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Sign up for the free Weekly Imagery Tips (WITs) newsletter to receive imagery that can be applied to your Pilates & every day activities. Then post your experiences here. I’d love to hear from you!
Sign up for the free Weekly Imagery Tips (WITs) newsletter to receive imagery that can be applied to your Pilates & every day activities. Then post your experiences here. I’d love to hear from you!
 | paula antonini on I’ve Moved! |
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Gini Martinez
Pilate Your Body's Blog 
Love your drawings. That really helps imagine what is happening!
paula antonini
September 6, 2010
I Love the latest newsletter! I have old dancer knees,they need lots of help to feel good..and the imagery does help. I want my knees to last a long time despite the abuse i gave them in their youth.I’m using the imagery when doing anything cardio..BIG difference!Thanks Gini!
amy lee peters
September 14, 2010
I am so glad you found it helpful, Amy. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Gini Martinez
September 14, 2010
Love this! I use this same image for T-straps on the reformer as well as the long part of backstroke.
piLalates
September 20, 2010
I use it for those exercises too, Laurel!
Gini Martinez
September 20, 2010
OK. I love it. This is so incredibly helpful and I am continually amazed at how you do these very effective drawings! I also love the opportunity to win Eric’s book!
paula antonini
September 20, 2010
Love the corkscrew imagery, 2 things i’m very familiar with wine and pilates..:)lol. I used it with a client and they really got it and I could see the difference in their form! You rock Gini!
amy lee peters
September 22, 2010
Wait~ Did they use wine to improve their form? Because that would be a real selling point! ;-p
Gini Martinez
September 22, 2010
I love the corkscrew image! We have an exercise called corkscrew arms where we think about the head popping up out of the arms as they come down, but the idea of the compression is new to me and I think that’s a really important part of it.
Diane Mulholland
September 23, 2010
Thank you for sharing, Diane!
Gini Martinez
September 23, 2010
I was the lucky winner of Happy Feet last week, I just received my book & franklin balls today! My feet are happily resting on the balls while I write this. I practiced some of the imagery and movement and wow it feels really great! i can’t wait to practice more..I think this will help my tired feet:) However…i can’t pick up the ball with my toes..I blame this on my tiny feet(5 1/2!) but I’ll keep at it. Thank you so much Gini..i’m enjoying the Franklin method throughly 🙂
amy lee peters
September 24, 2010
I’m just trying to make the world a happier place, one pair of feet at a time. 🙂
Gini Martinez
September 24, 2010
I had to really picture the pinball machine for a sec. Then I thought of my *young* 73 year old client whose one foot won’t behave. Her muscles are very strong and flexible(black belt Tae Kwon Do at age 54), so I’m now thinking it’s the lateral movement inhibiting her. We’ve seen improvement in 3 years (thank you, low chair), but now I think the missing link is the mental control of the ankle via imaging and not just the foot (there’s only so much reach thru the feet one can practice…) I’ll try the spring-loaded pinball plunger!
Debbie Harris
September 27, 2010
I’ve had Pinball Wizard stuck in my head all week. 😉
Here is another post about the fibula that might also help:
https://pilateyourbody.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/fetch-fluttering-fibulae/
Let me know how it goes!
Gini Martinez
September 27, 2010
Hi! Here’s my imagery contribution: My studio is located within a health club. As such, I see a lot of traditionally fit people who are used to working out in the weight area or in group exercise classes. They’ve conditioned themselves to make their abdominals ‘hard’ when in forward flexion so much, the abs stick out. The concept of strength being within the body is new to them. I ask them to imagine their core as freshly re-potted plants. The new mud is fluffy and light-weight. Then I ask them to “water” their core – because what happens when we water a dry plant? The mud compresses and becomes stronger around the base. Once they experience the strength of drawing their abs in, not pushing them out, their Pilates experience changes as does their workouts outside the studio. Thanks!
Kerrie Ann Frey
September 27, 2010
I like that, Kerrie Ann. And then they can watch their core strength grow. Get it?
(I crack myself up.)
Gini Martinez
September 27, 2010
I used your imagery tonight and it was a big hit! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Gini Martinez
September 28, 2010
I love your imagery, Kerrie Ann. One more great tool for the toolbox!
Thanks for sharing.
mindbodyharmonyus
October 2, 2010
Yup, I remember reading this *water the core* like watering a potted plant in a tweet and have been using it all summer. It really works. There is no *suck in and hold* – it is a very useful Pilates image that enables people to keep breathing!
Debbie Harris
October 2, 2010
Love this week’s pictures 🙂 And I really like the way you’ve got me thinking about alignment at the ankle. Focussing on what the actual bones are doing works well for me, rather than looking at whole-limb or whole-body concepts. Thanks!
