The Pilates Pedicure and September Pilates Party 2022 Reveal

Feet are important.

Your feet provide the foundation for everything northward: hips, buttocks, back, neck and head.

And keep in mind that as important as you currently think they are, your feet are way more essential to the balance and longevity of your body.

Like, way more…

In 2015 I started to do my own manicures and pedicures. Just like the Pilates practice of dry brushing, it’s well within Joe Pilates’ directives to care for our smallest and most remote body parts.

That pinky toe?

She’s super important and perhaps hard to take a close look at. But she still needs support and looking after.

Tiny Tangent: I broke her in 2016 and to my horror my doctor said – in an apparent move to downplay my anxiety about it – even if he cut off my little toe I would be perfectly fine.

Uhm, thank you…?

Ultimately he was UNsuccessful in talking me back off the ledge after that comment.

Pilates peeps know all the little parts are vital. However, he was right. She healed eventually and all is well.

Ok, rant over.

Busted

I never feel more vulnerable than when I start my Footwork exercises and Jay walks over to take a look.

“Have you been doing your foot exercises? he asks me NOT for the first time.

(Translation: you haven’t been doing your foot exercises, have you?)

Jay’s calm demeanor speaks volumes. Just a well-placed suggestion, take it or leave it.

The Foot Corrector and 2×4 are apparatuses I visit frequently. They wax and wane however and I’ll visit them on the daily only to lapse for a while right before I show up in front of Jay.

So I need the reminder.

But each and every time I revisit my go-to foot exercises I learn more about the Foot Corrector and all of my body.

Repetition, friends!

The Pilates 2×4

The 2×4 exercises are straightforward right?

You either succeed or you fall off the damn thing.

And people love to work on their balance. You are repeatedly inundated with the importance of maintaining good balance as you age. There’s good messaging on this and everyone’s on board for it.

Clients love these simple and revealing exercises.

Thrilled at how difficult it is to do the same Tendon Stretch – first done lying down on the Reformer, and now upright, stranded in the middle of the studio on the 2×4 – students feel powerful.

They can tangibly measure their proficiency.

Did you fall off? No?

SUCCESS!!

The Foot Corrector

Unlike the Pilates 2×4, I find the Foot Corrector to be a bit prickly.

The Foot Corrector requires constant cultivation. This is not news, I’ll grant you.

You’ve gotta show up for that thing and gradually mine its secrets. Sure the foot massage never disappoints, but how do you approach the Foot Corrector like all of its apparatus friends around the studio?

We only have one exercise, right?

Pilates is a full-body exercise they tell me.

Why is the Foot Corrector so weird?

I find it helpful to zoom out and look for the benefits of using the Foot Corrector beyond your feet. How can I use it like the Wunda Chair? or the Cadillac?

Look at it.

Does it look like a Cadillac? Sadly, no.

It’s a small apparatus, like the Wunda Chair.

But the spring here is different.

All around the Pilates studio, the spring opens to do the exercise and then we close the spring with control. The spring tells us if we are in control (or not).

But that’s not what happens on the Foot Corrector.

Ideally, your Foot Corrector has thick coiled, heavy springs that feel stiff to compress.

Yes, in the action of Foot Corrector exercises you compress the spring, and your control must return it to its resting position.

Help Wanted

You won’t be surprised that I like to compare the Foot Corrector exercises to… you guessed it: Double Leg Pull.

Even when you must compress the spring, your standing body is one of your oppositional forces. Now you are simply reaching (standing) into the Foot Corrector instead of into the air.

I find that Pilates exercises are the hardest when the “movement” is on the inside, without helpful choreography. Ha ha yes choreography can sometimes be helpful!

The heavy spring here gives you a “floor” that invites you to lift your body up and resist gravity. Feeling this lift will inspire you to find other places in your workout for a “foot corrector” moment. What would the Elephant feel like?

A teaching tool I use for myself is to replicate the Double Leg Pull in a standing position during my Foot Corrector exercises. I do it to get the feeling and then see if I can remember the feeling without the extra arm choreography.

Do what you do horizontally, now in this vertical position avec Foot Corrector.

Here I chose the Heels exercise, as I find it particularly communicative to my body, but it works for all positions.

Best case scenario: your Short Box Series will get better too! Imaginary Foot Corrector, anyone?

September Pilates Party 2022 Reveal

Well, friends, I’m thrilled to announce my newest workshop offering:

Join me LIVE AND IN PERSON in beautiful San Diego for the ultimate in Pilates Projects: The Roll Up.

Yes. The Roll Up.

This exercise was a humbling and enlightening one for me, perhaps for you too.

Why can’t you roll up? Why do you slide backward off the mat?

Do you have difficulty discerning why your students can’t find success in this exercise?

And why do you care? Is it really necessary to be able to do this exercise?

The short answer is “yes.”

The Roll Up is a fundamental Pilates exercise that isn’t easy to do well. It can be one of the most confusing and difficult journeys in the Pilates system. Perfect your Roll Up and you will open up worlds of better skills all around the Pilates studio.

In this 4-hour workshop, we’ll put the Pilates System to the test!

If you’ve been reading for a while you know that in my first Pilates Mat class I could not roll up at all.

I’ll share my best strategies for building proficiency in the Roll Up that’s best for you, right now, whoever you are. You’ll leave San Diego with a better understanding, a better Roll Up, and/or a plan to build your skills and achieve your best Roll Up over time.

Space is limited.

Register today for $399 and secure your spot.

Register after May 31 for $499.

Hey, What about that “additional education experience?”

That’s right. With your Pilates Projects: The Roll Up registration for Saturday September 10, 2022, you’re invited to an additional workshop on Sunday September 11, 2022, for a full weekend of Pilates education.

After booking you’ll receive more details including the topic of the bonus workshop in your confirmation email.

Hint: It’s a workshop based on one of my most-viewed blog posts.

Thank you so much and have a great workout!

More Foot Goodness You May Have Missed…

Read

• Fix Your Feet, Fix Your Powerhouse: The Pilates 2×4
• Hey that thing really works! A Foot Corrector Love Story
• Foot Department of Corrections: 28 Day Challenge!

Watch

• A Short Tutorial on the Pilates Foot Corrector: The Basics
• Treat Your Feet: A Pilates Toe Corrector and 2×4 Workout