said. “We should think of this as a partly preventable disease. Wouldn’t it be great if people could live to be 60, 70 or 80 and never get knee osteoarthritis in the first place? Right now, our society is barely focusing on prevention . . . so we need to redirect more interest toward preventing this and other so-called diseases of ageing.”

Three quarters of those with osteoarthritis say that they are in constant pain. Treatment is generally limited to painkillers or steroid injections into the joint. For severe cases, the only further option is an artificial joint. In 2015 people with the condition accounted for 98 per cent of patients having a first knee replacement.

Ian Wallace, the study’s lead author, visited collections of human remains across the United States to look for the glass-like polish that the condition leaves on the thigh and shin bones over years of rubbing against each other. Rates of knee osteoarthritis among the over-50s appear hardly to have changed between the native Americans 3,000 years ago and the inhabitants of Ohio and Missouri in the first half of the 20th century. After the war, however, they more than doubled. The trend, set out in the journal PNAS, remained even after the researchers corrected for age and body-mass index.

“There are probably a lot of contributing factors,” Dr Wallace said, “but . . . two conspicuous ones are physical inactivity and the abundance of proinflammatory foods in our diet — especially really sugary things.”

Philip Conaghan, professor of musculoskeletal medicine and a spokesman for the charity Arthritis Research UK, welcomed the study. “The more we know about what causes it, the closer we will be to finding more effective treatments and even a cure,” he said. “We absolutely agree that there should be more focus on prevention.”

To me this is yet another example of the fact that we can and should control the “aging process” to a much greater extent than most people believe. It’s much more about lifestyle than people think, and as wellness professionals we should be stressing that and treating our clients holistically. This is the principle of “total health” that I have been teaching in PilatesEVO for the last 10 years.

The next study deals with the mantra “fat but fit” and goes a long way to prove that it is a myth that doctors should no longer perpetuate, scientists have said. Research involving more than 500,000 people across Europe suggests that carrying too much weight is a cardiovascular problem in its own right and doctors should recognise it as such.

Nearly two thirds of adults in Britain are overweight or obese. About a third of them show no obvious sign of ill health, such as high blood pressure or insulin resistance, leading some experts to call them “metabolically healthy”. Advocates of the theory include the singer Adele, who said that she “would lose weight only if it affected my health or sex life, which it doesn’t”, to the UK medical regulator, which tells GPs there is no need to instruct people to diet or exercise more unless they exhibit serious warning signs.

An international team of researchers has found, however, that overweight people face a greater chance of developing coronary heart disease (CHD), which kills 73,000 people a year in Britain, more than any other condition. The researchers tracked 366,000 women and 153,000 men between the ages of 35 and 70 in ten European countries, including the UK, for an average of just over 12 years.

During that period there were 7,637 cases of CHD. After stripping out other risk factors such as smoking, diet and exercise, the overweight but ostensibly healthy people were still 26 per cent more likely to have developed the disease than those of normal weight.

Camille Lassale, who led the study while at Imperial College London but who is now based at University College London, called on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) to overhaul its guidance. She said: “Regardless of the measurements of blood pressure, blood glucose or cholesterol and so on, if you have a patient who is overweight or obese it is always wise to tell them to lose weight. It’s particularly relevant here because the UK has a greater prevalence of overweight [people] and obesity than other European countries.”

The study, which is published in the European Heart Journal, also shows that even though the “fat but fit” did not necessarily meet the clinical criteria for health problems such as high cholesterol or triglycerides, they still had higher concentrations of these chemicals than people of normal weight. This led Dr Lassale and her colleagues to believe that the effects of being overweight catch up with most people eventually. “We think what happens is when you classify these people as metabolically healthy obese they are on their way to developing metabolic abnormalities,” she said.

Metin Avkiran, professor of molecular cardiology at King’s College London and associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which funded part of the research, said: “This study conclusively shows that being obese increases a person’s risk of developing heart disease, even if they are otherwise healthy.”

Knees and fat: New studies Implications for Pilates
Nothing really earth-shattering in these reports as they really simply confirm what many of us already knew or suspected. Total wellness and health remain the key components to a healthy and happy life. Exercise and diet will remain the key building blocks, and us as Pilates professionals have our part to play not only in treating people who are suffering with various complaints, but also helping them to avoid future issues. We often only see people when they are in later life and much of the damage has been done, but still, if we only treat the symptoms that we see, then we are failing our clients. It is never too late to change and make a big difference.

