By: Kerrie Murphy | 16/06/2022

Men, Pilates and the Art of Transformational Change

by Paul Schembri.

When I first begin work with a new, male client, the most common motivation to get them into the studio is that “pain is stopping me from living my best life”. When pain is tapping you on the shoulder that’s your body’s healthy way of making you take notice and incorporate a change to your movement patterns before the tap becomes a shove!

Pain is often an indication that there is an overuse in one part of the body. It is through the Pilates work we begin observe how the body is moving in space and where the imbalances are occurring that can cause strain and compression in our 3-dimensional bodies. Therefore as an instructor in the method, there can be many factors to consider when creating a Pilates exercise program for a client!

To make change we need to bring our awareness to where we are in space and how the body feels.

Breath is very powerful and begins that attention to one’s body. It creates a physical and mental sense of ‘Centre’ – a point of reference – and often, just knowing whether you’re breathing in or out is a major mind-and-body-shift!

If our bodies are slumped and compressed, we are already interfering with this very action. Freedom of breath within the body assists with the re-organisation of how we hold our body up in space. Finding better alignment ready for action in all directions.

We want the body to be pliable. We need to adapt and change to life’s ever-changing circumstances to find an efficient response to action.

“Change happens through movement and movement heals.” Joseph Pilates.

 

One of my male participants (Peter, aged 83) used to comment on his ‘Cement Back’, especially after periods of lengthened inactivity. By the time we’ve completed his warm up sequences in the studio, the feeling of rigidity begins to shift into a more flexible spine.

He laughs with me in the studio about how hard I work him, but often it’s not the work and movement that is hard. It’s reorgansing his thinking around the task; connecting it with breath and integrating the particular focus with the rest of his body. He challenges me to help him find ways of working smarter and with more imagination, before working harder.

 

To incorporate the use of breath, imagination and innovation through motion, we begin reshape our mind and bodies. This offers us a pathway away from pain. Without this change in behavior we won’t transform. We can’t transfer what we explore in the studio out into our daily lives. It is an ‘Art’.

Take it from a couple of our clients:

 “Pilates is calming as well as strengthening, a resource for mental as well as physical health”. Ben 52 

 “I can focus on specific strengthening needs to enhance my swimming and running…and sitting at a desk”. Robbie 52 

It is also why Peter can find muscles and movements he never knew existed in order to age gracefully and find new pathways for longevity.

 

This is the Art of Transformational change.