Michael Miller Pilates

Today's Workshop 4

Ekim (that’s Yoda, before somebody starts suing me for using a protected name) paces calmly before the group, having reached a conclusion. You can see him listening to himself, deciding where to go next in the discussion. Finally, he looks up, with a path in mind and continues. EKIM When you stand here in my place, presenting this information, it will help you to realize you are answering three questions: why, what, and so what. Why we do pilates, what pilates is, and “so what?” to what pilates is. Standing, arms open palms up, Ekim hooks one thumb like he is hitch hiking over his shoulder. EKIM (CONT’D) We just covered why we do pilates. And believe me, when you go to explain the idea of pilates it really helps to explain why first. Establish the target and then explain how to hit it. The target is the complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit. That’s Joe’s definition. The target is a state of being in the body in the moment of the doing. We want uniform usage to get uniform development to survive in a uniform gravity jungle. That state of being in the moment of the doing I call fluorescence. Fluorescence refers to uniform usage. Fluorescence also refers to the complete coordination of body mind and spirit. So, we do pilates because of gravity to get to fluorescence. HONEY I don’t get it. What do flowers have to do with it? EKIM FLORescence has to do with flourishing, but FLUORescence has to do with luminescence, with light, like the fluorescent lights in the ceiling above your head. Honey looks up, mouth slightly open, to find the dual banks of fluorescence light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. The light in the long tubes goes off in her head. HONEY Oh, those kind of lights! I get it. EKIM Do you? How are those kinds of lights like the state of being in the body in the moment that we want when we do pilates? HONEY Because they’re all lit up. The whole thing, evenly, turned on, like what we want the body to be. Honey warms to this description, and Ekim responds with a humorous smirk. EKIM Uniformly right? HONEY Un-huh. Glowing. She draws each set of fingers together, holding them in the air, closes her eyes and assumes the posture of blissful meditation. Ekim waits for her to make her point. When her eyes open, along with her mind, she returns her arms to rest in her lap waiting for what’s next. EKIM (to everyone) The target is fluorescence. The reason why is gravity. The question is: how do we get there? MARGARET By doing pilates. EKIM Yes, exactly. Margaret seems pleased with herself. EKIM (CONT’D) What is pilates? RICHARD Movement. EKIM Yes. HONEY Controlled movement. SALLY The complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit. EKIM Yes, that’s Joe’s definition. What we are working on now is the definition of the idea of pilates. The idea of pilates is supported by only three things straight from Joe, like a three legged chair. The definition is one leg. The promise is the other leg. What is the promise? MARGARET Uniform development. EKIM Good. And to get uniform development requires uniform usage. So the question is, how do we get uniform usage? How do we get the complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit? MARGARET By doing the exercises. EKIM Yes. Is that all? MARGARET By doing the exercises with control. Concentrating when you do them. EKIM What else is there about the exercises. MARGARET The principals: control, concentration, coming from your center, precision, flowing movement and breath. These are the principals of pilates. EKIM Yes, they are. Where does this list of principals you mention come from? MARGARET From Joe. EKIM Not really. That list of principals was popularized in the book written long after Joe died by two fellows named Philip Freidman and Gail Eisen, The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning. In the absence of any better definition of pilates, the pilates community has latched onto principals as a way of defining the method. Since then, anybody who writes a book feels free to use a hodgepodge of principals, some of the old ones, some new ones that are important to them, and they are off and running, having made pilates whatever they want based upon a group of arbitrary principles important to them. Ekim wobbles his head and rolls his eyes. EKIM (CONT’D) Whenever you open a book about pilates that list principals you have a sense of the depth of the author’s understanding of the work by the order they list their principals. MARGARET Wait a minute. They are just listing them without a specific order. Each principal applies overall. EKIM Maybe so, but it’s pretty easy to establish an order for at least the first two. What did Joe call his method? HONEY Contrology! EKIM Yep. And in Joe’s book, what “principal” did Joe say was more important than any other? Silence. Everybody thinking but no quick assured answer. JEN Concentration. EKIM (smiling) Yes! Good. Joe says that when doing his exercises concentration on the exercise is more important than anything else. So, contrology is the name Joe gave his method. If you’re going to talk principles no other principle can be more defining than control. And in his own writing he states that concentration is more important than anything else. EKIM (CONT’D) Pilates is more than a collection of principles, even if you list them in a particular order. When you get right down to it, what is pilates? RICHARD The exercises. EKIM Yes, and like principles, are the exercises random or ordered? RICHARD Ordered. EKIM Yes, in a sequence. The order matters. In all of Joe’s documentation of his method, in his words, his photos, his film, you see the same order of the same exercises. Order matters. The sequence matters. Joe spent his lifetime, his passion, developing the exercises and the order they are in. To dismiss the sequence, to change the sequence for any reason, is to fundamentally change the essence of pilates. The sequence is the third thing the idea of pilates is based upon. When you talk about pilates, you are talking about a sequence of exercises done on the mat. The mat is the method. And the way we get to the target, the way we get to the promise of uniform development is through the performance of the mat.