Chris is a wellness and fitnesss consultant. He is also the creator of PilatesEVO, a system that uses meditation, NLP, meridians and other influences to help imrpove teaching quality and results for clients.

Study NLP and MEDITATION WITH PilatesEVO Online

Study PilatesEVO Online

www.pilatesEVO.com

The PilatesEVO Online School gives access to everyone who wants to study with us. We offer online courses that can be studied where and when you choose.

PilatesEVO NLP
The connection between PilatesEVO and NLP is a very important part of the PilatesEVO system.

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy. There is a connection between the neurological processes, language, and behavioral patterns that have been learned through experience and can be organized to achieve specific goals in life.

NLP was created by Richard Bandler, a mathematics student, and John Grinder, a linguistics professor at the University of California in 1972. Since then other people have added their own techniques and ideas, and NLP has grown globally, but PilatesEVO is the first Pilates system that uses NLP as the foundation for learning and teaching.

The name NLP is quite self-explanatory:

Neuro or neurology is to do with the study of the nervous system and of the mind. It’s all about how we think and also about our physiology.

Linguistics is all about the study of language and how we use it and its effects on us and others.

Programming is about the sequence of actions that we take and the order we take them. Why we do and think the way we do, and how we get ourselves out of bed and motivated to do the things we want to do.

There are 7 main reasons why we use NLP in PilatesEVO:

1) It will make you/your client understand Pilates movements more easily
2) It will give you/your client more enjoyment in classes
3) It will enable you/your client to get more benefit from Pilates classes
4) It will enable you to become the best communicator that you can, and deliver information more effectively
5) It will enable you to understand your and your client’s needs and requirements
6) It will enable teachers to engage with all their clients including groups
7) It will help you in your everyday life to understand yourself and achieve the things you want to achieve.

A really important aspect of PilatesEVO’s use of NLP are representational systems. This is a simple thing to determine but is incredibly powerful and will help you understand yourself and your clients if you are a teacher. This is priceless because it will enable you to become a better communicator with everyone in your life, including yourself.

You can read more about Pilates and NLP by CLICKING HERE.

Pilates and Meditation

We believe that meditation should not be accepted a being a spiritual belief, but it also requires hard scientific evidence. We teach that the best way to live our lives is to be in the present moment, and not being lost in thought about the past, or worrying about the future, not being distracted or overwhelmed by difficult emotions. Instead learning how to be in the here and now, how to be mindful and how to be in the present. It sounds so ordinary and easy, but the truth is that it is anything but ordinary.

A few years ago a research paper from Harvard concluded that our minds are lost in thought almost 47% of the time. This constant mind wondering is also one of the main causes of unhappiness. Our lives are short, so to spend almost half of our life lost in thought and potentially unhappy is tragic, especially when there is something we can all do about. There is a positive, practical and scientifically proven technique which allows our mind to be healthier and less distracted. Even better news is that this need only take only 10 minutes a day and it is free! It can have a massive impact on our whole life.

Most people assume meditation is about controlling the mind, but this is not the case. It is about stepping back and seeing the thought and emotions clearly, witnessing them coming and going with a relaxed focused mind.

But we need to know how to do it. Mindfulness meditation is essentially familiarising ourselves with the present moment. So how can we approach it in the right way to best the best out of it?

So what is meditation?

One definition is:
Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth.

The definition that PilatesEVO teach is that meditation is making the gaps in-between our thoughts longer.

In his book A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle says that the space between thoughts probably arise sporadically. Why we have not been aware about these spaces is because our consciousness had been so mesmerized by experienced and conditioned to identify with form that it does not become aware of inner space. You may be tempted to look for the Gap. However, you will not be able to seek for space; it just arises.

“Discover inner space by creating gaps in the stream of thinking. Without those gaps, your thinking becomes repetitive, uninspired, devoid of any creative spark, which is how it still is for most people on the planet.”

Eckhart Tolle suggests breath meditation to help bring space into our lives. When we become conscious of our own breath, we are absolutely present. Conscious breathing stops the process of thinking. But we are not asleep in this state. We are fully awake. Meditation offers the arising of space consciousness.

