http://pilatescomics.com/index.htmlHot News!enKachina28@gmail.comCopyright 2009 Jeanette Ladores2010-03-30T13:19:58-07:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:49:28 -0700Kachina28@gmail.comPilates Tradition2010-03-30T13:19:58-07:00http://pilatescomics.com/PCBlog/files/ea91ba70fb83c2e151024b2e8144c054-3.html#unique-entry-id-3http://pilatescomics.com/PCBlog/files/ea91ba70fb83c2e151024b2e8144c054-3.html#unique-entry-id-3have no intrinsic value.
There is an internal focus that gives the movements meaning. Stuff the “looks like” Wing Chun will not protect you, stuff that “looks like” Pilates will not correct you.

This is what Tradition is supposed to guarantee against, the horror of irrelevance. These wavings of limbs are purported to have some real-world practical benefits, a tangible payoff for time and money spent. If the benefit can’t at least be felt, it may be time for a new pursuit. Tradition is best served by the person who can safely be asked “Why?”, a fulfillable confidence that there is a reason for this weird-seeming posture or move. Tradition is poorly represented by the personage who shames (or fears) the questioner, a ubiquitous carrot/stick of transformation not yet earned. The former decreases the difference between teacher and student, the latter increases it.

The first thing Tradition teaches us is equality, that the great being before us once stood in our humble shoes. Conversely, that the open minded new student might see something in the art that we teachers have not yet discovered. Tradition does not set one person above another, snobbiness and commerce do that. The concern of Tradition is to keep the art alive by keeping it accessible to the students. That is where the equality part comes in. That teacher, instructor, organizer...what ever you call the human temporarily in charge, has to value a fair question over their role as teacher. A good question is such a strong opportunity to teach that most teachers will instinctively chuck their persona, flow, and maybe even discipline to answer it. A fair question always merits brief notice but more importantly it always demands a little respect. That way we are all equals no matter who pays whom.

If a student is to be told “work harder” then they must be told why even if the reason is simple. “That strength is needed elsewhere” is a perfectly acceptable answer. Most questions are an opportunity for the art to flow between two people. The best support I can give to this sentiment is anecdotal. I have been fortunate to study with some undeniably great teachers, true masters, at least one in a pre-famous state. The great ones share many traits (I keep a list on the fridge) including this one: they delight in being questioned, often running on answering complicated questions only implied by the simple one voiced. They see a question as the way into the student, as their chance to live up to their traditions, a chance to be seized upon as aggressively as any fighter defends their title.

Teachers defend Tradition and Tradition requires more than learnable systems and transferrable knowledge. It requires a real live human who embodies the benefits of those systems and that knowledge. More than just embodies...enjoys. Such an example would be the gold standard acid test of a great teacher of any Traditional Art. They don’t just show you how to do it, they themselves show why its worth doing.]]>Kachina28@gmail.comPilates Breath2009-10-30T15:38:29-07:00http://pilatescomics.com/PCBlog/files/af9c3d7f49a452461fe5b8930309c074-1.html#unique-entry-id-1http://pilatescomics.com/PCBlog/files/af9c3d7f49a452461fe5b8930309c074-1.html#unique-entry-id-1
Here I go with the Boldness. Modern Pilates is or should be a breathing based pursuit. Although it slows the initial learning curve, goal-oriented breath technique is fundamental. Proper breathing, given its cumulative potential, could easily produce more lifelong benefits than ANY sequence of movements from any time or culture. Think about it, even if your chosen modality (pilates, yoga, penjak silat, whatever) is awesomely authentic in application, it is still the rare and unlikely practitioner who practices 20 or more hours a week, its impractical.

Contrast that with the amount of time one can devote to breathing. Repetitive stress is a knife that cuts both ways...it can cut for the physical good. Perhaps you think I’m claiming too much by suggesting that all conscious breathing time could be dedicated to patterned, goal-oriented work. Certainly, if I had a nickel for every time a new client has said “Wait, you mean I’m supposed to breathe like this all the time?”, I could take us all out to lunch. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus; life-learned breath habits can be reshaped, and restorative posture does flow as free as the air itself.

This is my religion and my science, held in faith and checked by daily repetition. A “perfect” breath might be cheerfully impossible, but the daily number of attempts to create one could well define our health. Summarizing briefly, how closely you hew to your new breathing philosophy may be more important than the number of classes you hit this week.

In class, we study routines of movement, and each of these moves has a separate potential benefit to be ferreted out and cherished. We call these goals. A very different kind of goal would be to use only the most complete and effective breaths to move through the routine. This added dimension of difficulty requires more focus, more work/energy, and a stronger knowledge of the choreography. A person who could complete an hour-long session of hardish, funky, exercises without sacrificing the therapeutic qualities of their breath might have a real chance at getting through a whole mundane (IOW: backbreaking) day without sacrificing these same qualities. One whole unbroken day of healthy breath and posture could change your week. Week, month, year...life. This is a brass ring worth jumping for.

I believe this strongly enough to put my money o’er my mouth. I insist that all first sessions be no charge. This allows client and instructor a comfortable hour to turn the esoteric subtleties of good breathing into stuff that is common place and repeatable. Only in this form can it be incorporated into increasingly challenging maneuvers, and that’s where the goodness is.
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