Today's Workshop 3

BETTE ANN
Teaching men scares me. I have a guy who is 6 foot 5. I never know what he’s feeling. On the chair I’m asking him if the spring tension feels right because I don’t know and I’m not sure he does either.
SALLY
Guys think pilates is being put into super gymnastic positions that are impossible to do and they don’t like that.
While listening Yoda returns to where he had been speaking. You can see him processing his answer. Everybody waits. These challenges seem to be common to everyone, and they’ve been talked about among themselves. This is why the workshop had been organized in the first place.
YODA
(to Bette Ann)
To teach pilates you have to know what your target is. We know Joe’s definition: the complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit. In the very next paragraph Joe makes a promise. He says, “Doing Contrology produces a uniformly developed body...” Why do we want a uniformly developed body?
BETTE ANN
To avoid pain.
YODA
Exactly. And what causes pain?
Yoda goes back to his bag and pulls out a small ball. It’s painted to resemble the planet Earth. Back in front of the group he holds it out between his fingers so all and see and looks at Bette Ann.
YODA (CONT’D)
What happens if I drop this?
BETTE ANN
It will bounce.
YODA
Before that?
BETTE ANN
It will fall.
YODA
Are you sure?
Bette Ann gets a confused look on her face, wondering if magic is in store, but says with some degree on confidence...
BETTE ANN
Yes.
Yoda lets go and indeed it falls. He catches it after it bounces.
YODA
Okay, you were right that time.
Yoda goes over and stands up on a Cadillac, holding the ball high over his head and out over the edge.
YODA (CONT’D)
What happens if I let it go up here?
BETTE ANN
It will fall.
Yoda lets go. It falls. He retrieves the ball.
YODA
Maybe you were lucky twice in a row.
He goes over to the opposite side of the room. Holds the ball 6 inches off the floor. Looks up at Bette Ann.
YODA (CONT’D)
What about here?
BETTE ANN
It will fall.
Honey looks amused and sees the whole exercise as silly.
YODA
(returns to his normal position before the group)
Why does the ball fall?
Many answer at once.
BETTE ANN
Gravity.
YODA
Exactly! Why does it fall in all three places?
BETTE ANN
Because gravity is everywhere.
YODA
Right again. And another way of saying that is that gravity is a UNIFORM medium. Gravity works the same everywhere. No matter how far away you go, no matter how small you look, gravity is the same.
YODA (CONT’D)
There’s that word again, uniform. The promise of Joe is a uniformly developed body. You said we want a uniformly developed body to stay out of pain. If we live in a uniform gravity field why do we need a uniformly developed body to stay out of pain?
Everyone’s attention seems to be more than willing to let Yoda continue. Yoda smiles and holds his right palm open facing a wall in front of his body. Then he weaves his hand to and fro as his arm extends away from his body.
YODA (CONT’D)
What is a fish primarily made of?
MARGARET
Water.
YODA
And what does a fish swim in?
MARGARET
Water.
YODA
What are we primarily made of?
BETTE ANN
Water.
YODA
And we swim through air. What’s the difference?
MARGARET
We are heavier than a fish in water because a fish has the same density as the medium through which it moves. We are denser than air so we are heavier as we move.
YODA
Well spoken. This is why we do pilates. Why pilates? Because of gravity. Gravity forces the issue of alignment. If we are not aligned we experience stress. Stress left unchecked leads to pain. And that’s what (primarily) brings people in the door. They are in pain and they want out.
BETTE ANN
What’s that got to do with my guy who is six five?
YODA
(smiling)
When you do pilates it really helps if you know your target. It helps even more if you know why it is your target. And ultimately, it reveals how to get to your target.
Back to the bag and Yoda retrieves a large rubber band, maybe 8 inches in length.
YODA (CONT’D)
The greatest thing about pilates, the redeeming thing about pilates, especially for a guy like me who thinks so much, is that it is “sensational”. You can feel it. But something is required to feel it.
He holds out the rubber band suspended from one finger. From there he lifts and lowers his finger like he is trying to stretch the rubber band but the slack rubber band just follows along, not stretched.
YODA (CONT’D)
To get out of pain swimming in gravity requires alignment. Gravity forces the issue of alignment. This is the first sentence of the mantra that explains why we do pilates and what the target of pilates is.
YODA (CONT’D)
Alignment requires tension. And to make tension requires...
He places the index finger of his opposite hand at the bottom of the rubber band loop and pulls the rubber band apart.
YODA (CONT’D)
...two end points. Gravity forces the issue of alignment. Alignment is sensational via two endpoints. Gravity beats us down.
Yoda hunches over his shoulders, arches his neck, as he lets the rubber band go slack.
YODA (CONT’D)
Creating tension makes alignment sensational.
As Yoda stretches the rubber band he pulls his shoulders back, lengthens his neck. Everyone’s listening, some sitting straighter to bring the words they are hearing into a feeling in their bodies.
Yoda goes back to his toy bag and returns with a child’s top in his hand. Sitting, he places the top on the floor, with only his finger holding to top upright. He lets go, the top falls over. He repeats, the top falls over. With apparent frustration he does it again, trying to balance the top on its point, and again the top falls over.
YODA (CONT’D)
I can’t get this to stay up. What am I doing wrong?
Honey giggles and motions with her wrist.
HONEY
You have to spin it!
YODA
Oh! Like this?
Yoda spins the top and it stay up right. Everyone observes the top, amused at the notion of not knowing how.
YODA (CONT’D)
