A look into ITT Pilates: Part 5

Master of Pilates, and ITT Pilates Instructor, Sue Aslin taught both days. Using class volunteers, she reviewed the material in the ITT Pilates Reformer Manual and training from the ITT Pilates Reformer videos. As a volunteer demonstrator, you could feel the correct action and sequence of muscles to be fired with Sue’s cueing. As a student teacher, you got to practice your verbal and tactile cueing on other classmates. While practicing on each other, Sue’s observations and constructive corrections were invaluable! 

The common postural imbalances were addressed, as were the addition of props to achieve dynamic neutral alignment. There was an emphasis on stopping a student if they felt unsafe or unable to do the exercises, like Backstroke for shoulder issues or Side Splits for proprioception challenges. Sue addressed our questions and offered to clarify any concept that escaped us. I have a private lesson with Sue next week to review what I have learned.  

More often than not, it’s all about the feet! When it comes down to it, the feet translate imbalances to the knees, the hips, the spine, the shoulders, and the head. ITT Pilates emphasizes the biomechanics of each exercise as a mind-body experience.