In Deepak Chopra’s book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, he talks about the Gap under the Law of Intention and Desire. Deepak shared that intention has an infinite organizing power. “Intention lays the groundwork for the effortless, spontaneous, frictionless flow of pure potentiality seeking expression from the unmanifest to the manifest.”

He then went on to outline the steps for manifesting our desires and getting them fulfilled in 5 steps. Here is the exact excerpt, making up the steps for 1 & 2:

(1) Slip into the gap. This means to centre yourself in that silent space between thoughts, to go into the silence – that level of Being which is your essential state.

(2) Establish in that state of Being, release your intentions and desires.

When you are actually in the gap, there’s no thought, there’s no intention, but as you come out of the gap at the junction between the gap and a thought, you introduce intention. If you have a series of goals, you can write them down and have your intention focused on them before you go into the gap. If you want a successful career, for example, you go into the gap with that intention, and the intention will already be there as a faint flicker in your awareness. Releasing your intentions and desires in the gap means planting them in the fertile ground of pure potentiality, and expecting them to bloom when the season is right. You do not want to dig up the seeds of your desires to see if they are growing, or get rigidly attached to the way in which they unfold. You simply want to release them.

We hope that Meditation Explained has given you a basic understanding about meditation, so that now you want to learn more. Now CLICK HERE to learn more.

As part of our commitment to the Pilates Carnival Foundation, we also offer some sponsored educations. Pilates Carnival was created to raise money for charity and give access to training to more Pilates teachers who may not be able to afford the usual cost. There are Pilates Carnival conventions all over the world where all profits go to a local children’s charity. No presenters or organisers make any money, and the cost for attending a weekend event with a full schedule of classes from international presenters is typically around 50€ to 100€. If you want to apply for a sponsored education, then please email us at pilatesEVOschool@pilatesevo.com. You will need to provide a covering presentation as to why you should be considered for sponsorship.

For more information on how to study PilatesEVO online and all our PilatesEVO online school courses, please click on the PilatesEVO School web page.

Every journey starts with an intention, and the first step. You are about to take your first step on the journey to become part of the PilatesEVO family.

www.pilatesEVO.com

Pilates not painkillers best cure for back pain

Pilates not painkillers best cure for back pain

www.pilatesevo.com

It always pleases me to see Pilates making the front pages of the newspapers. So this morning when my copy of The Times was delivered I was very happy to see the headline ”Pilates not painkillers best cure for backache”.

The article began by saying that taking drugs for back pain is largely pointless, following an overview of research.

The study was led by Manuela Ferriera of the George Institute in Sydney. Her team analysed 35 trials involving 6,000 patients using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for back pain and sciatica. Only one in six patients treated with the drugs received any pain relief that they would not have got from a placebo. But that relief was so small that it made no difference to their lives. However, the drugs almost doubled the risk of problems such as bleeding and stomach ulcers.

Dr Ferreira stated that “back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is commonly managed by prescribing anti-inflammatory drugs. Our results show that these drugs only provide very limited short-term pain relief. They do reduce the level of pain but only very slightly and arguable not of any clinical significance. When you factor in the side-effects which are common, it becomes clear that these drugs are not the answer to providing pain relief to the many millions who suffer from this debilitating condition every year.”

Pilates not painkillers best cure for backache
Gustavo Machado, another of the researchers said “Patients with back pain should consider an exercise program to help them manage their condition. For example aerobic exercises, strengthening/stretching exercises, Pilates and core-stability exercises.”

Of course, all us Pilates people are reading this having known the truth for many years having dealt with thousands of clients. But it’s always nice to see it reported in the mainstream press, especially the quality press.

I have written before about similar topics before, and I think it’s important to stress again that the best remedy for a back condition and many other issues is not, as the report says, only one thing. Even doing Pilates alone, whilst it will without doubt improve the condition, is not the best way to get the maximum results for your clients. We must deal with any problem in a holistic way. I agree with the article that this must include Pilates/core-stability exercises and also cardio, but I would add another vital element; mental health. It is totally proven that pain is as much psychological as it is physical, if not more so. So my advice is to treat back pain with appropriate and varied exercise. But also use techniques such as meditation. This is the total wellness I refer to in my PilatesEVO training courses. It is why in PilatesEVO I teach about meditation as well as NLP, meridians and functional movements.

