{"id":6229,"date":"2018-04-14T08:30:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T08:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/?p=6229"},"modified":"2024-01-06T15:04:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T15:04:46","slug":"look-up-stay-lifted-and-upright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/look-up-stay-lifted-and-upright\/","title":{"rendered":"Look Up: Stay Lifted and Upright"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s nothing down we want.\u00a0 We don’t want to be put down, kicked down or looked down upon.\u00a0 We don’t want our cheeks, eyes or the corners of our mouths to turn down.\u00a0 We want those butt cheeks lifted.\u00a0 We need our energy\u00a0 lifted.\u00a0 Lord knows, as Mary Bowen<\/a> said, we want those “Nipples Up!”<\/p>\n

Those are a few of the reminders I find myself frequently giving students when their gaze, energy and body falls during so many of the Pilates movements, either on the mat or the apparatus.\u00a0 Chins fall, eyes fall, chest collapses as gravity pull us down.\u00a0 In contrast, we want to use the movement of the body and the intent of Pilates to stay lifted and upright.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Push Up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mermaid and Side Bending exercises provide an opportunity to open the obliques, the serratus and lift up and out of the respective hip.\u00a0 Teaser and Open Leg Rocker are the ultimate “gravity fighters” requiring a full lifted heart, sternum, abdominal, arms, legs and<\/em> gaze.<\/p>\n

Whether kneeling and side lying, as with Chest Expansion or Side Kicks, the chest, heart and gaze is open, lifted and focused forward — never down.<\/p>\n

None of the rolling exercises , i.e., Rolling like a Ball, Rollup, Rollover, have a “downward” energy – but an “inward” focus. There’s nothing down we want.\u00a0 Even the dreaded pushup is more effective when we focus on lifting up and away<\/strong> from the the ground rather than allowing ourselves to be pulled down to it.<\/p>\n

What about\u00a0 the overhead exercises?<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Going Up Front<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you look up and back (rather than down toward the chest, as most do) one can actually open the chin, heart and release the downward “jam” into the neck.\u00a0 Follow the lift of the movement with your gaze and eyes with Corkscrew, Jackknife\/Overhead as well as Balance Control and change the energy in the movement.<\/p>\n

The only thing that requires full downward energy when working our bodies is the grounding of the feet or hands to push away from it. Resist the pull down and push away to lift up, out and upright.<\/p>\n

Stay Lifted and Upright.\u00a0 The alternative is just so flat.<\/p>\n

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There’s nothing down we want.\u00a0 We don’t want to be put down, kicked down or looked down upon.\u00a0 We don’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,247,9,113],"tags":[79,78,145,38,33,41,104],"class_list":["post-6229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authentic-living","category-pilatesover60","category-the-scoop","category-truthspeak","tag-pilatesinstructor","tag-pilatesteacher","tag-classical-pilates","tag-maintenance","tag-movement","tag-pilates","tag-pilates-movement"],"featured_image_url":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg","medium":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg","large":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg","uncode_woocommerce_nav_thumbnail_regular":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg","uncode_woocommerce_nav_thumbnail_crop":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/IMG_20180321_080919_processed-01.jpeg"},"post_author":"Gina Jackson","assigned_categories":"Authenticity, PilatesOver60, The Scoop, TruthSpeak","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6229"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6795,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6229\/revisions\/6795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pilates4fitness.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}