Saturday, July 20, 2013





Pilates, Meditation and Qigong for a stronger, more relaxed you!
By Kristi Camier

 

As a Pilates devotee, I have noticed how this practice compliments and enriches two of my life passions, Meditation and Qigong. During Pilates, I connect with my breath and body while doing the movements, as with Qigong (pronounced Chee Kung).  For those of you who are new to Qigong, it consists of slow, meditative movements that stretch and strengthen muscles (sound familiar Pilates faithfuls?).  Through focused movement of your body’s energy you can achieve a relaxed state of mind.  We all can use a little of that! Another huge benefit is this activates self-healing properties that ancient Chinese texts call the “healer within”.  It is so empowering and easy to take care of your health in a matter of minutes daily.
Qigong is only one of many kinds of meditative practices.  In the past, meditation conjured up thoughts of an Ashram in India somewhere.  Now in our fast paced life, filled with to-do lists, more and more people are reaping the benefits by simply taking a few minutes a day to achieve a peaceful state of mind.  Literally hundreds of scientific studies have discovered the impact on the brain as well as on the body.  This results in profound short and long-term psychological and physiological changes.  The great part is that you only need a few minutes a day to reap the benefits.

I am a Mom and used to have an intense full time corporate job, so I truly understand how challenging it can be to take time for ourselves.  As the years have gone by, I realize that I need to put that oxygen mask on myself first before helping others.  I believe that the quality of our life is the quality of our health and relationships.  One of the most important relationships is the one you have with yourself.  Pilates, Meditation and Qigong can help you discover a calm and steady mind housed in a strong and powerful body  

Monday, July 15, 2013


What is Contrology?
By Paul Meripol

Joe Pilates didn’t call the system of health, fitness, and well-being that he invented “Pilates.”  He called it “Contrology.”  It was the art of control of the body, the mind, and the spirit.  I like that name and kind of wish we still called it that, because it makes sense to me.  Pilates in its essence is simple, we control some parts of the body while we move other parts.  When we move our legs, often against resistance, we use our powerhouse to control our hips.  When we move our arms, we use muscles of our shoulder girdle to control our shoulders.  Sometimes we move our spine and hips while we control our legs.  But it’s simple, we control some parts while we move other parts.

Try this:

Lay on your back with your legs in tabletop position.  Feel your shoulder blades resting on the mat.  Feel your tail bone heavy on the mat and your weight even on both sides of your bottom.  Now hold your left leg perfectly quiet while you move your right leg to the right.  That is, let your right knee and lower leg lower sideways toward the floor.  Pull the leg back up to tabletop.  Do it a few times.  Notice what happens to your bottom.  Do your feel your left side lifting up a bit?  And maybe your left knee is trying to fall to the left a bit your right leg drops to the right?

Now we are going to practice Contrology.  Lower your bent right leg to the floor again but this time focus on your left side tummy.  Keep it strong.  Work to keep weight on that left side of your bottom as you drop your right leg and pull it up.  Let the leg fall only as far as you can control keeping your weight even on both sides of your hips and your left knee just above your left hip.  Feel how that changes the movement?  Now you are practicing Contrology!