Before taking a short summer break in August, we looked at how Pilates can inform our activities of daily living (ADL) for two consecutive weeks. The focus for the first week was interoception, and for the second week we focused on bigger, functional movements and proprioception.
ADL are any movements above resting that increase your energy output. For example, gardening, walking, swimming, playing and housework. Take a look at physical activity guidelines for all ages in the UK here.
Pilates is such a great movement practice to combine with any form of physical activity
Pilates can help prevent injury
Pilates is low impact and suitable for people of all ages including those recovering from injury or returning to exercise
Pilates helps bring awareness to your posture and improves your overall body and mind connection
During the first week we slowed everything down and looked inwards at what was happening within the body before we started moving. Each session for this week began with listening to our bodies through a guided body scan. There was an introduction to interoception, a sense that helps us understand what’s going on inside our body. We questioned how we felt, how are were breathing and what was happening to our heart rate, and we checked for places of tension or relaxation.
“Research has found that improving the awareness and understanding of our interoceptive signals is good for all people and has many benefits.” Kelly Mahler Occupational Therapist
Here is a great definition of interoception by Kelly Mahler, a US based occupational therapist, educator and researcher who suggests tapping into our interoceptive awareness can empower us all with skills for self-understanding, connection with others, decision making, and wellbeing.
Once the body scan had finished, we slowly began to add in movement through a seated warm up and gradually progressing to some of the Pilates 34. Keeping the eyes closed was a helpful way to encourage our interoception and to remember any points of tension, relaxation, or imbalances we had found throughout the body scan.
By the end of the 60-minute session we had rolled up to a standing position, found our neutral standing posture, and repeated a quick body scan before stepping back out into the world.
For the second week the focus was on bigger movements, the functional movements that we repeat throughout the day when moving around, sitting, lying, standing, and transitioning between all these positions. We hinge, lunge, squat, twist, push, pull and step. It can be helpful to be mindful of our movement and build up good movements patterns to avoid injury to our joints and spine. To feel confident engaging in bigger, dynamic movements, it’s important to develop our sense of spatial awareness and balance – our proprioception, the body’s ability to sense where it is in space and to adjust to its environment, it is a part of your body’s balance system.
We began the sessions for the second week of our ADL focus standing; working on balance, adding in movement through squats, lunges, hinges, adding resistance, focus and assistance with long bands. Remembering to stabilise the deep core muscles and shoulders, finding neutral spine before moving limbs away or twisting. From here we could add imbalance through stepping forward and back along the mat, eventually adding in transitions, getting up and down off the floor, rolling and reaching. The whole time remembering the observation work we had practised the previous week and ending the classes with some form of relaxation and observation.
Joseph Pilates wasn’t unaware of the connection between internal and external systems in the body, which are represented in practices such as yoga and martial arts. Some of these practices are thousands of years old and often start with breath observation as the most significant and formative exercise. Joseph Pilates practiced and excelled in many different disciplines including martial arts, every system he experienced and mastered went on to inform his Contrology method.
Combining mindfulness exercises such as a body scan, breath techniques or meditation with a controlled movement system like Pilates can have a huge, positive impact on every aspect of your health and wellbeing. You will also see great improvements in your everyday activities, your ADL. So, a good place to start is to stop. Stop moving, close your eyes, breathe, and now you will begin to notice.