I was once at a Polestar Pilates Educator meeting in which we were working hard to create content for the Internet to communicate to the world, “Why Pilates?” And “Why Polestar?” The answers I found to these questions were easy. Why Pilates? Because Pilates keeps every person doing what they want to do! Whether that is hiking mountains or pulling weeds, running marathons or playing on the floor with grandchildren. Why Pilates? Because Pilates keeps people moving, and The Polestar Pilates Teacher Training teaches practitioners how to facilitate this transformation.
Now Why Polestar? Why did I choose the Polestar Pilates Teacher Training? That’s an easy one. Polestar Pilates allows me to be creative within a system of principles. Rather than teaching me a series of exercises that become a rote script of a beginner, intermediate and advanced Pilates class, Polestar gave me a structure within which I could be creative. This meant that I could use the tools I was given to teach an 85 year old grandfather as well as a ten year old boy. I wasn’t taught a recipe of exercises I was taught a systematic approach. The amateur chaos theory mathematician in me was stoked!
The Polestar Pilates Teacher Training is based on six principles, that are designed to guide the critical thinking of a Polestar Pilates Practitioner. In this post I want to describe the first one.
The Breath Principle
Now, we don’t choreograph when one should inhale and exhale. We learn the anatomy and physiology of the breath and we also learn the biokinematics and the arthrokinematics of breath, and all of this information within this principle allows us to decide how to best use breath as a tool for movement facilitation. When we study the breath principle we choose to ask the question how can I use the breath to create the best movement. Will an inhale facilitate what I want, or is an exhale better? Or we might ask, how can I use this breath to challenge the mover in front of me to create greater integration of movement.
Our understanding of the breath might answer other questions? How might I use breath to improve posture? How might I use breath to create more flexibility or space in a joint? How might I use the exhale to create axial length, and how might I use the inhale to facilitate thoracic mobility?
Why do I love the Polestar Pilates Teacher Training? Because Polestar Pilates gave me a plethora of information and then said, “okay kid, take this and run with it! Have a ball, and most importantly help people move”