Training with Carla Mullins from Body Organics
Last Sunday, Pilates Can played host again to the fabulous Carla Mullins from Body Organics. This time, our focus was on the Psoas, Sacrum, Pelvis and Femur. What a day we had! By diving deep into the anatomy of our hips, your PilatesCan team have connected some dots and found new ways to help our clients with issues like SIJ pain, and preparing for and recovering from hip replacements.
We spent a good part of the day understanding the different muscles that have a pull on the pelvis and hips. Then we applied that knowledge to considering how to help people at different stages of hip pain.
Carla has a wonderful way of teaching anatomy in a way that helps it come alive. We were especially lucky to have three PilatesCan clients join us to help us put our theory into practice. A massive thank you to Carol, Melissa and Denise for giving up part of your Sunday to help us become better teachers. Being able to see, in real bodies, what Carla was teaching us was very helpful in cementing the concepts.
Carla challenged us to think about our role as Pilates teachers – we are here as movement specialists, to teach people how to move rather than just stabilise. We considered the difference and appropriateness of the different stages of rehabilitation and how and when it is appropriate to move our clients from one stage to the next.
We spent time tweaking familiar Pilates’ repertoire in ways that facilitated better movement in our bodies. Some of us felt a beautiful “unlocking” by moving in different ways. We learnt how to sashay, how to use our femur (thigh bone) to get better movement through the pelvis and lumbar spine plus the relationship between the sternum and sacrum. We considered the stages of gait (how we walk), and how to adjust exercises we already know to give them new meaning and purpose when applied to the gait cycle.
Keep an eye out in your sessions for small twists on familiar exercises, and be open to learning a new way of trying it. Who knows, it might just be the change you’ve been looking for!
We would like to thank Carla for braving the Canberra winter to share her knowledge with us. We are so grateful for your generosity, energy and the way you help us challenge ourselves as teachers. We can’t wait until you come back next year!
