Shoulder & Pelvic Placement<br>Monica Wilson<br>Class 2387

Shoulder & Pelvic Placement
Monica Wilson
Class 2387

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Monica Wilson
Hi Sara! Thank you so much for your questions. When you are starting Pilates, the most important thing is developing your Powerhouse. One of the easiest ways to strengthen it is when you are in a curved position (C-curve). When you have bent knees and are doing the Roll Back, it is asking too much to keep your cheeks on the mat as you spill your soup or tilt your pelvis towards you. Once your Powerhouse is stronger you can start working on developing your hip muscles, stretching your back and stabilizing your pelvis (keeping your cheeks on the mat, possibly reaching away from you) as you Roll your upper body away from your legs. But this can take weeks to years to accomplish! Be patient and congratulate yourself for all the muscles I am sure you are starting to feel and how great your body feels. 
Monica Wilson
In regards to breathing during Rolling Like a Ball, try to imagine anytime you are trying to deflate something, i.e.: a balloon, air mattress etc. When you are deflating an object you usually are trying to squeeze it into the tiniest form of itself...in this case making your body into a tight little ball. Maybe inhaling as you roll back doesn't feel right yet so try concentrating on squeezing all the air out of your lungs, exhaling, as you roll back up. It should give you the momentum and energy needed to return home and with any luck, you will need to take a breadth (inhale) before you can repeat the exercise and exhale again to come back up. Finally, I find the wall exercises the best way to practice and learn inhaling while keeping your powerhouse engaged. Those, I believe, will come later in the series. I hope this helps! And thanks again for your feedback! Monica:)
Sara D
Sorry to be bombarding you with questions but I am repeating this class until I feel ready to progress, but right now I feel very stuck. Today's issues: I can't breathe! I am spilling my soup A LOT in order to get my back imprinted on the floor. But this is making it hard to breath. Also, when you say to spill your soup to, for example, raise a leg, I am already spilling so much, there is no slack for any more spilling. I would be glad to hear your comments. However, my biggest frustration at the moment is not being able to roll up from lying on my back to a c-position. I am sure you answer to this is simply to keep practicing, but I wonder if I am missing a technique. Lifting my shoulders is fine, for example in the hundreds, but getting the small of my back off the floor is impossible without lifting my feet off the floor. 
Dear Monica, thoroughly enjoying the classes thank you but I got a question.  I have miserably failed in roll up. I am very strong a bit like you explained at the start and trying to muscle through. All good until my waistband is down and then when I am trying to bring the back of my shoulders down, there is no way back up, I grip like crazy with my hands and normally have to kick myself back up. So  I don't seem to be able to progress with it. I feel comfortable with everything else but this got me and I am not sure if it's strength issue, spine flexibility etc. Any trick to it? Or a drill to practice. I never practised it diligently to achieve results so maybe the key is to practice daily keeping at it? Anyway thank you for your time. X
Monica Wilson
Hi Szilvia, I am so glad you are enjoying this class and hope you haven’t given up on your Roll up! I was trying to find the right tutorial and apologize for taking a week to reply. To start off with, you are doing everything right and I am glad you reached out. When you have trouble coming back up from the Roll Up it is usually due to a stiff back. It takes patience, but the good news is, with your persistence you’ll be able to become more flexible and your Powerhouse will continue to get stronger as well. When you are doing this Introductory series just go down to your waistband and come back up. And then add a couple more vertebra but don’t go down past the point of no return. If you get bored keeping the range of motion smaller, you can slide your feet under the couch or a big chair to hold them down. If you were in a studio, we would place your feet under a strap until you’re able to keep your lower body stable while moving your upper body. A great tutorial to help you understand this better is PilatesAnytime class #3484. It explains in detail how to get more flexible/stronger at rolling exercises including The Roll Back. Finally, in this series I go over the Wall exercises. These simple exercises tremendously help your flexibility and strength to do a better Roll Up. I hope these tips help! And thanks again for reaching out. Give your self some grace but stay persistent and I am positive you will love the results! Monica 🥰
Julie Lloyd
1 person likes this.
I really enjoyed this class. A great review of the classic elements of Pilates, and a beautiful tummy workout. Thank you Monica.
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