Diane Mulholland
September 27, 2010
Flattery will get you everywhere, Diane. 3-D springs are hard to draw! If you touch the proximal and distal ends of your fibula, you can feel it move up and down as you flex & point, like the spring.
Gini Martinez
September 27, 2010
Loving the pinball plunger imagery. I have found great improvement in myself and several clients in just the past 24 hours using this imagery. As a former dancer feet and alignment in general are my obsession- this image has improved my own weight bearing on the foot and gait already. I recommend your weekly tips newsletter to all of our full & student teachers-thanks for another useful tip.
Laurette Ryan
September 28, 2010
Laurette, I am pleased you are finding my tips useful and truly appreciative you are recommending them to others.
Gini Martinez
September 28, 2010
I love your WITs, Gini. Today I used your corkscrew imagery to elaborate on the oppositional stretch in Gyrotonic.
At the moment I offer quite a bit of free sessions to my facebook page’ fans. Your images from real life help students make the connection, when their body awareness is just budding. Thank you for enriching my tool box with your Wonderful Imagery Tips !
mindbodyharmonyus
October 2, 2010
Rachel~ I am so glad they connect with my imagery. My goal is to make the images relevant to every day life so the benefit goes beyond the studio/workout.
Gini Martinez
October 3, 2010
Love your imagery tips!
Heather Lane
October 2, 2010
Yea! 🙂
Gini Martinez
October 3, 2010
Hi Ginny ! Answering your request for an image idea…how about this one for rotation. Image your spine as the washer agitator – while gently spiraling with each twisting motion, it gently “rings out” muscle tension with each rotation. The twisting encourages the diagonal relationship between contralateral shoulder and hip. This diagonal “ringing” allows the muscles to hug close (compress) to the spine without tensional grabbing helping to maintain alignment. And, because of the “wringing” action, there’s a sense of the axial elongation taking place as a result. Try this for any exercise utilizing a rotation involving the lumbar, thoracic and cervical spines as a whole as in the box work on the reformer holding the Ring, on the Split-Pedal Chair or Cleopatra at the Cadillac (so many choices!). Add soap and fabric softener and away you go! I hope this works for you!
Amy Sugar-Carter
October 5, 2010
Hi Amy!
So glad to see you here. I love the image of wringing out the tension in the spinal muscles. I can visualize the washing machine ads which show the clothes (muscles) floating in water, being gently swished this way, then that way & the fabric softener is an added bonus.
A question: Does the axial elongation occur during the twisting (wringing) phase or upon return to center?
Here is a useful exercise to embody an aspect of spinal rotation:
1. Take a sponge or towel, twist it while pulling it long.
2. Now imagine it’s your spinal cord.
3. How would your spinal cord like maintaining its length while twisting?
4. Do nerves like to be stretched & twisted?
5. How does this affect (if at all) how you cue spinal rotation?
Gini Martinez
October 5, 2010
Hi Ginny,
As i perform the rotation I feel the axial elongation occurring in the action of the wringing (twisting). But, upon further investigation, I think I’m probably adding that onto the action..I’m not certain just the image I’ve given will give me axial elongation.
All great questions – upon reflection and more investigative ‘playing’ I’m not sure I’d stick with my wringing image …I like gentle rotations for example as in unwinding techniques. and shaking and jiggling(Trager massage, for example)…which gave me the idea for the image in the first place. But, reading your questions gave me pause because now the image sounds too harsh. Thank you for your reply!
-ASC
Amy Sugar-Carter
October 7, 2010
Amy~
Here is a link to a recent Twitter discussion on spinal rotation and spinal length (scroll down to the bottom & read up):
http://twitter.com/search?q=%23fmspine
Thank you for your image. I enjoy hearing everyone’s point of view through imagery! 🙂
Gini
Gini Martinez
October 8, 2010
okay, I’m with your husband, totally made sense with the cogs drawn on the t-shirt. I was imaging the cogs being the two sides of the sacrum. geeesh…… Creative imagery by Karena. 🙂
karena lineback
October 11, 2010
Agreed, once I saw the cogs work the imagery clicked (some pun intended).
A similar image we use (may be unique to Silicon Valley) is imagine your pelvis is like the scroll ball on your mouse, as you scroll down your pelvis tips towards your fingers movement.
Tara Clark
October 13, 2010
Oh I love that image, Tara! Thanks for sharing.
Gini Martinez
October 13, 2010
Nice, Gini!
Kerrie Ann Frey
November 8, 2010
Thanks! Let me know if it impacts your running at all. 🙂
Gini Martinez
November 8, 2010
Thanks, Gini! The keystone image is one that comes up again and again. But this is the first time I’ve heard the image be explained with the femurs being involved. It’s very helpful. Thank you ! And, love the drawings!
– ASC
Amy Sugar-Carter
November 22, 2010
You are very welcome! I’m such a fan of the sacrum. 🙂
Gini Martinez
November 22, 2010