An Interview with Caroline Feig and Margi Douglas on Feldenkrais

MARGI: What do you love about teaching and/or practicing Feldenkrais?

CAROLINE: I don't think anything has had as profound of an influence on my work (or self-development) as the Feldenkrais Method.  When you practice the Feldenkrais method, you learn to be able to feel so many things that most of us want to feel. In Moshe's words, "it makes the impossible possible, the possible easy and the easy elegant.”  

M: Ok I'm in! Sounds delicious. How do you usually begin with someone who has never done it? Is there a movement experience or a principle that feels like a starting place?

C: Typically, we start at 1A... The very beginning.   In Feldenkrais, there is a concept of meeting a person where they are, wherever that may be...  It can be so comforting when someone just lets you be you. I can still remember the very first time someone did that for me.  It was very powerful.  It made me feel safe and ready to learn. Then, from there on out, the work becomes more of a dialogue then an instruction.  And actually, "work" is a terrible word for it.  It's more like "play."

M: Ha! Ok so it is play. Do you find that people want to turn it into something else like "strength training" or "yoga" or even "pilates"? It seems very strange, to many people, I think to move in a playful way.  We all are so focused on wanting to do something well or to feel the "right" thing.

C: I couldn't agree more.  Often these ideas of "right" or "ideal," serve little more than a moment in time- like a pose in Yoga or posture with weight lifting. Then when it's time to transition, roll, lunge, swing a racket etc., our ideas of  "right" can actually inhibit our ability to move freely.  Feldenkrais thought that instead of "posture," which comes from the root "to post," the word should be "acture," from the root "to act" to reflect how we hold and use ourselves in three dimensional space.

I believe that there usually is, in fact, a right and wrong for most of us.  But often we forget that the "right" has to do with comfort, ease, fun, joy... a feeling of safety and security... something that just feels right.   Sometimes we don't even know what "feels right."  That's ok!  Feldenkrais is an amazing tool for that.

M: It sounds so freeing. So if I walked into a group lesson half way through what would I most likely see? Are people moving in unison or following specific choreography? What kinds of movement would I see?

C: Well, that is a sight to see!  You would most likely see a group of people hearing the same instruction, but doing what appears to be completely different movements!   And that is part of the method- each is aloud to have his own learning process... move in his own way.  A teacher rarely corrects a student’s movement.  More likely, a teacher will help a student to see what he or she is doing.  And then often, through the process of awareness, something really special happens by the end.  The group does tend to move in unison.  Almost in the way the “om” of the group can resonate more at the end of a Yoga class, the movement in the class starts to resonate too. If you’ve never rolled around in unison with a group of 50 people, I highly recommend!  

M: Thank you Caroline. I take your recommendation. And I am definitely looking forward to your workshop at the Pilates Garage! Come one and come all and get ready to resonate together!

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Tuesday October 27th 7:30-9:30pm

Meet with the talented Caroline Feig, physical therapist and Feldenkrais practitioner, for this month's workshop entitled:

Unlocking the Jaw with the Feldenkrais Method

This workshop will focus on relaxing and and improving the movements of the face, neck, tongue and jaw.
 

Cost: $50
Reservation required
Please call 718-768-123
E-mail: pilates.garage@gmail.com
Location: 441 3rd Ave @8th Street

PC360 Margi Video

Clients at the Pilates Garage are experiencing a new wave of fitness and therapeutic training using the PC360 eccentric band system in combination with the Cadillac table. Caroline Feig, a physical therapist in residence at the studio, has developed a unique series of exercises that address common hip and knee injuries. She has shared her work with studio teachers and now some of those exercises can be integrated into your Pilates fitness session. Says studio owner Margi Douglas: “It is particularly useful when a client is bridging the gap between therapeutic work and fitness to use the PC360 straps prior to going into the Pilates springs or to help an advanced client gain a new awareness of an old Pilates exercise with a slightly different feeling of resistance, or turning something upside down. The results have been phenomenal, and students have reported feeling a dramatic change in support for a troubled knee or hip by the session’s end."

