​This is a question I get asked a lot. It’s too often assumed that everyone knows where their core is and what muscles combine to form it, but I’ve found that many people don’t have a clue! So I’ll try to explain.

The muscles that make up the core are:

TA (Transverse abdominal) muscles — corset-like muscles that wrap around the centre of the body

Multifidus — muscles that run down the length of the spine

Pelvic Floor — a sling of muscle that runs from the front of the pelvis to the lower part of the spine

Diaphragm — the muscle that lies under the ribcage and helps us to inhale and exhale

The core is the mid-section of the body and is the support for the rest of the body. When we strengthen the core, we make it possible to support the whole body in every task we ask it to do — from carrying the shopping to mowing the lawn, from lifting a heavy box to running, cycling or working out in the gym.

One of the most important functions of Pilates is that it concentrates on activating and strengthening the core muscles, specifically the TA muscles and the Pelvic Floor muscles. These two groups of muscles help to stabilise the body as we move.

Instructors in many classes, from what I gather, tell their participants to pull the core muscles in really tight. Don’t do it. Research has shown that this is not the best way to work these muscles; it is unsustainable over a long period of time, and many people don’t know how to effectively pull them in anyway!

When I first started to teach Pilates we encouraged participants to “zip and hollow” — zip up the Pelvic Floor muscles and hollow the stomach by pulling the TA muscles in tight. Research now suggests that in order to be able to sustain the contraction of these muscles, we shouldn’t attempt to activate them any more than 30%. It’s also not productive to use both muscle groups together.

Activating the TA Muscles

If you haven’t tried to find your TA muscles before, it’s probably best if you do so while lying down on your back with knees bent, about a fist-width apart, with feet a comfortable distance away from the bottom. Rest the hands lightly on the belly and breathe deeply, feeling the belly rising and falling beneath the hands. Don’t worry if you find this a challenge; to begin with, many people find it difficult to breathe very deeply.

Once you start to feel your breath slowing down and deepening, you will feel a connection or contraction right at the end of the exhalation. If you breathe out all the way and contract the muscles as hard as you can, think of this as contracting to 100%. You should be thinking of trying to contract the muscles to 50%, then to 30% — the efficient level at which to work.

Activating the Pelvic Floor

These muscles are harder to activate, because it takes time to bring awareness (”proprioception”) and to be able to contract these muscles in isolation.

The Pelvic Floor muscles run from the front of the pelvis to the lower spine and support you like a sling. Again, start out breathing deeply into the belly. As you breathe out, however, try to feel a sense of drawing up from the tail bone or the front of the pelvis to the belly button. Practise drawing the muscles up as hard as you can and see how long you can hold them… Probably not very long! Then contract the muscles first to 50% and then to 30% — this should be much easier and, again, the efficient level at which to work these muscles.

In Pilates we breathe throughout the practice into the ribcage — higher up from the belly, in other words. The essence of working the core muscles in a Pilates class is to be able to sustain the contraction of the TA or Pelvic Floor muscles and at the same time breathe laterally into the ribcage. This can be difficult when you start out, but over time it becomes more natural and the benefits can be significant.

I’ve really enjoyed explaining a few technical points about Pilates to you. What else would you like to know? Drop me a comment below and I’ll get writing! Until next time.

It’s probably an age thing, but these days I find myself craving peace and quiet more and more! 

There is so much background noise in our lives, noise that most of the time we don't even notice. In fact, for many of us I think that having a period of silence is almost intimidating — it’s a space that needs to be filled. I include the space in my head when I say that; my mind is always chattering away to me in the background and I find it a real challenge to quieten things down. I often wish I could just press the mute button. 

I was back in Liverpool last weekend and found myself walking along Crosby Beach, about 3 miles North-West from the Seaforth Dock, in the Port of Liverpool. Crosby Beach is the home of a piece of modern sculpture by Sir Antony Gormley called 'Another Place'. It consists of 100 cast iron sculptures of the artist's own body standing and facing the sea.

