Pilates - an introduction

If you were to play 20 questions with this one, you should know that "pilates" can be both a person and a thing.

The exercise program Pilates is derived from the name of one man, a German, Joseph Pilates.  By all accounts he was a sickly child who turned to exercise, sport and competition.  No video games a hundred years ago! 

One thing there was about a hundred years ago was a World War, the first World War in fact.  And  Mr. Pilates found himself in England at a time when Germans were not particularly popular.  Why was he in England?  He ran away and joined the circus.  No, I'm not joking,  He really did run away and join the circus!

So there he is in an English internment camp, along with other 'enemy aliens', many of whom were suffering from war injuries.  And depressed as all get out.  Well, wouldn't you be?  So our man Pilates starts to develop a series of exercises that can be done on the floor, or on a bed, or in a chair - using straps and ropes and bed frames and anything he can find to isolate and develop muscles that will not only speed the healing process, but make the body stronger, and through doing so develop a more positive attitude. 

After the war Joseph Pilates returned to Germany, where his method had became famous. When 'invited' to join the German army, he wisely whipped off across the Atlantic and settled in New York.

And lived happily ever after.

Well maybe.  Maybe not.  I never met the man myself.  I can only hope good things came his way because he left us with a program of exercise that might just be a scoliosis sufferer's best friend.

With scoliosis, the spine is rotated and tilted and curved, so standing straight becomes like the holy grail, impossible to find. And if the body has problems standing upright as originally designed to do, then the muscles must try to do what the vertebrae can't.  Enter Pilates.

My next post will illustrate how Pilates does what it does, and why I will never live without it!

Staying Positive

I spent 3 months travelling around Turkey and southern Africa, bouncing around in a bus or truck, and having a fantastic time.  But there was not a huge amount of walking or hiking, very little swimming, and no time! Too much sketching Seljic architecture and looking at exotic animals and hanging out with my traveling companions.

So when I returned to earth (or my little piece of it) I found that the only big change over the last few months was to my brain. Which  is great - I have no problem with that at all! But my body is still achy and crooked and weak.  Weaker than when I left on my travels!

Sigh.  It's so easy to just crawl into bed with a large bar of chocolate and a good book and plan to stay there for the rest of my life.  But I know that is the worst thing I could do!

Move, move, move!  Back to pilates class with the lovely Shauna.  She assures me that muscles have memory and my strength will come back, and they will come back even better with my new-found knowledge.

Back to yoga class with the lovely Nancy.  She suggests modifications without any judgement and praises me when I remember to move my right knee out or activate my lats.

Back to the gym at the lovely Sunset Community Centre.  Besides the elliptical machine I can now do the bike.  I even tried out the Stairmaaster for 5 minutes on level 1, just to start waking up my glute muscles.

Back to the roads with the lovely Raquets and Runners group, Nadine and the gang, or with Silvia, or with myself.  Fast walking for an hour or so, no matter what the weather, chatting about our weeks or whatever comes up.

Back to Stretch for Scoliosis class with the lovely Martha.  The elements of dance she adds to her classes always makes me feel free and willowy, and I leave with less pain and I'm sure a couple of inches taller!

Back to dancing with the lovely Ceroc team.  It will take awhile but I will get to the point where I can dance all evening again.  And who doesn't love dancing with 20+ partners a night?

Back to singing with the lovely Allison.  I can feel my voice is already a bit stronger than it used to be.

Back to eating vegetables and fruits and fish and all the things I missed while away. 

Back to work with the wonderful Martin, now conscious of how I sit and when I need to take a stretch break.  Back to working on projects that interest me and that, if successful, will impact a lot of people in many different and postive ways.  I love my work.

Back to creative writing with lovely broadband, providing an outlet for my thoughts and feelings and imagination.

Back to French conversations with the lovely Gillian.  We meet once a fortnight to practice our language.  Use it or lose it!

Back to weekly coffee visits with the lovely parental units.  Regular check-ins assures us all that we are well and happy and passionately curious about the world and everything in and around it.

Back to all the lunches and dinners and teas and conversations with my friends and family. 