Spring into exercise safely and with ease after a long winter: Learn the Alexander Technique

TRADITIONAL ALEXANDER CONCEPTS IN A NEW LIGHT
One-time opportunity to work with Master Teacher Bill Conable for teachers and students of AT.

SATURDAY APRIL 25 & SUNDAY APRIL 26 - 1.30 TO 6.30PM

The birds are chirping, the trees are in bloom, and suddenly you have the urge to hop on your bike or jog around the park. You dust off your sneakers and off you go. Then… ouch!

While nature can bounce back after months of dormancy, people who are out of shape often cannot. If you have been inactive for a sustained period of time, then sudden or aggressive exercise can prove dangerous since weaker muscles and bones are prone to sprains, tears, and breaks.

According to the University of Maryland’s Baltimore Washington Medical Center, “Emergency rooms and sports medicine clinics see a fairly dramatic rise in sports-related injuries during the spring and summer months.”

Perhaps this year, you could give yourself the opportunity to notice “how” you are doing your exercise of choice, rather than just pushing through it.  The “how” of it is often so much more important than the quantity or mileage though it is hard for us to believe that.

What gets most of us into trouble is a habit the Alexander Technique world calls “end-gaining.” We see where we want to go and we rush to get there without taking the time to really go through the process. Maybe we’ve achieved the goal before so we don’t understand why we can’t just go out and do it again. 

At the Pilates Garage, I have started using the The AlexanderTechnique as a jumping off point for my clients in their pilates work but it applies to all activities. AT is a method that rebalances your mind and body, increases your awareness of good “use,” and promotes efficient movement, thereby decreasing your chance for injury. 

Recently, I came across some advice to runners from an Alexander teacher/running coach named Malcolm Balk. He gives workshops to runners using the technique. Here is his advice for runners. Read it carefully. Even if you aren’t a runner you will notice the language is very different than what our usual “end-gaining” idea of running would be:

• Lie down for a few minutes before you run to prepare mentally and to allow the spine to decompress. Keep your knees bent and put a few books under your head.

• Think “up” before you move forward. Most of us have a tendency to shorten and contract before we move - think about lengthening and expanding instead.

• Release your knees and ankles before you move. This may feel counterintuitive because we tend to clench them before action.

• Allow your knees - not your feet - to lead your stride. Trying to increase your stride length by extending the foot out further results in a braking action, while the body has to catch up with the legs.

• Don’t try to “fix” your posture by sucking in the stomach, pulling the shoulders down, tilting the pelvis or pushing the chest forward and up. This creates unnecessary tension.

• Run with your whole body, not just your legs.

• Don’t bend at the waist, but to take your weight slightly forward, to let gravity tilt you from the ground up.

• Look ahead, not down, and keep your eyes “soft”.

• Don’t expect to get it right all the time. “Even Roger Federer loses sometimes,” says Balk.

• Practice running very slowly. You’ll notice more about your style. Do you have a light or heavy footfall? Is there any unnecessary tension? How fast do your feet lift off the ground?

• Set goals. Having a realistic target or goal helps maintain motivation long after the initial thrill of becoming a runner is gone.

Enjoy the beautiful weather and remember to take your time as you launch yourself back into that next run around Prospect Park.

​The Mysterious Psoas Muscle!

"Picture a circus tent with its main pole and guide wires stabilizing the pole. The psoas muscle supports the spine as guide wires support a main tent pole." - Liz Koch, The Psoas Book 

The psoas muscle is deep within the abdomen, so it is difficult at first to identify exactly where it is.  The many functions of the psoas include: aiding in flexion and external rotation of the hip joint, and the bending and straightening of the trunk (i.e. all that bending over we do even though we know we shouldn't...).

If your psoas is very tight, it can contribute to lower back pain by compressing the lumbar discs.  

But there are ways to stretch the psoas gently, starting with a simple rotation of the spine. Because the psoas attaches to the front of the vertebrae, just turning your upper body back and forth can give you a little psoas relief.

Can Pilates and Psoas Awareness help you? Join us at our community event and find out! 

The Psoas: Mystery Muscle

Practicing Psoas Release 

Did you know that a "psoas release" not only balances your spine and improves your posture but it also helps with digestion?   