The beach fairly deserted of people, I found the iron men standing there evoked a sense of peace and serenity. When I did some research on the piece after getting home, I read that each sculpture represents “the industrially reproduced body of a middle-aged man trying to remain standing and trying to breathe, facing a horizon busy with ships moving materials and manufactured things around the planet."

This linked in my mind to another of the eight limbs of yoga — Dharana. 

Sutra 3.1 — "Dharana is the binding of the mind to one place, object or idea."

The iron men are trying to do just that. In many ways that’s what we try to do on our yoga path, too. The iron men struck me as a powerful symbol of meditation, a symbol of how they are trying to let go of the busy comings and goings around them and just stand, contemplating and breathing.

Yoga can be defined as the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. Dharana is the key to this process. 

Our hectic, fast-paced lifestyle forces us to develop chattering 'monkey' minds. We seem to have lost the ability to just sit still and be without feeling guilty or bored, or that we should be doing something more interesting. And yet many of us would say that we don't have enough 'me time', that we feel stressed, anxious or worried for too much of our lives.

If we are to become calmer and let go of some of our stresses and worries, we need to try and withdraw from excessive stimuli and allow ourselves to spend a little time doing nothing. 

Maybe we should try and become more like the iron men of Crosby, standing still and trying to breathe despite all the chaos going on around us. The iron men allowed me to bind my mind to a place, object and idea, which is the definition of Dharana.

I think we all need a little more peace and quiet in our lives.

Last week I had a lovely compliment from one of my new students. She said, "I used to dread going to my Pilates class. Now I love it!"

This got me thinking about how people even manage to get to a class in the first place! It can often take a lot of organisation, especially if children have to be dropped off at school or if working patterns have to be fitted around taking an hour out of a busy schedule. It costs money and sometimes it takes courage to come along to a new class by yourself. So why would you put yourself through all that hassle and then have a sense of dread about where you are going and what you are about to do?!

For me, I have to enjoy whatever kind of exercise I am doing and feel that I have really gained from it; otherwise there really is no point. I need to feel better after having attended a class than I did when I walked in. I think that’s really stating the obvious, but having worked in the industry for 16 years it’s amazing how many times I have heard people saying that they “hate” the exercise they are doing, but feel that they just “have to” do it!

It’s at times like this that I turn to yoga philosophy and the word relevant to today’s topic is Sankalpa.

Sankalpa can be translated as being a brief, positive statement which refers to something important — an intention, or even a spiritual resolve.

From time to time I ask my students to think about what has brought them to class in the first place. I then ask them to think about what it is they would like to get out of the class. What their intentions are, in other words. 

An intention could be that I want to achieve better health. Going to a class should help me to achieve this; if it becomes contrary to my intention, then I should question why I’m doing it in the first place. 

Many people come along to a yoga or Pilates class to get help with an injury or to bring balance to the other types of exercise they do. Perhaps also to relieve stress or gain flexibility. Some people come along because they want to become part of a little community, to meet new people and to gain a new experience. To take some time out to do something for themselves for a change. 

I get so much happiness and job satisfaction when I help my yoga and Pilates students to achieve some of their goals. The very worst thing that one of my students could ever say to me is that they dread coming along!

The next time you set out to do some exercise, then, why not take a few minutes to decide a Sankalpa before you make a choice about what to do. Be flexible — what you want to do could change from day to day. Think about where you want your life to go and make the exercise you do fit in with your intention.

A very good friend of mine recently took me along with her to a Beauty Fair in London. My curiosity got the better of me; I was interested to know what the latest trends in make-up and beauty were going to be.

Well, I certainly got to find out! I have never seen so many products to enhance how we look on the outside. So much stuff that I didn’t even know I needed!

I am not condemning the beauty industry in any way. I love to have a facial and to get my nails done, and I put make up on in the mornings to make me look less scary when I face my clients! It makes me feel more confident and relaxed to know that I have made an effort with my appearance. I’ve even been known to excuse the time and expense I spend by calling it essential maintenance!

But the main question on my mind was whether I make as much effort with the way I look after myself on the inside.