I’d love to chat with other teachers so if you have any comments then please drop me a line by clicking on www.pilatesevo.com or email me at chris@pilatesevo.com.

Chris Hunt PilatesEVOChris Hunt is the creator of PilatesEVO, and he also runs wellness educations and retreats at the PilatesEVO School in Barcelona and online.

New Year Resolutions: Don’t Fail this year

New Year Resolutions: Don’t Fail this year

On January 1st, millions of people began the annual ritual of New Year’s Resolutions. Memberships at health clubs and diet programs soar, whilst sales of chocolate and alcohol decline. People take a long, hard look at their spending habits as they sort through the January bills.

Here in Barcelona, the number of people booking onto my wellness and detox retreats rocket, as do bookings for my fitness and sport holidays. Also, people are signing up to my PilatesEVO online training with excited enthusiasm.

Now we a few days into the New Year and despite all this good intention, most people (hopefully not my clients of course!)  will fail at their resolutions. Come February, most New Year’s resolutions will be a dim memory. How can such apparently strong determination fizzle out so quickly? What can we do to increase the likelihood that our desire for change will translate into permanent positive change?

New Year Resolutions: Don’t Fail this year
Let’s first examine the psychology of the New Year’s Resolution. During the month of December people tend to overindulge in eating, drinking, spending money and neglecting exercise. Rather than moderate these behaviours, we promise ourselves that after the holiday season is over, we will definitely take control. In the meantime, we give ourselves permission to overindulge without guilt. Our resolve is at its peak when we feel full, drunk, or broke. It’s easy to think about going on a diet as we groan from a bloating holiday meal. It’s no problem to plan to quit smoking when we’ve just had a cigarette and replenished our nicotine level. At this point we feel confident about our New Year’s resolutions because we have not yet confronted any prolonged physical deprivation or discomfort.

Chocolate_4

In early January, we are often so sick of rich food and drinks, and feeling so sluggish from lack of vigorous physical activity that it’s not difficult to abstain from overindulgence. In fact, some people look forward to more structure and discipline in their lives. However, a few weeks into the new discipline, our appetites have returned, and we start to feel deprived. It is at this point that we are most at risk for reverting back to old behaviours.

Soon we start rationalizing that this is not a good time of year, what with cold weather and our numerous obligations. When spring comes, we’ll really get into shape. Thus, we make another promise to ourselves, and, now free of guilt, put off habit change for another few months. Chances are that when spring arrives, we will have another temporary surge of motivation, only to abandon it within a few weeks.

time_to_exercise

So why do people abandon their resolutions? One reason is that we become discouraged when results don’t come quickly enough, or when we find that we are not necessarily happier because of them. Behavioural change requires sustained effort and commitment. It is also typically accompanied by physical discomfort. For example, reducing food, alcohol or nicotine intake from a level to which you have become accustomed, results in cravings. Forcing yourself to get off your cosy chair to exercise is often difficult when you’re tired. And of course, it’s easy to procrastinate until tomorrow, so that you can rationalise not disciplining yourself today.

Therefore, if you are going to try to keep your New Year’s resolutions this year, be sure you are ready for the challenge. My experience has shown me time and time again that it possible if you know how. Here are some tips to maximize your success that I use at the PilatesEVO School and at my retreats in Barcelona and also in my online training for clients. My experience is that they really work:

1. Examine your motivation for change
Are you just feeling full and bloated at this moment? Do you have a hangover from last night? Did your last cigarette give you have a hacking cough? Or is there a more enduring reason for your desire to change? If you can’t think of a better reason than the fact that you’re uncomfortable at this moment, then you’re better off not making promises to yourself that you probably won’t keep. However, if you are realistic and accept the responsibility of discipline required for change, your motivation will be sustained long after the discomfort from over-indulgence has passed.

2. Set realistic goals
Habits and behaviours that are changed gradually have a greater chance of success.

3. Focus on the behavioural change more than on the goal
For example, if you decide to control your eating, your goal for the day is not to lose a specific number of pounds, but to stick to your program. Such focus on your behaviour will help you feel in control of your life. You will gain satisfaction from making sensible choices several times throughout the day.

