Smart Spine time of year!
The cold has begun to set in. This is a great time of year to use the SmartSpine. Wonderful heat from tail bone to base of the skull that helps activate your core muscles while relaxing the superficial muscles that hide the weaknesses. We focus on breath, natural joint movement patterns. You will feel lengthened and get a great pilates workout at the same time. This post reproduces our Musings page for those who may not have seen it yet:
What is the Smart Spine and how we use it…
SmartSpine Pilates is a form of pilates performed on various shaped hot pads. New research reports that heat stimulates core muscle function – this training focuses on the ways that one can take advantage of this information in accessing and strengthening the core muscles.
If you are new to pilates, have had an injury or just don’t get how to find those core muscles I will use the smart spine with you. My clients who have tried this really love how it helps them perform pilates at a deeper stronger level. Tense or sore superficial muscles relax while deep core muscles activate. It will create a different kind of mind body connection so that you can’t miss what you are trying to access. I get comments like – “I feel taller”, “I feel more space in my spine”, “oh I get it…”
It the words of its creator Marie Jose Blom “The spine is our body’s most extensive information center, communicating with the entire body via proprioceptors and thermo receptors, the body’s built in sensory mechanism, communicating space, balance and alignment internally. These proprioceptors are densely organized around the joints and close to the skin surface…. Creating a support system for the spine that awakens these sensors will guide they body into movement via the bones while releasing the overactive muscles near the spine. The often eluded deep abdominals (transversus abdominus) and back muscles (mutifidi) will be more easily accessed with the awareness training system as a guide. The SmartSpine is designed as a unique support and alignment aid for the entire length of the spine and sacrum. It functions as a virtual coach during core exercises.”