"It is the vital and dynamic interrelationship of the psoas with the diaphragm, organs, blood, and nerves that gives the psoas muscle a powerful unifying function." - Liz Koch 

As the holidays approach, we know we will be eating more, traveling more, and exercising less. 

Taking 5-10 minutes daily to pay attention to this very deep muscle can steer you away from aches and indigestion and keep you floating in holiday cheer.  

Not only does the psoas muscle help us move our legs and torso, it also acts as a shelf-- providing support for the organs and viscera. According to Liz Koch, author of The Psoas Book, "The health, length and vitality of the psoas muscle affects organ functioning. Whether or not there is room within the pelvic bowel for the organs to rest comfortably and function normally is determined by the length and tone of the psoas muscle."

In other words, if your psoas is habitually tight or contracted, it may actually change the structural position of your skeleton.  It can shorten the torso and leave less space available for your internal organs.  Believe it or not, this can change your digestion and actually result in a sub-par nutritional absorption rate.  It can make your body's job of absorbing nutrients from your food and eliminating waste significantly harder.  

In order to help lengthen the psoas muscle, a good place to begin is constructive rest position.  Lie on your back, preferably on a carpeted floor, with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.  The feet can be about a foot away from your buttocks, but feel free to adjust to whatever is more comfortable for you.  Some people like to put a bolster or a couple of large pillows under their knees for additional support.  It may help to put a thin pillow, a folded towel, or even a paperback book under your head.  Different people will have different relationships to the floor: don't worry about smushing your back flat into the floor, just allow the comfortable, natural curve of your spine to relax into comfort. Lying this way even a few minutes every day can help your psoas release and your body de-stress. 

In Pilates we are asked to work the deep abdominals and the psoas to stabilize the trunk while the legs move in scissors or leg circle exercises. The deeper your connection and understanding of how the psoas functions, the stronger and more gracefully you can move. Join us at our next community event to learn ways to release and tone those deep mystery muscles that all your instructors are talking about.

When: Monday December 15th, 7pm 

Where: The Pilates Garage 441 3rd Ave, Brooklyn

Mark your calendars now, and call or email us to reserve your spot!

The Pilates Garage promotes techniques that help people to prevent and recover from injury while getting super fit. We offer classes in Pilates and Alexander Technique and also have a physical therapist in-house.

Please join us!

 

Save The Date: Ask the PT!

Date: Thursday, October 16th

When: 7:30 pm

Where: Pilates Garage, 441 3rd Avenue at corner of 8th street

Physical Therapist Caroline Feig

Physical Therapist Caroline Feig is available to answer your questions at this special event. Do you need advice on how to heal or treat an injury? Or are you just curious about what might be wrong with your knee? Ankle? Shoulder? Instructors and clients welcome. We will all learn together.

We are so lucky to have Caroline at the Pilates Garage, where she can utilize the Pilates apparatus as appropriate to the injury. Follow up with Garage teachers for an ongoing program to help heal what ails you.    

Suggested Donation: $10

Call 718-768-1235 or email pilates.garage@gmail.com to reserve your spot!

Standing On Solid Ground

Be Kind to Your Feet! 

How do you feel about your feet?

The seasons are changing here in New York, and many of us are putting away our summer footwear to prepare for fall.  Some people love wearing sandals and shoes without socks in the summertime, even if it sometimes results in stinky sneakers.

Others, however, don't have much love for their feet.  They are happy when fall weather returns so they don't constantly feel like their feet are on display. But whether you like traipsing around in sandals or prefer a heavy boot, we should all take a moment to appreciate our feet.

First of all, our feet are extremely complex arrangements of bone, muscle, tendons and nerves.

When we have difficulty with our feet it is hard to avoid the pain.  If you have pain in a non-dominant hand, it's possible to reduce the use of that limb in order to allow the healing process to continue.  But our feet are the foundation of our entire body, as well as our means of transportation. So we need to be kind to our feet! 