The second limb of the Eight Limbs of Yoga is to do with Personal Observances, or the “Niyamas”. The niyama I am considering in this week’s blog entry is Saucha, otherwise known as purity. Specifically, purifying the body.

Yoga challenges us to think about the choices we make regarding what we eat and to consider if what we’re eating and drinking is actually making us ill. 

I try never to be prescriptive when people ask me about food and diet; my response is usually that it’s good to keep everything in balance. I appreciate that fresh organic fruit and vegetables are very expensive. Then again, so is the foundation I buy to put on my face and I consider that to be a necessity!

I have referred in an earlier blog post to a book I have found to be interesting and informative:

The Eight Limbs of Yoga – Pathway to Liberation, by Bhava Ram

Reading this book has really challenged my thinking and my perspective. There are some tips in the book about diet which I love and thought would be good to share with you. Here goes:

• Eat organic as much as possible
• Buy locally grown food as much as possible
• Eat real food, not things from boxes and packages
• If and when you do buy packaged items, don’t buy things with more than five ingredients or ingredients you cannot pronounce (my favourite tip!)
• Don’t buy products with artificial colourings, preservatives or sweeteners
• Focus on plants, grains, nuts and seeds, not pastas, breads, cakes and other such ‘fillers’

What do you think? I don’t believe there is anything on that list that seems out of reach, or at least that we can’t aspire to!

We can buy creams and have procedures to try and turn the clock back, but that’s just dealing with what is on the outside. It’s superficial. We can make a real difference by adopting some simple dietary changes and feeling better on the inside.

“See taking charge of your diet as a centrepiece of your spiritual practice and personal transformation” — Bhava Ram

What do you think? Are you taking any steps in your life to change what's on the inside? If so, how are they making you feel? I'd love to hear your thoughts on Saucha.

I get asked this question all the time, especially when people are looking to decide whether to try a yoga or a Pilates class.

So I thought it would be worth saying a few words about it in my blog. Obviously, these are my personal opinions and I would be very happy to be challenged or enter into further discussion about it!

Pilates is named after Joseph Pilates, who put together the original 34 Pilates movements in the 1920s. He devised exercises for specific equipment and also exercises for mat work. I teach mat work Pilates, which provides a thorough programme of exercises that can be performed anywhere.

Many people become interested in Pilates because of its emphasis on core stability and on creating a longer and leaner body with improved flexibility.  

Others have been recommended to practice Pilates by physiotherapists or osteopaths, or sometimes even by medical practitioners, particularly if they have injured their backs. Pilates is a functional form of exercise appropriate to the needs of everyday living. It develops the areas that need attention and builds strength. Building strength in the abdomen is vital to most daily activities, as it is this area which provides core stability. This is the essence of Pilates.

Pilates involves no philosophy and although there is some time spent focussing on breathing, relaxing and taking time for yourself, it has no spiritual aspects. Many people are drawn to Pilates for this very reason.

Yoga is so much more difficult to summarise. It is a practise which takes a more holistic approach — a union of the mind, the body and the breath. It is a way of keeping good health and happiness in this busy, always-on world of ours. There is a physical practise, which combines breath and movement to build strength and flexibility, but there is also an equal emphasis on relaxation to slow down, relax and unwind.

The roots of yoga can be traced back roughly 5,000 years. Originally, it was passed on verbally through gurus and disciples working closely together to preserve the teachings they had received. Yoga is not a religion or a renunciation. You do not have to become a vegetarian, give up alcohol or stop smoking. It does offer positive encouragement to maintain good health and peace of mind, however. Yoga is more than a functional form of exercise; it combines relaxation, breathing and energy components, and helps to bring more awareness of the self — physically, mentally and spiritually.

I enjoy teaching yoga and Pilates in equal measure. I love the functionality of Pilates and the spirituality of yoga. The two combined provide me with all I need from a physical standpoint and a practise which challenges me mentally.

What do you think about my explanation? Do you agree? Drop me a comment below — I’d love to know your thoughts.