Watch the following Session Video and read the accompanying article below to start honing your ability to pick up postural challenges and dysfunctions in your clients.

Learn how to bring the floor to your client and set them up for movement success. No amount of cueing and explanation will help your client to find their easy, neutral posture; the body has to feel in order to know, and this is why we must prop the body.

Try the techniques you learn on friends and family. Start paying attention to postures, where people are compensating, and how you can help to gently remind the spine of its natural position.

CORE ACTIVATION / THE TRANSVERSE ABDOMINIS

by Jennifer Gianni

The transverse abdominis is a primary focus in Pilates training. It is often called your bikini line abdominal, your horizontal abdominal, your corset muscle, or your seat belt muscle.

One of the previous posts was all about the pelvic floor. The transverse abdominis and the pelvic floor are antagonistic muscles; this means that they counter each other. If one is shortening, the other will be lengthening. Like love, opposites attract. This balance must be constantly refined and worked to instill equal amounts of strength and flexibility between them.

The muscle belly of the TA is at the side of the torso. It blends into the abdominal aponerosis in the front of the torso and it blends into the lumbodorsal fascia in the lower back. It shares the fascia in the lower back with the multifidus, a deep spinal muscle that we talked about in a previous post!

To palpate the TA, find the ASISs (the bony hip points on the front of the pelvis) and move your fingers to the inside of the bone and sink into the tissue. On the exhale you should feel the tissue under your fingers sink away, across, and a little bit up—like a smile across the pelvis (or plastic wrap stretching across the pelvis). Remember to keep the lips soft and the breath tension free. With the core, less is always more.

To challenge your ability to keep stretching and flattening your TA, start to add movement of the arms or legs, but without moving the torso or pelvis. The TA, with the other core players, helps to stabilize the torso and pelvis so that you can move independently from the arms and the legs.

 Make sure to initial and date that you have completed Session 14 in your Master Log.