Common Foot Ailments  

If you tend to roll inward on your foot, and your shoes tend to wear out on the side by the big toe and arch, this is called pronation. If, as I do, you tend to roll outward, with shoes that often wear out on the side with your pinky toe, that is called supination. Some of you may have experienced plantar fasciitis, pain caused by inflammation of the plantar fascia at the bottom of the foot.

While some of these issues may be serious enough to seek medical attention, we can help prevent some problems from developing by the way we take care of our feet.  The flip-flops we wear in summer don't provide any support, and probably aren't ideal for walking further than from the dressing room out to the pool. But what about the shoes we choose in the fall?

Whether we like heavy boots or high heels, both can be problematic at times.  When choosing boots make sure they have room for your toes-- repeated chafing can cause corns, blisters or bunions. High heels, especially above 1 or 2 inches, further challenge our feet and legs. In addition to squeezing the toes, they can place a great deal of pressure on the balls of our feet. 

As you can see from the diagram above, the height of the heels we choose will radically change the way the weight of our body is distributed throughout the foot. When wearing a 6 cm heel (approximately 2.36 inches) 75% of the weight of the body will be resting on the ball of the foot. It's obvious that this can cause foot pain.  What may be more serious is the way it changes the rest of our body.

This illustration shows the way in which our body balances when our weight is evenly distributed.  When the weight is displaced on to the ball of the foot, the pelvis shifts and the spine curves in order to compensate. This can obviously result in additional pressure on the knees, pelvis, lower back, and even the neck and shoulders.

I'm not saying you have to throw away all of your high heels. But perhaps you can save the highest ones for a special occasion where you are going to spend most of your time sitting down. For walking, for working, for daily life? Try to stick to a one or two inch heel whenever possible. If you're doing any back-to-school shopping, consider those high-heeled boots carefully before you purchase. Sure, they look fabulous in the store, but can you walk more than a city block without discomfort?

What can we do to help? 

After a long day, perhaps you want to give your feet some extra love!  Here's a few simple exercises I found at RealSimple.com.   

Sit on the floor facing a wall with your legs straight and your feet flat against the wall. A small pillow or folded blanket can make this more comfortable. Bend forward as far as you can to stretch and lengthen your calf muscles and hamstrings. This can be soothing to the feet, legs, and pelvis, especially if you have been wearing heels.   

Sitting in a chair or cross-legged on the floor, rest your left ankle on your right thigh and take hold of your left foot. Weave the fingers of your right hand through the toes of your left foot to separate them. Using your fingers, stretch your toes wide; try not to pull them up or down. Hold, then switch sides.

Stand up, placing your weight on your right foot and extending your left leg behind you. Tuck your left foot under so the tops of your toes touch the floor. You should feel a stretch along the top of your foot.  Don't put too much weight on the left foot, just a gentle stretch will feel good. Hold, then switch feet.   

Lastly, lie on your back with your bottom a few inches from a wall and your arms out. Place your heels on the wall with your legs forming a wide V. You'll feel a gentle pull in your inner thighs. What does this have to do with the feet? Overly tight inner-thigh muscles can overload the arches of your feet, so this stretch can relax them when they're cramped. Plus, elevating the legs reduces swelling, and spending a few minutes prone can help the whole body feel more integrated after a long day.

What more can we do? Love your feet!  I've heard so many people say they think their feet are ugly, too big, too fat, too stubby, their toes are weird, their toes are too short or too long, they don't want anyone to see them unless they have been filed and polished and scrubbed and smoothed out. Whatever shape your feet are in, it's never too late to show them some respect.  While a pedicure or a foot massage can be a lovely way to pamper yourself, don't be ashamed of your feet, even if they haven't been professionally groomed.

Be kind to your feet and they will be kind to you! If we take good care of our feet now, we can ensure that they won't fail us in the years to come.  Thank you, feet! You give me support every day. You help me dance and run and walk around the city and the country and the planet that I love.  - Erika Iverson  

Source for the exercises

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Do you have problems with your feet?  Why not set up a special Feldenkrais session with Caroline Feig or an Alexander Technique session with Margi Sharp Douglas? Or ask your Pilates instructor how to be extra-kind to your feet!