Melissa is a delight. I can honestly say that about every single one of our clients, every single one of whom become close and special friends, but the universal nature of the reality does not and should not diminish its import or impact.
Melissa came to us through a donation I made to a local dance company, another client of ours is on the board at the company and when it came time for a fundraiser, I donated a free private and a mat pack. Almost a full year later, along came Melissa and we've been having a blast ever since.
Obviously, she's a dancer, but she's also super smart, hysterically funny, the sweetest and most kind personality, she's tiny and adorable and the most beautiful shade of pale porcelain you've ever seen. Her body is loose but she's submitted to the work and is doing a great job of learning how to hold herself together. She goes to dance classes every week and dances in various shows that come through town but she also works a full time tech job.
In her last show, her right hip spasmed and I asked her to stay after Saturday mat class so that I could work on it. After class, we studied the anatomy book so she could learn about how her hip is put together, I put her on the Ladder Barrel and had her do some Ballet Stretches while we talked about what made her hip seize up.
Have you noticed how, no matter what, clients never have an easy answer as to what happened and why. It's as if they're the target of the greatest injustice in the known world.
You've got to be very politely persistent in getting at the cause and, that night with Melissa on the Ladder Barrel, after many many questions about the dance piece, we determined that the culprit was the choreographer for her then current show who had scripted many many many left legged kicks.
Melissa thought this was irrelevant until I showed her how we must anchor on the opposing side to pay for the kick. Aaaahhhhhhhh - HA!
After a full Ballet Stretch series, I worked manually in her hip to further release it and after about an hour, she felt great and all was well for a while but a few weeks later it was back.
In mat class a couple Thursdays ago, she told me it was hurting again and, as expected, denied that there was any possible reason for the return of the spasm.
Once again, I asked Melissa if she could stay after class so I could work on it.
Once again, we got out the anatomy books.
Once again, we talked about cause and effect.
I got a small barrel for her to draper her leg over, laid her out on her side and began releasing (read: invading) her hip with my forearm and elbow.
We talked about what might be going on in her life that would cause this, she said she wasn't dancing just then but it turns out that meant that she wasn't in a show, she was just attending class but the class she was attending included a "phrase" that involved a lot of kicking with that left leg (what IS IT with these people?) and when we realized we were right back to where we started, I let out a yell, one that's quite well known in my studio.
"HEIDI, GET ME A BEER."
Melissa was in a series of classes with a choreographer who was teaching a "phrase" that involved anchoring on that right side and the spasm, which had diminished to but a ghost, was back in full grip.
I asked if the "phrase" included that the choreographer didn't care about Melissa's body but, no, it didn't. It's not that kind of phrase.
Melissa was quick to point out that the choreographer repeatedly stresses that the dancers must take care of themselves and only do things that feel good in their bodies.
This, in theory, is beautiful but this, in reality, is a cop out. Why?
Because there's no follow through to make sure the dancer actually knows how to offset what happens when practicing the "phrase" or anything else that happens in class. Talk is cheap but teaching well is priceless. In class, Melissa got all talk and no teach.
But, that's what I'm for and in the spirit of Joe, I can honestly say "don't worry, we fix" to anyone and everyone through our door.
While I was working on her hip, I tried to talk Melissa out of dancing and got nowhere.
Heidi has recently begun learning Kung Fu and loves it so we tried to talk Melissa into taking Kung Fu but that didn't work either. BTW: Kung Fu with all its turned in kicks helps dancers strengthen what is often weak and over-stretched. That's why Heidi is taking Kung Fu classes and it's helped her hips tremendously.
Neither ideas appealed to Melissa which was not a surprise since she's gifted and her creative expression in life centers around her ability to move with such grace across a performance floor.
Then, I tried to talk her into establishing and maintaining the idea of her body as a balancing scale, like the legal scales, you know, truth and justice? That our daily work is the truth and the justice is our daily effort to offset the truth. When we put tightness into our bodies through improper, imbalanced movement, every single day we must work to get that tightness out.
Only when the scales of justice for our own bodies are balanced will we be truly healthy and have peace in our bodies.
Melissa wouldn't quit dancing and wouldn't take up Kung Fu but she did buy into the scales of justice idea. Yay!
I feel I took advantage of her a bit, though, because she had been drinking a Corona through a straw and that may have predisposed her to agree to anything!
I assure you, Melissa doesn't normally drink beer from a bottle through a straw but we had a logistical problem with Melissa drinking because she was laying down for me to work on her hip so we, being the problem solvers we are, figured out a way that she could get worked on AND drink all at the same time.
The fact that the solution involved Heidi holding the bottle like a sippie cup and Melissa yearning for the bottle as if it were the last liquid on earth . . . well, what can I say? It seemed like the thing to do at the time! Chelsea always says her co-workers at Google never understand why she stays for hours after her Pilates mat class ends and just hangs out in the studio like it was a bar or something; perhaps they'd understand if they could read this or, more accurately, see the picture below which was taken by our official studio photographer, Jill Killen.
I digress.
When Melissa was in class last night, her hip was completely better but her low back was sore (the hip bone's connected to the back bone! sing it!). Her back felt better after class but I'm still worried about it. She'll be in again on Saturday and hopefully, she can stay after so I can work on it more then.
And on it goes.
Please take note: if touch is not in your scope, take some type of training that will get it in your scope. My Sports Medicine & Human Performance Certification through the University of Washington puts this type of work in my scope. The type of touch you see in this picture is not within a Pilates teacher's professional scope of practice. Please do not attempt to do something like this if you do not have specific training for it!
