When was the last time that you sat down and really thought about your definition of what wellness means to you?

Do you think of wellness only from the standpoint of how you look, or being a certain weight or size?  Or do you know you’re well because you have the energy and endurance to enjoy your favorite activities,  and have the stamina to play with your children and grand kids?

Perhaps it means that you’re happy instead of battling with your inner-self  and fighting to overcome moments (or a lifetime) of depression.  It might mean that your medical checkup is showing a strong heart, cholesterol and blood sugar in a normal range, and even though your chronological age is 55, by comparison you have the body of a 30 year-old! Wellness might be a sense of inner peace and calm, or the spiritual connection you feel with your Higher Power.

Maybe your definition is:  I’ll be well when I complete my first Marathon, or swim a mile without stopping, or my dog and I will both be well when we consistently take walks together (for the rest of our lives!)   I’m sure there are lots of things that you can put on your Wellness Checklist! 

That’s step one…  Know  what’s important to you and what it means to you personally to BE WELL! It really doesn’t matter what the rest of the world thinks about your definition, as long as you are confident with what you want and are striving to achieve it.  And if you haven’t clearly figured out for yourself what Wellness really means – you may be in a cycle of self-sabotage feeling like you’ll never achieve your goals because your brain and body aren’t in sync with what those goals really are!  So take some time this week to contemplate and create your Wellness Wish List.

A Wish is a thought, a dream that has yet to come true.  Speak it out loud and write it down to light the flame of inspiration in your brain and body.  And you will begin the creative process to bring it to life.

Give your dreams a deadline and they shift into goals. Every goal has specific and measurable action steps that must be taken to achieve success.  And as Napoleon Hill once said, ” Whatever the mind of man can dream and believe, it can achieve.”

But, we might not be able to do it alone!  Some things, definitely!  But there may be some of your wellness goals that will move forward farther and faster with a little friendly support! It may be having friends, family or co-workers in your corner and on your “team” all working together to help each other stay on track.  Or perhaps seeking the advice of your doctor, a personal trainer, nutritionist or other professional to guide you with the right information and exercises to help you reach your goals.

While some of us (myself included) are a bit shy to sometimes reach out for help…  It truly is all around us.  And think of it this way – when you deny someone else the opportunity to help you, you deny them the privilege of a feel-good moment in their life. Everybody likes to lend a friend a hand! And the folks out there who are in the wellness and health professions are passionate, driven, and I think probably divinely inspired,  to want to help others succeed and offer support and guidance!  USE YOUR RESOURCES.

You’ve got a list of your Wellness Goals.  Now make a list of your Wellness Resources. What friends, family, co-workers, professionals, and organizations can assist you in moving forward to help make your wellness wishes come true? Put the names of all these folks down next to the items on your Wellness Wish List that you think they can assist you with.

Now…Why wait another minute? Reach out to someone on your list and see what happens.

Oh, and I should say, please don’t be discouraged if some bozo you put on your list has a brief moment of insanity and doesn’t give you the positive feedback and support you were hoping for.  Just know that in this moment, they are not the right person to hang with to move your butt forward to Wellness Success!  Love ‘em anyway and call somebody else for support!  Do not let their potential laughter or negative attitude steer you off course.  Their reaction is their problem, NOT YOURS!  Perhaps in time you’ll get an apology for their bad behavior, but either way…  Stay on track.

Enjoy a “Champagne Moment” to Celebrate Your Success!

There are stories about how Joe and Clara Pilates helped their clients celebrate success with “Champagne moments.” Every time someone had a breakthrough, successfully completed an exercise that they had been struggling with, or just generally had a WOW moment.  They were rewarded for their success!  All action stopped in the studio, the cork was popped  on a cool bottle of Champagne, and everyone toasted to their success.  I’ve heard rumors that this was a very frequent occurrence in the studio!  How much fun and memorable would it have been to enjoy a Champagne moment with Joe!

So who’s your Joe?  Or Joe(s).  The mentor and friends you want to help toast to your success?  And what kind of celebration will really mean something to you? It might be a Champagne toast, or  going shopping with a friend to buy  a new outfit, or a night on the town!  Take a moment to cheer yourself on and be sure to share that moment with others. Everyone loves a celebration!

What’s Next?

Well, first I’m going to suggest, “let’s get there first!”  Why put extra unnecessary thoughts in the way that might block progress. Stay focused on your current Wish/Dream/Goal list.  Chances are you’ve got more than one thing on your list and plenty of fun things to play with to tweak your wellness program.

Achieving our goals is a process.  So enjoy the journey!  Each step forward is a cause for celebration.  Might as well wait until we’re at the top of the hill to take in the view, instead of worrying about what we’re going to do when we get there.

There will be new choices and opportunities for us to see and explore! f you’re a big picture thinker, and the What’s Next really needs to be answered for you.  Then  chances are you already know the answer.  So write it down!  Then live in the moment, don’t worry about what’s happened in the past, enjoy today, stay on your path,  and your “what’s next” will show up right along with your Wellness Success!