Rotation stabilizes movement. It’s a law of physics. Any body that rotates around an axis has an inherent degree of stability around that axis. It’s called angular momentum, but it doesn’t matter much what it’s called, what matters is that it works. Rotation not only stabilizes movement, it creates the point around which the movement is stabilized.
Picking up the rubber band and stretching it between two fingers.
YODA (CONT’D)
To create tension requires two end points. The end points we create in our body are done so by creating rotation at different axes in our bodies.
Yoda put down the rubber band, stands and faces sideways to the group.
YODA (CONT’D)
I stand before you because I am the laziest guy you will ever meet. When I first started pilates 27 years ago what was the first thing they taught me?
His arm reaches out and with fingers pointed moves in towards his stomach. His stomach pulls in.
YODA (CONT’D)
Pull your stomach in!
Laughter.
YODA (CONT’D)
Once I could pull my stomach in then they wanted me...
His hand changes position to his side where he points in towards the side of his bottom.
YODA (CONT’D)
...use your gluts! And when I could pull my stomach in and use my gluts...
Yoda bends over separates his knees to make a space between his thighs and with each hand taps his inner thighs.
YODA (CONT’D)
...use your inner thighs!
Standing erect he repeats the three gestures.
YODA (CONT’D)
Stomach! Buttocks! Inner thighs!
Stomach! Buttocks! Inner thighs!
Everyone laughs in acknowledgement of having been there and done that.
YODA (CONT’D)
Now, being such a lazy guy, if I could replace 3 things with one thing I wouldn’t have to think as much. And if I could replace all three with one image I could just embrace the image and not have to think at all. This was why I originally came up with the image of a nautilus shell. The image of rotating at the hips replaced three things I had to think about. Besides, I hate it when anyone points at me, especially when it results in being poked. Rotation at the hips takes care of the main muscle groups we want to use in pilates without having to think about them all. Being lazy this proved to work much better. Being a teacher, this worked a lot better.
Yoda’s rotating back and forth at the hips made him look like a Elvis impersonator and Honey squirmed.
YODA (CONT’D)
(looking to Bette Ann)
We’re in a culture where free movement of our hips is frowned upon so just getting the hips to move, especially for a guy, is as much a matter of inhibition as it is ability.
BETTE ANN
(nodding)
Really.
With hands on hips Yoda continues.
YODA
We had the audacity to evolve beyond just the one axis of rotation at the hips. We grew a spine.
Hands drew up his sides, then arms reached out horizontally at the shoulder.
YODA (CONT’D)
And developed the ability to rotate at the shoulders.
Arms in unison rotated inwards and then outwards repeatedly.
YODA (CONT’D)
And then, we went even further.
Cupping his head between his open palms.
YODA (CONT’D)
We grew more spine and developed the ability to rotate at the ears. I know, I know, technically the rotation occurs at the atlas, but when I’m teaching all I care about is the client’s control. Not their expert understanding of anatomy.
Letting go of his head he lifted one leg off the floor and flexed and extended at the knee.
YODA (CONT’D)
We have the ability to rotate at the knee.
Leg held straight, still in the air, Yoda flexed and pointed his foot.
YODA (CONT’D)
We have the ability to rotate at the ankle.
Leg and foot held straight, Yoda points and flexes his toes while hold the foot straight.
YODA (CONT’D)
And we have the ability to point and flex at the metatarsal heads. You could say the ball of the foot, which everyone understands in English, but when you travel around the world nobody uses that phrase, so referring to the metatarsal heads is universally understood.
Standing back on both feet, facing the group.
YODA (CONT’D)
It is through these rotation points in our body that we create tension. The tension created between these end points makes alignment perceptible. Making alignment perceptible not only lets us mitigate the weight of our body in gravity by standing up straight. It allows up to achieve the target of pilates, uniform usage.
Back to the bag to retrieve a copy of Joe’s book: Return to Life through Contrology. Opening the book and finding the page searched for, Yoda holds it open and goes over to Honey, pointing to a place on a page.
YODA (CONT’D)
What does it say here?
HONEY
“Contrology is the complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit.”
She smiles, pleased to be the messenger of the definition.
YODA
Then what is the beginning of the very next paragraph?
Honey formulates the words.
HONEY
“Doing Contrology produces a uniformly developed body...”
Yoda smiles, closes the book, and addresses the group.
YODA
This is the promise. Joseph promises if you do his method you will end up with a uniformly developed body. Why is this such a big promise? Why does this promise matter so much?
BETTE ANN
Because when you are uniformly developed you escape pain.
YODA
Exactly! Pilates is survival training in a gravity jungle.
That sends everyone to writing, so Yoda pauses to let everyone capture the image in words.
YODA (CONT’D)
Now here is where you get to decide if you agree with me. I profess that to get uniform development requires uniform usage.
Yoda pauses to let everyone thing about the assumption and decide if they agree or not.
YODA (CONT’D)
Pilates is a whole body exercise right? You don’t get there by pieces and parts.
Yoda exchanges a look with Richard.
YODA (CONT’D)
Upper body on Mondays and Wednesdays, lower body on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Richard’s background in weight lifting nods agreement that in weight lifting that is often the approach. But not in pilates.
YODA (CONT’D)
To get uniform development requires uniform usage. Uniform usage is the target to fulfill the promise of uniform development. So the “why” of pilates is because of gravity. We do pilates to get uniform development so we can swim like a fish, pain free, in a uniform gravity field.

