Movement as Healing

There are so many stories online of "Pilates changed my life", "I lost 100 lbs on when I started this exercise plan", "I'm the best version of myself now because of this Yoga intensive"... blah blah blah ...

Yes, they're likely all true stories, but yes, they're all kind of annoying. So why do I write about the exact same thing? Because I truly do believe in movement as healing, as therapy, as pain relief, as self-care.

So here's another one of those blogs of how movement can change your life! :)

Through simple, precise, and effective movements we can prevent or treat physical ailments, we can restore function to the body, and we can preserve capability and quality of life. Quite often, even when we are in pain gentle movements can relax hypertensive tissues. Through movement, we can reset the body, and assist the body in healing itself. Gentle flexion, extension of a joint, soft circular motions, fluid spinal movements, and diaphragmatic breathing create the base level of therapeutic movement. As a therapeutic movement professional, my base goal with a client is to help re-align their body by rebalancing the tensions throughout the musculoskeletal system so the regions meant to be mobile regain their mobility, while the regions that need stability can stabilize that mobility.

When I'm asked what it is I do for my profession, I have a difficult time describing it. I have a Master's degree in Kinesiology. I'm a corrective exercise specialist. I'm a nationally certified Pilates teacher.

I focus on fitness and wellness, therapeutic movement, rehabilitation, wellbeing.

I teach corrective movement using Pilates as the modality to assist clients in managing chronic pain, in reducing acute flare-ups or for general exercise. Pain and physical limitations don't have to be as common as they are. We sit, we slouch, we stare downwards at our phones and tablets. Occasionally, we mindlessly trudge on a treadmill and before returning to sit. These recurring postures train the body to adapt to the infamous tech neck, compressed discs, tightened hamstrings, restricted psoas, atrophied abdominals, overstretched cervical extensors, hypertensive pecs and cervical flexors. Those postures have been practiced over and over again, and as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Or, in this case, practice makes imperfect. And this creates pain and physical dysfunction. Years of these postures take years of corrective exercise to reteach the body how to relax into proper functioning.

Now, for myself as a corrective exercise and therapeutic movement professional, that's not saying I never have pain and am completely pain-free. In fact, I'm generally in some pain after years of professional dance abuse on my body without the therapeutic movement that I now know. Does that mean it doesn't work? Nope. It works. Movement practices keep people being able to do the things they enjoy, it builds strength, increases confidence, and improves quality of living. But it does take time, patience, practice, and consistency. It is a lifestyle.

Moderate intensity, consistently.