WOW!  I get goosebumps every time I watch this clip.  We are never too old to move well, enjoy the benefits of strength and flexibility, and have complete control over our body! I wonder what age she was when she started taking dance lessons?  She could have been 5 or 75!   How fun to be eighty years old, loving it, and truly having the skills to enjoy life!!

I wonder if she does Pilates too?  I know that this is why I’m doing Pilates!  Please, oh pleeease…  let me be this active, healthy, and fit when I’m eighty!

Watching this, you’ll be able to share and celebrate her success, and perhaps be inspired to follow your own path to a Fit and Fabulous Life!

We can ALL be, ALL that we can be!  Get out there and go for it!

Check out this video, it’s definitely worth watching for health inspiration.  Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are her comments and question:

“I have some very hip flexor dominant students that suffer from hip click in quite a few of the Pilates exercises, big one being Leg Circles and virtually anytime they extend their legs out away from the body.  I cue to bring balance with the antagonist muscles (tva and Glutes) but am still having issues.  Could you guide me in helping these people a little more effectively?  (I do ask them to stretch with a lunge prior to class, and even do a recumbent jazz attitude movement before leg circles.)  So is there something I am not seeing or doing?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.”

I then dove into a folder on my computer to find an article in hiding that I had written, but never posted on my blog – think I may have posted in on a Podiatry forum where I read a clicking hip question!  Interesting to me that Podiatrists are also dealing with this issue with their patients.  It doesn’t do anybody any good for me to keep things a secret!  So I hope that for those of you out there challenged with clicking hips – you will find some of this information useful.  Please let me know how it goes with teaching or doing Pilates exercises and using this info to get out of the hip click!

Here are my thoughts:

In my 15 years of experience teaching Pilates, when a client experiences “clicking” or popping in the hip with movement, strengthening the pelvic floor muscles and increased lower core support, as well as focused exercises to improve hip mechanics with a softer (un-gripped) rectis femoris muslce will assist with this issue.

I was really blessed that when I started learning Pilates my first teacher, David Mooney, spent many, many hours during my private sessions helping me learn how to use my quads less and everything else more to support movement – especially when doing Pilates exercises that involved moving my legs away from and back to center, and not gripping the fronts of my thighs!  I then spent a ton of additional hours propping my feet up on things when I practiced on my own to re-train my body to relax my rectus femoris (top of the thigh hip flexor) , and support the weight of my legs in the air with my abdominals, psoas (under the thigh hip flexor), hamstrings, and glutes.  Then later on,  from my mentor Dianne Miller,  I got a greater appreciation of the value of an appropriately engaged pelvic floor to also benefit better support and reduce hip clicking.

In a Mat class there are a few things I do immediately to modify the One Leg Circle, until clients can make it happen with no noise or aggravation.

1.       Decrease the size of the circle and range of motion of the leg while it’s circling. A smaller range of motion should temporarily solve the problem, and allow the client to reach the leg longer creating more free space in the socket for movement, and helping them focus on the support and stability needed through the pelvis and “standing” leg.

2. Bend the knee while doing the circles. This shortens the lever and will adjust where the ball is sitting in the socket through the range of the circle.  It also takes some of the work out of the quads and shifts support to the hamstrings so the leg can swing more freely from the hip during movement.

3.      Use the support of a strap and assistance of the arms to help hold up the leg. If the hamstrings are very tight (back of the thigh), or the quadriceps are gripping to pull the leg around and up (front of the thigh) the leg cannot move freely from the hip because of the tension caused by muscle contraction and over-holding at inappropriate moments.

If I’m working privately with a client and have access to the Pilates Trapeze Table, the use of one leg spring to practice circles provides a similar support along with resistance to strengthen the leg throughout the range of movement.

In fact, all the Pilates equipment exercises where the legs are in a strap or spring, or knees folded over the roll down bar, are helping to retrain the body to reduce issues with clicking hips – IF a client is cued to keep the pelvic floor active, work from the back of the legs to extend and return, and maintain a softer “un-gripped” rectus  femoris.

This is why Pilates is a system.  Clients will benefit the most by working on both the equipment and Matwork to help retrain the body,  undue bad habits, and strengthen the most efficient muscles for functional movement.  It is extremely difficult to retrain  the quads to let go when they’re the guys used to doing all the work when the legs are extended, unsupported in space.

From the tweaks to the Leg Circle exercise listed above, education about the benefits of using and finding the Pelvic Floor is the next thing to incorporate into classes or client training programs. I teach how to find and use the Pelvic Floor as an exercise all by itself first, and then add this into other exercises until clients can confidently find and fire it at will!  Contracting the pelvic floor for support during exercise helps to take the pressure off the hip joint, frees up the ball in the socket, and allows movement without the noise or aggravation.  It’s the front and back walls of pelvic floor support  (tailbone to pubic bone connection) that is most difficult to find and use that is needed for free hip motion.

Then, watch your clients walk across the room.  Do the thighs stay in front of the body?  Or swing evenly with one leg moving behind the torso (the rectus femoris is releasing on every stride.)