Being active and engaged has saved me from myself.  It all contributes to a general feeling of optimism.  I want to strive just a bit harder, work a bit better, listen more, question more.  People are supportive and have good suggestions and empathize.  Staying positive is a choice, I've realized.  But a choice that must be made consciously many times before it becomes more habitual.  There's always a positive angle to anything, and finding it will be the making of me I truly believe

Pole Dancing

The Scoliosis SOS clinic has us all doing several exercises in compromising positions with one or more long poles added to the act. I would have loved to have been a fly on the ceiling, watching us get practically every piece of equipment that was possible. Straps, beanbags, blocks, cylinders, large stools, small stools - we would look like ants near a nest, all moving here and there not hitting each other (often) busy with our tasks.

And then another 5 minutes or so trying to get set up.  this strap goes up to the thrid rung but this strape stays on the bottom rung, this pole goes here theis bean bag gets shoved there, etc. etc.

In the end of our contortions we would track and tension against the pole or poles rammed against the wall, providing the elongation.  Some derotation was added as a gift with purchase, depending on the exercise.  As usual we could grunt it out for 6 long counts each repetition and after 12 repetitions we'd release the poles and lie gasping in child's pose. 

The strap that tethered us to the bars would often get so tight that we would have to rub our lower back while kneeling up and down, just to get the blood flowing. Once we'd rested off we'd go again, straining against the strap, pushing against the poles: kneeling, lying on our backs, lying on our sides, whatever the position.

In the end, one of these exercises made it on to my weekly schedule to do every other day, with the other pole exercises slotted in once every couple of weeks.  No surprise that the exercise I have to do more frequently is the one most devoted to derotation!

Supine with Poles

Kneeling with Poles

Side-lying with a Pole

Workshopping with Elise Miller - Part 2

While yoga for scoliosis expert Elise Miller was in town conducting workshops for teachers and patients, I decided to pay for a private lesson with her too.

She was familiar with my curve being a 'left lumber' herself, and she candidly told me a few experiences she has tried and suggested for future consideration.  But what she really spent time on was a thorough instruction of several key exercises.  Most of these she had already taught in the workshop, but it was great to get a bit more hands-on instruction, as well as modifications targeted specifically for me. 

She made notes, and took a few photos on my camera so that I could see that part of my body that requires the most attention but which I cannot see myself.  She also allowed me to photograph her and video her too, so that I could hear her instructions.  She knew I was writing a blog and I thought it very generous of a "brand" to allow me what amounted to an all access pass (which I shall not abuse!).  She showed me how to adapt various movements wherever I am, which will be helpful the next time I am away from home, (as long as I have a wall and a doorway).


In the end I have to say I learned more about my body and the way it works.  And I now have a few more exercises to add to the Scoliosis SOS list.  I am now recorded as one of her 'clients' and encouraged to email questions whenever they come up.  She spent a little more than one hour with me and although she was business-like and miindful of the time, as I was, she made sure I had what I needed before the session ended formally. 

Well not so formally really because I was given a hug.  People with scoliosis always appreciate getting a hug from someone who knows what they are going through, which is really no different for those who suffer any other issue affecting their physical health.  Hugs are free medicine and very effective!

Workshopping with Elise Miller - Part 1

I have heard Elise Miller described as a sort of North American yoga guru for scoliosis.  More than one yoga and pilates practitioners have referred to her as such here in Vancouver, although no one I met in Europe has heard of her. She is American, and operates from her base in Palo Alto, California. She also conducts worksops on the road, and in February of this year I heard that she was to come to Vancouver for a 3 day workshop ini September and so I signed myself up. 

I did not know at the time that I would spend 4 weeks in London UK at a private clinic dedicated to scoliosis patients.  But I had made 2013 the year to explore options to treat my back as it continues its slide inward with ago, so it's good to find out what another professional recommends. So September 6-8 I spent in a large room at the Dance Centre along with about 30 others. 

Elise is petite, well-practiced, with a back straight as a rod. She got into this gig due to having scoliosis herself and discovering yoga at just the right time in her life. Since then she has received her Iyengar yoga certification, was a founding director of the California Yoga Centre (in Mountain View, CA) and is a faculty member at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Fransisco. Having modified traditional yoga poses to help her own scoliosis, she has also come up with a few new and adapted positions for the body that look like sado-masochist bondage tortures but feel devine. 

"Traction and extension" seem to be the key. It may sound different from the London clinic's "elongation and derotation", but they actually are pretty much the same thing.  It all seems to be making space in the spine and the ribs and all the spaces within, and keeping yourself in a new posture that supports the back.  This means working muscled that haven't been pulling their share and relaxing those that are overstretched.  Lots of yoga props get used in Elise's selection of poses, but she also used a wall bar (an entire ladder of bars is prescribed by the Scoliosis SOS team in London). Straps were wrapped around ribcages and pelvises so that they can be pulled, either by oneself, a partner or by using the wall or a bar or doorknob as the point of traction.