Today's Workshop 2

YODA (CONT’D)
Geist means ghost, as in poltergeist. I’m old enough to have been around when the Catholic church changed its use of ghost to spirit. And in a good German dictionary geist means, “in one’s mind’s eye.”
As Yoda said this, his hands reached up behind his head with fingers pointing out and made a jagged lightening strike motion forward into his peripheral view. This was the international hand sign for spirit. Energy coming into view.
YODA (CONT’D)
Now I can tell you simply understood, geist is the listener, the observer in each of us. We have our body. We have our minds. And we have our listener, our observer. If pilates is the complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit, we must acknowledge the spirit in us and know how to include it in our performance. Without the presence of listening it’s not pilates. And that’s why men don’t do pilates--they don’t like to listen.
Smiles break out among the group in acknowledgement of the truth in his words.
HONEY
(laughing)
Boy, you can say that again! Guys don’t listen at all.
YODA
That’s because a guy lives in his mind, his thinking, and from his thinking he goes out to conquer the world. I call that “mind to muscle” because he goes directly from his mind to his movement.
Yoda walks over to a canvas athletic bag nearby and from it pulls a length of rope.
YODA (CONT’D)
Stand up.
Handing her one end of the rope he backs away holding the other end and with the help of Honey gets the rope going around like a jump rope.
YODA (CONT’D)
(looking at the group)
Now, here is where, if you’ve done this enough you can feel the energy in the room get more tense. Why is that? Because everyone gets worried that they are going to be asked to jump, and jumping rope is something you can screw up. So relax. I’m not asking anyone to jump.
Faces release tension. Shoulders relax. Tension gives way to curiosity. All eyes are on the rope. Honey seems pleased and proud that she is helping with the demonstration.
YODA (CONT’D)
The movement of the rope reflects the passage of time. The rope doesn’t appear and then disappear. It stays in motion smoothly, just like time. The passage of time is a continuum. We are all caught in the time continuum. As a matter of fact physics doesn’t even separate the notions of time and space anymore. They call it spacetime. The two, space and time, are inextrinsically woven together.
The rope continues to circle.
YODA (CONT’D)
If you are going to jump rope, why the worry?
YODA (CONT’D)
(pause)
Because you can screw it up. It’s a timing thing. Right? So jumping rope requires proper timing. So what about the timing of the rope is similar to the timing in our own bodies?
MARGARET
Our heartbeat.
YODA
Yes, what else?
JEN
Our breathing.
YODA
Yes, and we have much more control over our breathing than we do our heartbeat. And just like jumping rope where we must pay attention to the timing, in our movement we must pay attention to our breathing, where we are in the cycle of our breath to when we move. Especially, when we go to initiate movement. This calls for listening. This calls for observing.  Because when we move relative to when we breath affects the quality of our breathing.
The point seemed to have been made. Yoda stopped swinging the rope, approached Honey to relieve her of her end. Smiled at her. And gestured for her to return to her seat.
YODA (CONT’D)
(to Honey)
Thank you. Have  seat.
The man in the audience had a look on concentration on his face. Reaching a conclusion he spoke.
RICHARD
My breathing doesn’t affect my movement. I have the same strength throughout the cycle of my breath.
This was said more as an assessment of his own experience more than as a direct challenge.
YODA
I often remind teachers that a question is a statement. A good teacher interprets the statement in the question and responds to it rather than directly answering the question. In your case, you have made a statement that seems to be more of a question. In either case, you can answer with words that speak to the mind, or you can respond by offering sensation that communicates directly with the body.
Yoda walks over to the closest two reformers that are aligned parallel to each other. He bends over and takes all the springs off of one reformer, and then does the same to the other. He positions himself between the reformers, kneeling down, facing the foot bars, so that one hand is on each of the free to slide reformers. Looking at Richard, and nodding at the space between the two reformers...
YODA (CONT’D)
Come. Stand there.
