Twerking!? Tell me more…
Yes, let’s get right into it. Stand with both feet side by side, flat on the floor. Dramatically tilt your pelvis forward and feel your low back (lumbar spine) arch. Then tuck your tail and pull the pelvis back, feeling your lumbar spine flatten. Omit pausing between positions and continuously tilt and tuck. Have some fun with it for a sec and see if you can’t dredge up some buried frustrations to twerk them away. Moving the body in this way helps to establish neutral because as therapeutic as thrashing our sex organ vessel is, the purpose of Pilates is to stabilize it.
I still don’t know what neutral is?
Neutral spine is between those two extremes. Your lumbar spine is naturally curved so you want to keep the curve without over accentuating or flattening it and that is achieved through pelvic stability. In order to maintain a stable pelvis, we have to strengthen the core and most core strengthening exercises are executed lying on your back. So find a clean, comfortable spot or roll out a mat and lie down on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Before we stabilize, let’s find neutral in a lying down position. Tilt the pelvis forward and back and feel the lumbar spine being pulled away from and pushed into the mat.
Now what?
So when you dump the pelvis forward, the corresponding spot in back, (your lumbar spine) over arches and when you tuck the tail, the lumbar spine gets pushed down and flattened. Your neutral spine is somewhere in between. You want to keep the natural curve of your low back without over doing it and disconnecting the ribs and abdominals.
How do I know if my abdominals and ribs are connected?
First, check in with your low back and feel it naturally arch away from the floor. Then place one hand on each side of the rib cage. Inhale and feel both sides of the rib cage expand into your hands. On your exhale, feel both sides of the rib cage pull towards each other and tighten like a corset. As a result, the corresponding spot in your spine, (the mid-back, bra-line or thoracic spine) will press into the floor a bit harder. Maintaining a knit rib cage and neutral pelvis simultaneously requires the abdominals to engage.
Why is this important?
The purpose of the Pilates method is to challenge the abdominals to keep your spine neutral against the weight and movement of your extremities. Finding and maintaining neutral is important because it translates into a naturally aligned posture upright. An aligned posture goes beyond the Mat-it is essential to performing everyday tasks while avoiding injury.