4. Learn to redefine physical sensations of discomfort
Whenever we restrict ourselves, we have both physical and mental reactions. For example, a smoker feels bodily sensations when his nicotine level drops. However, he has a choice as to how he interprets these symptoms. He can define them as extremely unpleasant, or alternatively he can interpret them as his body cleansing itself of the drug.

5. Make tasks non-negotiable
People who are most successful at implementing such changes are those who make their tasks non-negotiable. For example, if you debate with yourself at 5:30 a.m. whether you feel like getting up to exercise, you will probably opt for staying in bed for another half hour. But if getting up for exercise is no more negotiable than getting up for work, then you’ll do it regardless of how you feel about it. The same goes for organising your closet or taking charge of your finances. One can almost always find an excuse not to do these things. However, if you make a non-negotiable decision that’s based on a sound logical reason rather than on how you feel at the moment, you will be successful.

6. Allow for imperfection.
No one is exactly on target all the time. In fact you should expect to falter every now and then. If you give in to temptation, do not use this as an excuse to abandon the whole program. Learn from your mistake and move on.

7. Do it now.
If you’re waiting for a more convenient time to begin behavioural change, it won’t happen. It’s almost never convenient to change ingrained habits. Now is just as convenient as any time.

I hope in this blog New Year Resolutions: Don’t Fail this year I have give you some (low fat) food for thought! I could say good luck, but we all know that it has very little to do with luck. It has everything to do with commitment and planning. If you want some help with that then contact me about online support and training, and also my retreats in Barcelona and Ibiza. I am very happy to give free advice because I know how hard it can be to make a lasting change. But everything is possible. How much do you want it?

Chris Hunt PilatesEVO

Chris Hunt is an international consultant and Pilates/functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, a revolutionary system that uses NLP, mindfulness, meridains and traditional Pilates and kundalini to create a deep practise. He is also the creator of bodyFUNC©, educations that teach how to incorporate old and new practises into any fitness training regime to increase results. He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. Based at the PilatesEVO School in Barcelona, he organises Pilates events, retreats, fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona and Ibiza. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona or online, please click on PilatesEVO or Barcelona Bienestar. You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners.
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Meditation helps lower back pain


Meditation helps lower back pain

www.pilatesevo.com

Meditation helps lower back pain

Meditaiton helps lower back pain: this is a heading that some will find surprising, but to some of us it is absolutely no surprise at all.

Pain management is a complex issue that varies from person to person; no two people experience pain the same way. But a recent study suggests that training the brain to respond differently to pain signals may be an effective pain relief tool.

Researchers examined mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and compared it to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) which is a typical care for back pain. 342 patients in the US trial aged between 20 and 70 were divided into three groups. The scientists from the Group Health Research Institute in Washington found that MBSR  led to “meaningful improvements” in patient’s pain.

After six months, 61% of patients who received MBSR and 58% who had CBT showed improvements in their functional limitations, compared to 44% who only had usual care including pysiotherapy. Interestingly, the improvements in the MBSR group persisted a year later.

The study concluded something that we have all known for a long time, and one of the main reasons that I created my system PilatesEVO several years ago; that the mind and body are intimately intertwined, and this includes how we sense and respond to pain.

These findings are totally inline with my experience as a Pilates teacher, and this is why I introduced Mindfulness Meditation into my system, PilatesEVO. I am convinced that teaching mindfulness incorporated with traditional Pilates methods give me results that far exceed the results I got from teaching Pilates in the more traditional way.

A minority of one-dimensional people critisize me for including mindfulness in PilatesEVO, saying that Joseph Pilates did not include meditation in this original system. My answer is that science is moving forwards, and to ignore new evidence is ignorant and does a disservice to our clients, the people we are trying to help. I respect the principles of Pilates (although these were only classified after Joseph’s death) but I will do all I can to give my rehabilitation clients the best possible chance of making a full recovery. It has been my opinion for many years even before I created PilatesEVO that mindfulness meditation sits perfectly within a Pilates environment and new research such as this reinforces my opinion. And I know that my PilatesEVO clients and teachers agree too.

If you want to learn more about mindfulness meditation and PilatesEVO then please contact me by emailing chris@pilatesevo.com.