Half of our number were yoga teachers, who are ten a penny in Vancouver so having a specialtyis a good idea and these teachers are obviously one step ahead.  Lots of iphones came out to photograph or record an exercise that is not on her DVD (many were), or to follow the physical gyrations someone uses to get in or out of a position.  Along the way Elise talked about the different types of scoliosis (we placed our mats in the room according to our classification - I joined the other "lumbar lefts" on the left side of the room) and what adjustments and exercises are best for each. 

She does schill her book and DVD a lot throughout the workshop, and the cynic in me rebelled against paying almost $50 for a slim 18 page ring-bound booklet and accompanying DVD.  But by the end of the third day I knew it would be hard for my pea-brain to remember everything we did, and some of the positions certainly did feel good so I thought what-the-hay and slapped down my money.  I think of it as a business development tool.

3 month Assessment

The Scoliosis SOS clinic wants to assess 'graduates' every 6 months, to measure and monitor progress.  I live almost 8,000km away so getting a check up every 6 months is not going to happen on my bank account.

But the end of my travels through Turkey and Africa (blogs: http://www.turkishdelightful.blogspot.com  and http://www.safarisogoodafrica.blogspot.com ) had me back in London a neat 3 months later, so in I went, with husband in tow this time.

The clinic has a newfangled tool that measures and highlights the 3D image of my back, and it is a lot better for reading bumps and dips.  Height, weight, lung capacity all checked.

In the 3 hour assessment time, I was put through my paces on all exercises. A new one was addedand an old one dropped as deemed unnecessary with the work I'd done.  Husband was shown how to help stretch my compressed side when side lying on a ball. 

The good news is I was told I had excellent rechnique and had rememberd all my exercieses extremely well.  My lung capacity had impressed too, surprisingly. The bad news is my body had pretty well reverted to its bad old self.  I had lost the 1cm I had gained in height, I had gained 2kg weight, and the pain level had increased.  However, the scoliomenter did indicate that my upper thoracic and lumbar measurements were not quite as bad as when I started the clinic.

So, not very good news.  But I was undaunted because I had just spent 3 months traveling around in buses and trucks and 4 wheel drives, bumping along bad roads, camping under the stars, and not able to do 90% of my prescribed exercise program. There just was no opportunity to exercise the way I needed to: too much of the wrong food, nowhere to pull from or lean from, and little time available.  But I had known that from before I started on this journey.  I did what I could: I was able to stretch a bit as opportunity allowed, hang if I could find something the right height and strength, and use my core as much as possible. 

One bright spot was my kyphosis.  I worked on an exercise called "flat back" which wasn't high on the priority list; it wasn't even on my exercises schedule. But it was one I could do while travelling and I did it every second day or so.  My 3 month lateral projection measurement showed a definite improvement, so it was heartening to see that regular exercise targeting a specific muscle can pay off.  That make me confident that once I get home and get my ladder contraption made, I will reverse my reversed results and hopefully make progress by the next time I am assessed.

On The Road And In The Bush

One of my tests was to see how easy or hard it is to exercise while travelling.

During a month-long architectural tour of Turkey it was more a question of time, as I was rarely in my hotel room except to sleep.  It was impossible to exercise during the day as we were driven here and there, then walking here and there, then sketching ehre and there.  I did a bit of stretching when I could, but it was difficult.  I had worked out a routine before I left witih advice from the Scoliosis SOS physios as to how to adapt several of the exercises, but few ended up being practical or possible.  No doors, tiny curved hallways and aisles, a wide double bed, and no surfaces at the right height (or strength) for pressing or hanging.

So I lost a bit of ground there.  But then I journeyed to Southern Africa for 2 months,and that was a real test, because I was camping in the bush under the stars, so no bed, no doors, no walls, and no room.

nothing to push or pull against here!

I tried to get creative while on safari and was delighted to find our truck had two (extremely uncomfortable) handles from which I could hang for the odd moments when the door was open and no one was entering or exiting the truck. 

I did find sympathetic landscapes, particularly in the harshest of locales, the Namib desert.  There's a spot there that seems bereft of life and hope, but I was able to connect my inner goddess to the petrified trees and salt ground and actually had perhaps the best workout of the entire trip!