Richard gets up a little stiffly. In his walk stretches a little to get his body moving as he assumes the position suggested.
YODA (CONT’D)
Now face one reformer. Put one hand on the end of the frame and one hand on the end of the carriage. Good. Now do the same with your feet on the reformer behind you.
Richard looked like the name of the exercise. The spider. His shoulders were massive, the tank top revealing his passions of weight lifting and mountain climbing. His thin waist and black pants gave him the appearance of a gymnast doing a pushup with arms and legs apart.
Yoda’s hands were holding the carriages firmly in place in against the stops.
YODA (CONT’D)
Now be careful. Don’t go too fast. Go out and in with the carriages.
Yoda moved has hands back away from the carriages but kept them ready to stop them from going out too far.
Richard immediately opened the carriages, arms and legs separating. He opened so quickly that he had no time to adjust for how quickly his body weight increased. His elbow and knee on the reformer buckled to support his weight and it would have gotten worse if not for Yoda stopping the carriages from going out further. With a push back in a few inches Richard, a bit embarrassed, but now determined to control the movement came back into position and closed both carriages. Yoga returned his hands to act as safeties while Richard explored the going out and in moving the carriages in sync.
Astonishment pervaded. All eyes were on the movement, because even though many were experienced pilates instructors none had ever seen reformers being used in tandem.
YODA (CONT’D)
Okay, Richard. You said your breathing doesn’t affect your movement. Exhale as you go out.
He does, like a balloon emptying itself, comes to a place where he struggles to return the carriages.
YODA (CONT’D)
Good. Now go out on the inhale.
The lungs fill up, the carriages go out, further this time, and the return is obviously stronger and more controlled. He continues inhaling to go out and exhaling to return. Each time he goes further, testing his strength, knowing that there’s a limit to how far he can go and still control it.  All the while Yoda’s hand have stayed close to the carriages if support is needed but now Richard seems to have a sense of the effort and stays within his abilities. His exhales are loud, throat constricted, lips pursed. You could just see the same kind of breathing happening when he was lifting weights.
YODA (CONT’D)
Doing great. Now don’t hear your breathing. Do “Ninja” breathing. Soft mouth, loose lips, relax your throat.
Each rep got quieter, smoother, and suddenly it seemed that there wasn’t any movement happening, only the breathing making the carriages go out and in. Fatigue set in and you could see the effort was taking its toll.
YODA (CONT’D)
Very good. Step down, stand tall.
He did. Flush in face, not only from the effort, but from sensing the contradiction of his earlier statement to the experience he just had. He looked down at Yoda and smiled. Yoda smiled back and nodded his head at the reformer that was behind him.
YODA (CONT’D)
Turn around. Same thing. Anchored from the other side.
Richard, now familiar with the movement, confidently performed the exercise, first in a smaller range, and then as he listened to his movement expanded his range to be fully engaged and once again, breathing became the effort.
YODA (CONT’D)
Enough. Stand tall. Have a seat.
RICHARD
Amazing. Thank you.
With a stride that spoke confidence and accomplishment Richard returned to where he had been seated but remained standing. Blood was pumping, and he was too in his body to sit and remained standing, chest expanding to take in more air.
YODA
(to the group)
You see? Talk is cheap. Sensation is everything. When your client can say “I feel that.” You are in the pike five by five. When your client asks you a question, even if it’s an easy answer with words, a sensational instructor will answer with a sensation so the answer is felt, and not just heard. So you communicate directly to the body, and not just to the thinking of the mind.
Heads nodded. Appreciation of the point apparent.
YODA (CONT’D)
Listening is the key. If you want to achieve complete coordination of the body, mind, and spirit, you have to have spirit involved. Spirit is the listener, the observer. And whether you are dealing with a very frail first time client doing knee folds on the Cadillac, or with some body like Richard’s doing the Spider, you’ve got to call upon them to listen to their sensation and take more control of their movement based upon what they sense.

