Angela Smith, owner of Classic Form Pilates (http://classicformpilates.com/) in Vermont writes:
Help Me Sister!
I have a client - a woman in her mid 50s - who has been doing matwork for about 5 months, twice a week. She is not interested in anything but. She has no injuries and has become quite good at the matwork.
Her problem, though, is extreme tightness in the shoulders and upper back, which is common, right?
For example, toward the end of the class, when folded at the waist, I have her sway her arms from side to side, get a little loose (I try to use the imagery of a rag doll), but she keeps her back, shoulders and arms stiff and moves her arms from her shoulders almost in military style. I've given her little shoulder rubs and suggested a massage. I thought that she would "loosen up" a bit the more she did the work, but it's not happening.
I have asked some folks around here, but I have come to really look forward to your answers to questions. You have such a unique perspective and I love the way that you explain things.
Help Me Sister!
The Pilates Nun writes:
First things first, WAS she in the military?
Seriously, finding out what your Sgt. of Arms has been doing with herself will give you insight into how to help her unwind. Carrying kids on your hip, schlepping heavy bags, bracing from stress, sustained positions or pain are all good reasons to lock down your upper body.
On our intake forms, we ask about what clients do with themselves physically - activities, work, dancing, lifting loads, etc - because it really helps us understand their holding patterns. If that's not part of your intake, consider adding it next time you print them up but a word to the wise, be prepared for anything. We've seen everything from "Prostitute" (to which I said "Pilates is really going to help you with your work") to "sit on the couch and read for hours every day" (to which I said "you've got to get the hell off the couch.") Amen.
Your first step is to find out if Sgt. Arms is willing to let you go off road with her, taking her outside the traditional mat class protocol with the goal of getting her some freedom up top. Be sure she understands that release work is slow going and it won't compare in any way to her matwork. If she's game, we're on.
Begin by finding out what Sgt. Arms has been doing with herself; knowing that will help you spot similarities between the way she's practicing her matwork and the causal activity. Making that connection, you'll have a chance to get ahead of her tendency and cue/push/pull/visualize/inspire her to stay clear of the trigger.
In order to plan our approach to free her upper body, we need to employ one of the most basic and wondrous problem solving processes in Pilates; let's call it the "How Do I Fix It" Process.
In its generic form, the "How Do I Fix It" Process governs the way a safe and effective teacher approaches anything that needs to be fixed, helped, improved or changed. And here's what you do: Once you fully understand the problem, determine the goal and then break that goal down to it's most
little / super tiny / teeny / itsy / bitsy / micro / weenie (sing it !)
movement, and you build your plan of action from just shy of there.
Following this process, you will always be safe and almost always effective. And, if you apply the process generically, you'll always be able to puzzle through a problem and overcome it because you're able to bust it down to its most elemental level and rebuild proper movement patterns from there.
Beware! Should you be tempted to start with movements too large and loads too great, you'll almost certainly fail, your client will become frustrated and possibly lose trust in you and the whole groovy thing will take a turn for the worse. If that happens, dear Teacher, it's your fault because you are the Boss of the Session. Always, always, always start at the beginning. That's why it's called the beginning. It comes at the beginning. It's where we start. Now, repeat after me, I Will Always Start At The Beginning. Amen!
When the goal is release, you've got to sneak up on all those jumpy, ropey, hypertonic muscles and get them to do the bare minimum of work. And release is a funny thing because sometimes it comes in floods and sometimes it's like the Chinese Water Torture, a drip, then another, then a million more, and finally something gives and a little bit of free movement happens. Be patient because you'll be asking Sgt. Arms to go in there and figure out what might be the most mysterious puzzler she's ever deciphered.
But we will win in the end and just imagine how great it will be when Sgt. Arms has been sprung from her trap, she lays down her weapons and dances the shimmy. God is Great!
One of the reasons I keep taking all sorts of classes and workshops is so I can use the best possible fix for any problem that comes up during a session. My first best advice for this gal is something I learned in a Feldenkrais workshop a few years ago - it's not Pilates proper but it is just like some seated Pre-Pilates and it's also very similar to some of the Eve Gentry work I've learned from Michele Larsson.
We're going to call this series the "I Dream of Police Woman on Log." Not terribly catchy but certainly descriptive. It will make more sense soon.
The bio-mechanical premise at work in this series is one of use/release/use/release, way smaller than but similar to the PNF stretching a lot of us do.
Do you have a foam roller? If not, get one. Get 10 and use them in class. I digress.
