How To Create Body Energy

Pilates is a form of exercise for everyone—young or old, fit or not-so-fit. Like many other kinds of exercise, Pilates increases metabolism, promotes respiratory and circulatory function, and improves your bone density and muscle tone. Like yoga and martial arts, it can help you to "get centered" and calm your nerves. Unlike many other forms of exercise, however, Pilates balances out muscular asymmetries, streamlines your silhouette, and improves your balance, coordination, and breath control. Pilates does all this because the exercises work to simultaneously develop your muscular flexibility and your strength. The exercises also help you to awaken a new body awareness, or what I call your "inner eye."

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With all that said, what makes Pilates so pertinent to the way you live your life today? Well, Pilates is all about breathing and moving more fully—both of which we need to do more often. Over the past 50 years, our lifestyles have become increasingly sedentary, while our bodies, which were built for action, haven't changed in design. We call sitting still for long periods of time "discipline," but it can be a kind of tyranny. If you sit at work or on an airplane for an extended time, you know how stiff and tired you can become. Getting up for a short stretch or a drink of water feels great, doesn't it? That's because you're satisfying your body's natural instinct to move—and moving around pumps more oxygen to your brain and your body.

The results of this immobile lifestyle are oxygen deprivation and disproportionate muscle development. Most of us walk around in a perpetually oxygen-deprived state. (No wonder we drink so much coffee.) In addition, being seated for long periods of time, combined with actions that require similar movements (such as writing, typing, driving, and eating), builds the muscles in the front of your upper body, making them strong and tight. These repetitive actions also stretch out the muscles in your upper back, making them long and weak. And of course, a slumping upper body only serves to further impair your breathing mechanism by closing down your chest, lungs, and diaphragm. [pagebreak]

Pilates teaches a consistent, concentrated way of combining deep, rhythmic breathing with movement. These exercises are so anatomically sound that they should extend into how you use your body every day. Whether you're getting out of a car, sitting at a desk, carrying a baby, walking your dog, or climbing stairs, your muscles will function at optimal capacity, holding your skeleton in proper alignment at all times. You'll find that everything you do reinforces Pilates, and vice versa.

And here's another big bonus of a Pilates workout: It doesn't require you to perform endless repetitions of boring, mindless exercises, and you won't suffer undue muscle strain, so there's little risk of injury. The emphasis in this type of exercise is on the ease and flow of movement, not on temple-popping exertion (although Pilates is mentally and physically challenging).

Start with only 20-to-30-minute sessions 2 or 3 days a week. One precisely executed Pilates session is worth more than several hours at the gym—and you'll feel invigorated after Pilates, not worn out!

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Fitness Redefined

Throw out the notion that you have to go for the burn during your Pilates sessions in order to become fit. Fitness is not about doing hardcore workouts that bust your gut every time. Soreness is not a sign that you've had a good workout; it's a sign that you've overworked your muscles to the extent that they are unable to function. Exercise shouldn't hurt—during or after the workout.

You don't have to sweat buckets, overheat, or exercise until you're red in the face to purge toxins from your body and raise your metabolism. Huffing and puffing is not the only way to improve respiration, lower stress, and improve circulation. Controlled deep breathing works just as well, or better, both to detoxify and to give you an exercise high. Finally, a good Pilates session shouldn't tire you out. It should energize and invigorate both your mind and body, not push them to the point of exhaustion. Aren't you ready for a change?

Here is a series of Pilates exercises to get you started on the way to increased energy, flexibility, and strength.[pagebreak]

Arm Raises

By doing this exercise, you'll integrate a simple movement into your breathing practice. Lifting your arms will facilitate fully inflating your lungs. Concentrate on stabilizing your shoulders down away from your ears even as you raise your arms overhead.

Inhale as you raise your arms over your head, and exhale as you lower them to home position. Visualize a marionette string extended from the crown of your head to the ceiling, and lengthen your spine up out of your hips as the string pulls upward. Your shoulders should remain vertical over your hips, and your front triangles should remain overlapped as your arms rise overhead.

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In the Rest Position, relax your forehead to the mat and your buttocks toward your heels. Stretch your arms long overhead, palms down. Continue breathing deeply. Scoop out your lower abs as you exhale, thinking: zipper, hip belt, navel to spine. Roll your forehead from side to side, as if you're shaking your head "no." Release any tight muscles in your neck and shoulders. Allow your buttocks to become heavier, sinking farther toward your heels with each exhale.

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Jilian Hessel Jillian Hessel is a former professional ballet dancer who's certified as a fitness trainer as well as a teacher/trainer in Pilates-based techniques.

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