With poor gait mechanics, a shortened stride, slightly posterior tilted pelvis, and overuse of the rectus femoris (one of the four quadriceps muscles,) the thigh bone is held to far to the front of the socket. Try to move the leg in a free range and it’s not going to happen easily until the pelvis and hip muscles have a different relationship.

In my experience – this postural and mechanical use of the body is apparent in many if not most of the people who have walked through my door for Pilates.   We spend too much time sitting, have lower back issues, and don’t take much time to stretch.

The great news is things can quickly improve with an understanding of how to find and use the pelvic floor as well as exercises to get a better understanding of posterior/inferior ball & socket placement, how to move the ball in the socket, and how to move the socket around the ball. If the leg is working mechanically well from the hip, the foot and lower leg have a better shot at good mechanics too!

Not only is the clicking apparent on one leg circles, but for some clients doing the Roll Up, or Neck Pull, you may see one or both hips make a funny, clunky shift in the transition from laying down to a seated position.  The reason for this again might be not enough pelvic floor, clients are “hanging off their hip flexors” and trying to move.

Think about the levers of the body –what parts of the body are moving and supporting during exercise?

• In the One Leg Circle, the thigh (ball & socket) are moving with a stable pelvis.
• In the Roll Up, the pelvis is moving (around the ball & socket) with a stable thigh.

So you’ve got movement from above, the ball and socket, and movement from below…the support to move is the same!  More pelvic floor action (especially the connection between the tailbone and pubic bone) will free up the movement and reduce / eliminate the “clicks.”

Hope this info is helpful!  Any instructors or Pilates clients out there who would like to comment on things you’ve done, cues you’ve found helpful, or exercises that have been beneficial to assisting  with the saying good-bye to the clicking hip issue,  please share!!!

We are bombarded with millions of bits of information every second of the day.  Our brain has to sort, dump, and store based on relevance and importance for our survival and to insure that we enjoy pleasure and avoid pain.  In today’s society – television programs, commercials, and even YouTube have us eager to input micro-blasts of information and entertainment – rapid fire commando style.  We look for instant gratification, expect to point-click, and get what we want.  The faster you can get results -the better, and if it takes more than a few minutes you don’t feel like you have time to wait.

Does this lifestyle make sense to you?  Are you happy having to check your cell phone and text messages every couple of minutes?  Do you ever reach a feeling of overwhelm?  Wonder why you can’t get it all done?  Have you ever gotten completely frustrated with your progress?  Or just wish you could have a moment to think! 

I love the benefits of technology…but wonder where all the humans went?  We used to leave for work and had a peaceful drive with no distractions so we could pay attention to the road.  If someone needed to call us it was at work or home…If you weren’t in one of these two places your time was your own AND your mind was your own!  Now we’re running to check email, voicemail, the in-box, out-box, text messages, snail mail, facebook, twitter, blogs…and the list goes on!  Used to be if you planned a workout, you’d commune with nature on a bike or run.  Stay inside for a workout and there wasn’t a TV in front of every treadmill to distract you from paying attention to what your body was doing and how it’s feeling.  And now we’re a society that’s getting bigger & bigger because it’s “faster” and more convenient (or so we think..) to eat out than to shop, chop, and cook a healthy meal at home.  It seems like everything we’re doing is to try and juggle the frantic flurry of information.  There are so many things we have to do right now!  We are constantly being bombarded with so many things that rarely do we take a moment to “stop and smell the roses,” or tune in and quiet the pace.

I know that one of my least favorite and most beneficial activities is no activity at all!

When was the last time you did absolutely nothing?  AND all the little monkeys in your mind were Quiet!

What do you imagine when you think of a “Peaceful Mind?”  Calm waters, a clear blue sky, the gentle ebb and flow of the ocean, laughing children at play, or perhaps gazing at the stars and realizing the vastness of the universe?

A peaceful mind is an empty mind – clear of thoughts, present in the now, and enjoying what it’s like to just BE.

There are disciplines and exercises that can help you develop the skills to achieve a Peaceful Mind. And in society today these are definitely skills that need to be developed!   Breathing techniques, Yoga, Tai Chi, Meditation, and even Pilates can help to improve focus and attention.  Our ability to pay attention to the body, mind, spirit, or the nothingness and oneness that we all are to just be a part of, and apart of life on planet Earth will go a long way towards sending those monkeys to a quiet place for awhile.  Being able to take a break from the frantic pace that we’ve chosen to live with can help shine light on new perspectives and allow the opportunity to make new choices for a healthier mindset and lifestyle!

Designate a distraction-free time of day to turn on the phone, computer, and TV.  Put the pets out, turn the radio off, ask your kids and spouse to give you an UN-interrupted 5-15 minutes or longer to enjoy your favorite Peaceful mind activity (or indulge in the activity of doing absolutely nothing!)

Enjoy even a few minutes of a peaceful state of mind to rejuvenate, and re-energize yourself.  In no time at all, you’ll start to notice the shift in your consciousness as your worries decrease, your laughter increases, and you will gain the ability to clear your mind.  Gaining control of your thoughts and actions through the state of a Peaceful Mind is a powerful place to create a healthier lifestyle, and can help you manage and enjoy both the peace and pace of your life.