Michael Miller Pilates “Mind the Gap!”
What is the gap?
The admonition comes from England, in the subway that they call the Tube. The gap is the distance from the platform to the train. “Mind the Gap!” exhorts all who board the train to pay attention when boarding. Fall in the gap and you more than likely will die. It is a matter of survival to “Mind the Gap!”
In Michael Miller Pilates the gap refers to the gap between the end of exhale and the beginning of the inhale, or the end of the inhale and the beginning of the exhale. It is the time in between breathing. It is a time that you can pay attention to. It is a time that you can observe, a time that you can “listen” to, and in the listening take a higher degree of control in your movement and increase your odds of survival. Minding the gap is a survival skill, one that you can master, and one that is easily apparent when performed.
Who minds the gap?
Survivors
Those who pay attention
Those who listen
The instructor first has to be aware of what the gap is and then be interested in asking for movement that takes place in the gap into account and makes use of it.
The client second, and when the client “Minds the Gap” not only is it obvious, it is an expression of control that goes beyond ignorance of the gap.
Proceed at your own peril!
What happens in the gap?
Movement happens in the gap, or it can, if you know how to do it. This movement facilitates the complete finish of one movement and the beginning of the next.
Two related Reformer exercises in which you can mind the gap and improve the control of your movement are the Coordination and the Backstroke.
The Coordination
As the inhale begins the arms and legs reach out.
When the legs cannot extend any further in one plane, the movement “translates” into a 90 degree plane, the legs opening to the side.
The exhale begins before the legs return to each other and when they can’t melt into one another, the movement again “translates” into the knees bending while the arms continue to reach out.
The arms continue to reach throughout the completion of the exhale. This is the “key phrase” of the exercise that facilitates the essence of an eccentric effort.
It is only after the completion of the exhale, in the gap between the end of the exhale and the beginning of the inhale, that the arms bend at the elbow and prepare for the next rep that is initiated by the inhale to come at the end of the gap.
The Backstroke
The Backstroke traditionally returns arms and legs at the same time, presuming the eccentric effort established in the coordination. Trouble is, most can’t even do the Coordination correctly because they were never taught the correct way.
Elizabeth Voegtli first demonstrated the sense of performing the Backstroke as a reflection of the Coordination.
In the view of MMP, the Backstroke is an evolution of the Coordination, first being further away from the center because you are on the box instead of on the carriage, and second because the in-plane movements of the Coordination progress into rotation in the Backstroke.
In the Backstroke the inhale leads the arms and legs up with no slack and no tension in the springs. The exhale opens the arms and legs out to the side, still with no slack and no springs.
The next inhale leads the arms and legs out away from center into tension that supports the load.
Here, the movement mirrors the Coordination where legs bend at the knee during the exhale while arms continue to reach out. The arms do not bend at the elbow until the end of the exhale. The elbows bend in the gap to be ready for the release of the inhale into the next effort.
Once you can actually embody the key phrase of the exercise, then you can try to bring both the arms and the legs in at the same time.
Summary
When you “Mind the Gap!” you make use of the space between breathing to increase your control.
The Coordination and the Backstroke are exercises where movement happens in the gap to facilitate more control.
In Michael Miller Pilates you learn to “Mind the Gap!”
The MICHAEL MILLER trademark is a symbol of ideal posture and perfect body dynamics rooted in the physics of spiral movement found in galaxies, whirlpools, shells, wind and light. By choosing the attitude of natural and counter-balancing forces in our own body we can we reduce the stress of gravity and move pain free with ease and grace.
La griffe de MICHAEL MILLER c'est le symbole de la posture idéale et d'une parfaite dynamique corporelle qui prend sa source dans un mouvement de spirale présent dans les galaxies, les tourbillons, les coquillages, le vent et la lumière. En choisissant l'attitude des forces naturelles qui s'équilibrent dans notre propre corps, nous pouvons réduire la loi de la gravité et nous mouvoir avec aisance et grâce sans aucun effort.
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