Today's Workshop

THE CLUB - AFTERNOON
A figure enters a busy room dressed in a long brown hooded robe. You can’t see their face, arms are folded within the sleeves. The movement is more like a float than a walk, as though on ice skates within the flow of the robes.
As the figure takes the stage at the head of the room the bustle of conversations comes to a quiet. Slowly, without another movement, and face still undisclosed one arm reaches out and a hand points out and into some imaginary place. The arm and hand makes a slight circle to again point to the same place.
Those in attendance are puzzled, trying to see what is being pointed to. They look at one another, they look at the figure. Uneasy laughter breaks out.
Finally, Honey, the new, young, impetuous instructor speaks above the crowd.
HONEY
What? What are you pointing to?
The figure refolds its arms, and waits.
HONEY (CONT’D)
(open palms)
You look like Yoda. What are you pointing to, Yoda?
The figure points again, and in doing so, a male voice comes out from within the darkness of the hood.
YODA
The cave.
Another circle into a point.
YODA (CONT’D)
I am pointing to the cave.
HONEY
What cave?
YODA
The cave of sensation.
HONEY
Huh?
YODA
When you teach pilates you take people into the cave of their sensation.
Honey’s arms come to her side. Curious but confused.
HONEY
The cave of their sensations?
Yoda reaches up with both hands and gracefully lifts the hood of his robe up off of his head, letting it fall on his shoulders. He is tall, elegant posture, with a soft knowing smile on his lips and in his eyes.
YODA
(looking at each of the people in turn, as though looking for something within each of them)
When you listen to what you sense, you are in the cave of your sensation.  As a teacher of pilates your job is to escort your client into the cave of their sensation and wait for them to come out.
Honey looks over the crowd of confused faces, then back to Yoda.
HONEY
I thought I was here to learn how to teach pilates to men.
Heads nod up and down. Seeing agreement among her ranks she looks back to Yoda.
With a flourish, Yoda removes his robe and tosses it aside, revealing himself in black tights, a black short sleeved shirt made of some kind of work out material with a small insignia at the center just below the neck line.
He takes a few steps back and forth before his audience with an affect air. Deliberate. His face changes to focus, thinking, eyes intense, darting from here to there.
YODA
I suppose that’s why I’m here. I am a man. I teach pilates. You are all women. Well, most of you are women.
Yoda smiles at the one male in the otherwise female audience.
The male smiles back shy, but not uncomfortable.
YODA (CONT’D)
Why are you interested in teaching men pilates?
HONEY
Because all we get are women, and men don’t seem to get it.
Frustration in her voice. More nods of agreement.
YODA
Get what?
HONEY
That pilates is good for you. It makes you more flexible. You stand taller. Get stronger.
YODA
(smiles)
These are results of doing pilates. What is "it" that gives you these results?
HONEY
(pausing to think)
The method! Doing pilates gives you all these things and more.
YODA
The question remains. What is the it that gives you the results?
From the other side of the room. A more mature woman speaks up. Arms folded. Serious face.
MARGARET
Exercises. Pilates are exercises.
YODA
Exercises only?
MARGARET
A way of doing exercises. Bio-mechanically sound.
YODA
Big word. Can you simplify that for me? If we’re going to learn to teach men, we have to keep it simple, don’t we?
A chuckle undertones among the listeners.
MARGARET
(with a flat palm cutting through space before her)
Exercises done with precision. Scientific principals.
YODA
(nodding, listening)
Well, that should appeal to men.
HONEY
But they don’t care! They just want big muscles and mindless effort?
YODA
Is there something wrong with mindless effort?
