Once they can feel a deeper connection from hand to shoulder blade on that side (powered by your DIAPHRAGM's midline support on the exhale), they are ready to proceed to the floor exercise that requires more ability to connect their forearm with the natural Powerhouse... without tension..and moving their head is a great way to see that they can move from their intrinsic support, without gripping extrinsically...let me know what you notice!

Thank you Wendy! I will explore this with myself and clients. BTW, your experimental exploration of mind/body therapies, movement and myofascial integration in relation to Pilates is so invigorating and inspiring. Your lessons have really made a positive impact on my teaching as a Pilates person, my work as a massage therapist and my life as a dancer. I have another question about toe curl sit...For the individual who has limited flexion due to bunions, your explanation of providing cushion under the metatarsals so the toes don't touch the padding is not making sense to me. Would you kindly re-explain the cushioning; where is it exactly, and should the toes still try to curl forward? Does this examination of hip extension to one leg standing and push off the back heel change the core connection, with the toes NOT in toe curl sit first?
Thank you once again!
~Clare

Thank you so much, Clare. I really appreciate your feedback on the difference my embodied approach to Pilates is making in your life. With limited flexion in your toes, place enough padding under the metatarsal heads so that your toes have some space and don't have to flex so much. It makes a huge difference to dorsi-flex the back foot and push off the ball of the foot to open your hip as you step forward...so use a wall behind your back foot with enough padding to encourage the tripod of your foot to release into the wall...and your inner ankle/dome of foot to work with your internal lift as you push off and step forward...see what you notice! xwendy

I took this class last night and learned so much from it that I intend to do it the rest of the week (2 more times) to try and imprint what Wendy is trying to teach or rather remind my body to do. I know through spending most of my adult life sitting at a desk my body is ready to move the way it was intended to move. Thank you Wendy.

Thank you, Annette...what I have been standing for in the Pilates community is that when we get beyond just performing Pilates exercises in the way that someone told us to do them....and instead get in touch with the magnificence of who we are as dynamic, self-healing, self-regulating human beings...we wake up our body's deep intelligence, and it begins to teach us! I'd love to hear more about your experience as you practice these distinctions over time! xwendy

Loved this interesting and very different class. I was able to lift my hips for the first time on the left, though not to the right because of pain and weakness in right arm. My toes KILLED me. Can very easily sit back with toes underneath me, but OMG with toes curled it's a whole other planet. Is there a modification for standing up straight when one leg is bent forward? I wobbled, lost my balance and had to help myself by holding on to edge of bureau and bed. Loved Wendy's instruction. Will do this class many times. Love Pilates Anytime. A great investment.

Thank you, Elena...yes, stay with this class to deepen your ability to access your biointelligent body and get out of deeply held tension patterns...which will give you new ability with your Pilates practice. To strengthen the relationship of your feet to hips to spine connection in standing up from the lunge position with one leg back and your forward leg bent, use a chair for your hands on each side of your body as you lunge down and up. Sensing weight through your hands,only go down as far as you can support lift through your spine as you go down...then press down through your feet to stand up. You will notice quick improvement and strength building through all of your joints, because everything is connected!

Deeply healing. Thank you Wendy. X

Thank you so much for sharing, Maggie. As you are saying, my vision within the Pilates community is to remind us of how incredible our biointelligent body is, and that by being curious of how gravity can support us, we awaken to our fluid resonance, re-setting our nervous system to self-calm, and discover the true vision of Joseph Pilates' vision of whole body health, xx

This was a great integration of natural movement with traditional pilates- I'm completing training with Katy Bowman in biomechanics and recently did a MovNat training. It was a great continuation of those ideas!