Local Chapters of the PMA
The Pilates Method Alliance (PMA) is holding their big teacher training summit in Dallas this weekend. They will be discussing the important, and somewhat contentious, instructor certification issue. James Henderson, PhD., and Psychometrician for the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) will speaking at the summit. I, for one, am very interested in the outcome of this summit and look forward to reporting on it. In the meantime,

Exercise(s) of the Week: 20 Core Minutes of Pilates
20 Core Minutes is designed to strengthen your core muscles: the deep abdominal, back, and pelvic floor muscles. One of the best ways to challenge these muscles is to make them stabilize the trunk under unstable conditions. In this workout, we do that by reducing stabilizing contact with the floor, and by using the exercise ball (non-ball options are given too). Some exercises in t

Pilates Power Animal of the Month
"In 10 sessions you will feel a difference, in 20 you will see a difference, and in 30 you will have a whole new body." Joseph Pilates We usually use the Pilates Power Animal of the Month to look a

Scary Pilates Stories
Never mind exercise names like spine twist and neck pull, or equipment that look like medieval torture devices sporting ominous names like, the reformer; for some people, even thinking about starting a Pilates exercise program is scary. Since it's Halloween weekend, I got to thinking about how Pilates might be scary for beginners. Then I started thinking about how even now certain Pilates situations can be scary for me, like starting a new class at a new studio.

Stott Pilates Pink Toning Ball
I was just cleaning up my workout area at home when I dug down into a container I keep balls, bands, and rings in. At the bottom I found a set of small, pink toning balls from Stott Pilates that I got last year. I was like, wow, where did these come from? This is just what I need. I've been using the hand held toning balls a little more lately. I just grab them during my mat workouts at home -- holding them during exercises like