HONEY
(exasperation)
Of course! You must be mindful when doing the exercises or you miss the point!
YODA
And what point would that be?
HONEY
That you have to use your mind when you do the exercises.
MARGARET
You have to know what you are doing. Pilates is mind body exercise.
YODA
I see. Is that your definition?
MARGARET
No, everybody knows pilates is mind body exercise.
YODA
Defined by whom?
HONEY
By Joe! Joseph Pilates. It’s his method.
YODA
(smiling at a good response, an obvious opening to further the discussion)
Okay. What is Joe’s definition of his method?
HONEY
Pilates is control of mind and body.
YODA
I believe that if you want to really understand what makes pilates pilates you will have to be more precise than that.
From the back of the room. A loner in the crowd.
JEN
Contrology is the complete coordination of body, mind and spirit.
Others cast looks of disapproval, indignation.
YODA
Perfect. Where did you get that from? And why do you use the word contrology?
JEN
It’s what Joe called his method. In his book, Return to Life through Contrology, he defines contrology as the complete coordination of body, mind and spirit.
YODA
(nodding approval)
Yes, he does. So it’s easy to see where you get the body and mind from. What about spirit?
HONEY
I stay away from spirit. Everybody has already got their own religion, and nobody wants to be preached at.
YODA
How can you leave out a third of Joe’s definition?
MARGARET
There was an old painting on the wall of Joe’s studio. “Es ist der Geist der sichen Korper baut” It is the spirit which makes the body. From Schiller, a German philosopher.
YODA
Very good. And if you look further you would know that this line comes from Schiller’s Tragedies: the Piccolomini And  the Death of Wallenstein. In S. T. Coleridge’s translation of the entire work, he translates the quote in question like this:
YODA (CONT’D)
(pausing for effect)
It is the soul that builds itself a body.
Quiet in the room. Interest. Listening. Waiting for more.
YODA (CONT’D)

Good feedback

Michael,

I have a friend who had sciatica problems and upper neck problems.  He borrowed a friend's video that was done by you, and he said all of his pain went away after 2 weeks of what he said were fairly simple exercises.  However, he no longer has the video so he can't remember what it is called.  I have chronic sciatica. I exercise a lot, but can't ever seem to get rid of the burning sensation and the numbness in my right leg.  I also have a fairly stiff muscle area between my shoulders and lower neck. 

Can you direct me to which video you recommend?

My wife has lower back problems as well (although not sciatica).  can you recommend an exercise video for her too?

thanks

[I recommended this one or this one.]

"You are what you say and your work proves it."

Dear Michael

I ordered your  advanced  reformer DVD. ( with Cameron) I have to tell you it was worth every cent and then some. Your input was breath takingly insightful. I watched it at my studio and then hopped onto one of my reformers and let it play while I worked out and listened to your cues. I have never enjoyed a workout more!!!! The front rowing series was amazing and it opened my eyes and my body to the exercise in a way I had never experienced. Let it Flow !!! I want more!!!

You are what you say and your work proves it.

Reformer Control Push up Front

Take a look here and see if you can pick the better posture.

Standing Eye Test II

Cornu Tension is what gets us there:

http://www.hermit.com/michaelmiller/stack/080415a.htm

Standing Saw Eye Test

Do you want the Saw to be the same sitting or standing?

Why? Based upon what? What would make either variation the same?

http://www.hermit.com/michaelmiller/stack/080416a.htm

Standing Neck Pull Eye Test

Her are six images and a test of what your eye sees:

http://www.hermit.com/michaelmiller/stack/080414a.htm