Menu

Tag: pure pilates

Introducing Paddleboard Pilates! – Summer 2017

June 9, 2017
| No Comments
| Categories: Announcement, Fitness, Paddleboard, Uncategorized
Image of Valya and Bella on a paddleboard

Sign up now for Sunday Summer fun! Join us on the Rappahannock River for Pilates and Paddleboards! Prerequisite: No experience necessary - we're all beginners. Fee: $65 per class. Cost includes paddleboard, life vest and paddle rental. You bring: Water shoes are highly recommended. Don't forget your sunscreen! Location: We'll gather at River Rock Outfitters (915 Sophia St.) between 3:30 and 3:45 for paperwork and instructions, then walk to their launch site. Paddleboards will be in the river at 4:00 on the dot! Class...

Read More›

Fulfilling Each Movement

November 7, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Bella

Bella, the West Highland Terrier who works in my studio, inspired me to write today about fulfilling each movement. Bella has her own favorite Pilates exercises and I love watching how she milks every movement for all it’s worth. I can walk toward her treat jar or open the back door, but she will not move until she’s fulfilled each and every movement. First, she slowly extends her front legs and lowers her upper body into Shell Stretch. Then (and...

Read More›

Let Your Breath Drive Your Movement

September 12, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Valya Karcher

The slower you go the faster you will see results. The best thing I’ve found that slows me down is my breath. Inhale slowly to a 4 or 5 count and exhale the same. Let your breath be the force that moves your body through your Pilates workout. Instead of arms and legs racing out of the starting gate first, think breath. Just like your car needs to fill up with gas before it can run, your lungs also need...

Read More›

Stabilize then Elongate or Elongate then Stabilize?

August 26, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Valya Karcher

I always stabilize my spine and then elongate, so what’s up with this blog? Well, Pilates exercises have a natural flow and cadence. The movement is always evolving as the core gets stronger and can support greater ranges and challenges. Stabilization of the spine is at the core of every exercise (pardon my pun!). The spine is stabilized to prevent risk of injury and to place it in the best possible posture: the posture that you carry out of the...

Read More›

A Daily Practice of Aligning Your Spine

July 3, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Valya Karcher

I tell new clients that the first thing they’ll need to adjust after their first Pilates workout is their rear view mirror. How can you sit all scrunched down after you have felt the relief of lengthening your muscles and re-aligning your spine? I have a daily practice of aligning my spine that I’m hardly ever aware of, except to say that it feels good! Since I started doing Pilates I’m more aware of tension surfacing in my body, especially...

Read More›

Working Below the Surface

June 10, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Woman working on Pilates Tower

In Pilates there’s a lot going on below the surface. Slow and complete breaths can deepen your alignment and balance. A full inhale circulates oxygen rich blood throughout your body. A full exhale (navel to spine) calls the muscles of your back to be strong inner supports for a healthy and flexible backbone. I enjoy slowly “reaching” with my breathing so that my muscles have time to release and re-balance. Isn't it wonderful to move the flow of air as...

Read More›

A Delicate Balance

May 1, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Woman on balanced body equipment

I’ve talked about zipping up your powerhouse and sliding your shoulders down your back – both of which bring power into your powerhouse. But there’s a balancing of that energy that’s the hallmark of the “Pilates body.” If too much energy is going up the zipper there may be back extension, with the spine arching slightly backward. Too much energy pulling the shoulders down has the same effect. Several years ago I participated in a posture workshop where we had...

Read More›

Downloading Strength to Your Core

April 2, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Men doing Pilates exercise

Shortly after I started doing Pilates I was writing a letter at the kitchen table and I noticed that my shoulders were up by my ears. As I slowly released them I felt the power of my shoulder blades sliding down my back, and, as it turns out, strengthening my core. I've since been in workshops where we have done exercises designed to increase awareness of where we carry our strength and where strength can “leak away” from the powerhouse....

Read More›

One Simple Step Engages Your Powerhouse

March 8, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Woman doing Pilates

Isn’t the human body an amazing creation? Everything is connected! The simple act of drawing your navel to your spine activates your back and abdominal muscles. Starting with the deepest supports of your spine all the way out to your 6-pack, every layer of muscle joins forces with the one before it to strengthen your back and firm your abdominals. And all because you pulled in your belly button! As you exhale and drop your navel to your spine, another...

Read More›

Pilates Rx: Breathe. Repeat Often.

January 30, 2013
| No Comments
| Categories: Fitness, Uncategorized
Woman doing sit-ups

When I was told that practicing Pilates breathing would firm my “after-baby” tummy, I was a woman on a mission. I would lie in bed at night and inhale everything I needed for the next day and exhale everything that was not working in my life. I would take my inhale as deep as I could into the mattress and exhale dropping my belly button as deep as I could into the small of my back. It only took about...

Read More›