I always begin release work with a reference point so clients have a way to feel their progress. Supine, knees bent, feet flat on the floor. Ask her to run an internal scan of her body, how it feels from top to bottom, how it feels contacting the mat, if she can sense places that feel pulled up, pushed down, lumpy, ask her to note specifically the spaces between her shoulder blades, the back line of her waist, and how much contact she's able to sense. It's much more difficult to assess the front of our bodies while supine, but ask her to assess her chest, how the front knobs of her shoulders feel, her pecs, her ribs. We're setting her awareness of "go" so take a couple of minutes to let her really get in there and feel her body.
Now, have her lay on the foam log, supine and lengthwise, so the back of her head and her sacrum are supported. If she has a lumbar curve at all, a bit of her spine will be lifted off the log and that's just fine. Knees bent, feet hip width apart.
Begin with her arms draped beside her on the mat.
Just lying in this position will open up her chest a bit, with the weight of her arms tugging slightly on her pecs. On the back side of her body and for the same reasons, the reverse is happening; the muscles between her shoulder blades and spine are (should be, hopefully will, eventually might) release around the curve of the log.
Using the weight of her arms, we're going to trigger small and smooth engagements, then releases, in the complex of muscles surrounding her shoulders and throughout her upper body. Do 3 Roll Ups!
Begin with her arms straight up toward the ceiling, shoulder width apart, then bend elbows so that her arms are in the classic "I Dream of Jeannie" position with forearms crossed, hands loosely grasping just below the elbow of the other arm.
Here's a description of the movement patterns; throughout you'll need to cue her out of "up creep" where the shoulders hunch up toward the ears and be sure to rest long enough between patters to release all tension:
1. With arms lifted, elbows bent, try to move from the sternum out, lift elbows toward ceiling, then lower elbows to start position (as her upper body muscles release, her range of motion will increase and the lines she's drawing in the air will get lots bigger).
Watch for smooth movement, the hands should not slide on the forearms, try to keep elbows parallel through the movement as if they're riding railroad tracks.
2. Arms straight up toward ceiling with palms together.
The yoga people call this Prayer Position but I call it Angie Dickinson Position. Remember Police Woman? In the intro to the show, Angie was about to shoot a bad guy and she held her gun straight out from the shoulder with long arms. Lay that image down, supine, and you're spot on.
Different arm position than "Jeannie" but same movement pattern, lifting fingertips toward the ceiling, then controlling the release as the weight of the lengthened arms (more weight than a bent arm - mind the progression) is used to stretch the chest and also to weight the upper back in its release around the arc of the log.
3. Angie Dickinson arms, only this time the person you're aiming at has started to run and you have to trail him with your gun (a violent image, I know, but at least you know exactly what I'm talking about, right?) Palms stay glued.
As the arms draw a perfect arc to and across the ceiling, the shoulder left behind releases even more.
4. Angie Dickinson arms, person running, only this time let the palms slide but make sure the trailing arm remains straight. If the trailing arm bends, the drag creating the stretch is relieved and there goes your stretch.
Disclaimers:
You've said she's uninjured; if she were to have any pain/injury anywhere in her body, this is not appropriate. If she's skinny, or just skinny on her backside, laying on the log for this series may be too much pressure on her sacrum; if so, pad her. Only do what she can do well. Don't let her get frustrated. If you get through one pattern, great. It will still work. A word about time; until you become proficient at teaching this pattern, it may take 15 minutes or longer to get through the whole thing. Don't worry about time. Take all the time you need. The longer the better. Don't rush. Don't watch the clock. Release and rushing are mutually exclusive.
If a hardline Pilatista tries to tell you this is out of scope, say "rubbish." It's the pre-Pilates of pull straps and t-press, swan on the box and many other "authentic" Pilates exercises.
And, if her breasts are medium, large, super large, jumbo, cost $12,000 or could be used as life preservers, they'll (hopefully!) be in the way of her traveling arms and to that I say, there are many inconvenient aspects of life and this is one of them - ignore it and move on.
When done, have Sgt. Arms lay on the mat and re-run that internal scan. She just may weep, and so might you. Behold the miracle of purpose!
Let me know how this works. Once we know we're on the right track, we'll take it to greater loads and then vertical, and by the time we're done, she'll be so loose she'll be belly dancing at a Greek place on Thursday nights! Opa!!!
Get a Therapy Ball for her, we'll need that next. I get mine from Ball Dynamics in Colorado, http://www.balldynamics.com/, their wholesaler agreement is easy to complete and their prices are super low. Therapy Balls are like Yamuna balls only less expensive. Get 10 and use them in class. I digress.
Thanks for a great question, keep 'em coming,
Lovingly scooped and lifted,
The Pilates Nun