Love this! Need a modification for the toe sit please. I have bone spurs in the big toe joints of both feet and can't bend my big toes. Thanks so much for this fun and interestingly new way to examine movement.

Definitely there are modifications for developing the articulations of your feet to whole body connection.....for Toe Sit, you could place a blanket or bolster under your knees so you are not placing so much body weight forward...also, you can put more support under the metatarsals, allowing your toes to be off the padding, which takes more pressure off the big toe joints. Let me know what you notice!

Loved this approach. I normally teach really challenging physical classes but shared some of your exercises with 3 of my groups and they responded so well. It was challenging them in a different way. Thank you for continuing our pilates journey even further with your guidance to our deep intelligence.

thanks so much, Lynne! You're right, these movements challenge our human movement patterning which gives us deeper access to more difficult Pilates and yoga moves. When we open our feet and hands, we awaken access to more fluid whole body movement!

Many of these movements I have done for several decades as I have studied with pioneers of somatic movement, bodywork, and Embryology and that so informs how I teach Pilates and yoga. Last year, I fulfilled a vision by bringing Phillip Beach to the U.S. He is an Osteopath and Acupuncturist from New Zealand who wrote the ground-breaking book "Muscles and Meridians: The Manipulation of Shape". It's a complex book, yet it's written from his experience and studies, and when you allow yourself to digest it over time...the deep intelligence just rings true. Primal movements are patterning that we know throughout our human history....we don't need to exercise, we need to energize!

I'm mentioning bringing Phillip Beach to the U.S. last year and this year, because the 3 workshops he taught last year and again this year to a wide audience in the Pilates community are creating quite a ripple effect. Senior teachers like Madeline Black and Elizabeth Larkham have experienced real break-throughs in new ways of thinking about movement. We need to move beyond cadaver-based assessment and cueing (pull your shoulder down, navel to spine, etc.) The study of Embryology and Primal Postures helps us to sense how our bodies work, and how we can become self-regulating, adaptive and self-healing....the true vision of Joseph Pilates.

Wow. Fascinating how one become more aware of what's happening. Amazing how Isolation comes into play during the movements.

Very interesting approach. Thank you

thank you, Leonard and Cherhine....I'd like to hear more about what you mean by "isolation", Leonard...what are you noticing?

Whatever movement/exercise we do, we recruit so many muscles which we don't need to use to do the exercise. With this you become so aware of the body and can almost focus on a specific bodypart or muscle group. Even though you release the body (and I know my body) you become aware of the imbalance from within. Does it make sense?