Let’s keep an open mind, and let’s keep learning.

Chris Hunt PilatesEVO

Chris Hunt is a Business Consultant and Pilates/functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength. He also created Pilates Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises Pilates events, mind and body retreats, fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona and Ibiza. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris Hunt, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris Hunt pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.

The next PilatesEVO educations are in:
Sao Paulo, Brazil May 2016
Barcelona, Spain July 2016
Miami, USA September 2016
Brighton, UK October 2016
For more information please email educations@pilatesevo.com

 

 

Pilates EVO in Brazil

 

www.pilatesevo.com

Pilates EVO in Brazil

I will be returning to Brazil in May 2016 to deliver Pilates EVO educations, and I will also be teaching again at the Congress of Pilates in Sao Paulo in September. For more information, please contact me at chris@pilatesevo.com.

For those people who are new to PilatesEVO….

“Life is always moving forward, always changing, always evolving. When we awaken to the fact that we cannot stop or control change; that we should embrace change, then we are able to move forward as well. From this philosophy I created Pilates EVO©. We should never forget our past. It built the foundation that our present so depends. But the past is not an excuse to stay still and not plan for a different future. I hope that you enjoy the journey you are about to start. Every journey begins with an intention and a small step. You have taken your first step.
Just as Pilates works the body from the inside out, the proactive approach to life is to change from the inside out: to be different, and by being different to effect positive change in yourself and the world.”
Chris Hunt, creator of PilatesEVO©.

Since its birth around 100 years ago, the Pilates method has been modified and arguably made more effective by some distinguished presenters, but diluted and the basic principles largely ignored by less scrupulous teachers. There are so many commercially orientated systems on the market today that tell teachers exactly what to do and when to do it, because they do not trust them to think for themselves. Welcome to a breath of fresh air; welcome to the world of PilatesEVO©.

Pilates EVO©(EVO is an abbreviation of evolution) is like no other Pilates system. Developed by Chris Hunt Pilates in London, it takes Pilates in a new and exciting direction incorporating more functional training methods and movement patterns, whilst staying true to traditional Pilates principles. It is a complete system, and the ideas that it teaches can also be used to enhance the teaching of any other Pilates method.

Pilates EVO© expands the mind and body element of Pilates by incorporating Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Mindfulness Meditation techniques to maximise the psychological and physical benefits, improving concentration and making clients emotionally, mentally and spiritually fitter. It improves motor fitness such as agility, balance, speed, co-ordination, reaction time and power. It also draws on thousands of years of teachings from Kundalini yoga and meridian stretches to enhance the overall experience. It has more flow and movement with sequences of moves made up from the sacred numbers 3, 7 and 21, and it uses unique, uplifting soundtracks mixed in London by DJ Shameless to enable clients to really connect with how their body is moving and working, giving a far deeper and rewarding experience. Most moves have different levels progressing muscular fitness using repetitions, range of motion, rate and resistance. This creates a system that will remain challenging to a wide range of training goals from elite athletes, people seeking everyday fitness, to clients rehabilitating following accident or injury.

This system increases muscular strength and endurance as well as flexibility, and helps prevent injury and improve performance with movements that are applicable to life and sport.

PilatesEVO© is the only system that allows its teachers to create their own movement combinations, that can then be introduced to the system worldwide. PilatesEVO© does not just tell its teachers what to do and when to do it; it actively encourages them to create their own Universe.

 

Chris Hunt is a Business Consultant and Pilates/functional training presenter and educator based in London and Barcelona, Spain. He is the creator of Pilates EVO©, bodyFUNC©, and CEO of Pilates Rehab Limited and Sport Core Strength.  He also created Pilates Carnival and Fitness Carnival, conventions where all profits go to local children’s charities. He organises Pilates events, mind and body retreats, fitness holidays and sports holidays in Barcelona and Ibiza. For more information about training with Chris in Barcelona, please click on Barcelona Bienestar. To learn more about Chris Hunt, please read Just who is Chris Hunt anyway? You can also subscribe by completing the form on the this BLOG to receive articles and special offers straight to your inbox.

Chris Hunt pays all profits made from this BLOG to his charity partners. More details can be found by clicking on www.chrishuntwellness.com and selecting the “charity partners” tab.