I remember my first lesson with Janice Dulak of Dark Horse Pilates. I was excited to work with Janice as she is a Teacher of Teachers–appointed by Romana Kryzanowska. I had background in Contemporary Pilates and a more recent background in a classical approach to Pilates; when Janice wanted me start on the reformer with footwork, I felt somewhat confident because I knew the choreography of the reformer routine.
Before I could finish the first 10 repetitions of the footwork on the toes Janice stopped me, stating, “Now that was way too fast for me.”
I had worked with many different teachers and I had never been corrected to “slow down”. Janice could see that I was really not engaging my “powerhouse” or my “wrap”.
The words powerhouse and wrap are thrown around in almost every Pilates class and yet, according to Janice’s trained eye, she said she wasn’t seeing the powerhouse or wrap engagement in many Pilates teachers- including me. I understood the term “powerhouse” to mean the center of the body, where energy is generated and transmitted out from the center to the extremities.
It’s the deep core abdominal muscle- the transversus. The transversus muscle supports the internal organs, protects the spine, and helps to lengthen the psoas muscle-correcting posture and alignment of the body.
The powerhouse is dynamic- you don’t just hold it tight and then try to move. You have to use it to protect your spine. As you move the extremities away from the center of the body the powerhouse has to work harder. In that first lesson, Janice made sure I could feel the transversus working, how it separates each vertebra and lengthens the spine. I was reminded of the transversus throughout that first lesson (and the second lesson, and third and the 53rd and still today -although not as frequent)
In my previous classical training, learning anatomy was frowned upon, but this was an explanation that I needed. It made sense because I could feel it and for the first time, I was able to apply it. I felt that I hadn’t been getting the results that this Method had promised, but after my first lesson with Janice, I had a better understanding of how to work on my own. On that first lesson Janice also explained the “wrap” by breaking it down into smaller components in such detail that I finally understood it and more importantly, could apply it (or at least know when I wasn’t applying it)
Throughout that lesson my cues were, “hip extension, outward rotation, adduction”. Janice said Pilates IS the powerhouse and the wrap. Slowing down the lesson forced me to feel what was going on in my body and gave me the time to make the necessary corrections. I had to go slowly to control the movement. Going slow doesn’t make Pilates easy -it’s just easier to catch the mistakes and make the corrections as you go. The goal is not to remain slow but to eventually increase the tempo without losing the quality of the movement. Often, as we get excited and start to pick up the pace we lose our concentration and the movements become sloppy. You have to keep your concentration on the center- the powerhouse and the wrap. All movements must be initiated from the center and flow out into the extremities. You don’t want your concentration to jump to the extremities and leave the center which would shut the flow off. You need to keep the flow by continuing engaging the powerhouse and wrap and generating energy to the extremities.
The engagement is dynamic. In the beginning we tend to jump from the powerhouse to the extremities, leaving gaps. Think of the movement as more of a constant continuous flow from center out. Sometimes in my lesson, I thought Janice must be getting annoyed because she kept repeating the same thing: “powerhouse, wrap, powerhouse wrap, powerhouse, more powerhouse, more wrap”- but she was actually saying it to keep my attention on the powerhouse and wrap. As soon as she stopped saying it, my attention wavered.
I didn’t start to increase the speed until almost a year of working with Janice. The first time I increased the speed in my footwork, I probably did about five repetitions before being told to slow down again and concentrate on the powerhouse and the wrap. Don’t sacrifice the alignment for speed.
When I move slowly, I can let go of excess tension that I sometimes wasn’t even aware I was holding. I’d been automatically tensing muscles without my conscious awareness. While moving slowly, I have the time to notice the excess, unnecessary tension and let go of it without losing the needed engagement of the transversus and wrap. The unnecessary tension is just a habit.
The release of the physical muscle tension also had a strong emotional component to it. For me, that emotional component was fear. The fear of letting go - trusting that everything won’t fall apart. I depend on trusting and knowing that the correct muscle engagement is enough to keep me aligned and protect my back. I’ve learned what muscles I need to engage to support my back (and it wasn’t the ones I had originally been using). I now experience a freedom of movement and lightness. This way of learning Pilates is teaching me a much more efficient way of supporting my back. I am amazed at what my body is capable of.
I feel more competent in doing a basic reformer routine and when Janice challenges me with intermediate or advanced work, she reminds me that it is always something I’ve already learned in the basic. Wow, yes, it is. All the skills we learned in the basics are needed for the advanced. We don’t throw away all the basic skills and then work on the advanced work. It’s a true progression. If I’m having trouble with something that’s considered intermediate or advanced, I find it in the basics and work on it there.
Janice had said that she once called Romana to let her know she had apprentices that were doing the advanced work and Romana then asked, “But can they do the basics?’ She said Romana saw many people doing advanced work at a basic level and what she wanted was to see basic work done at advanced level. When I asked Janice if Romana taught her the same way she teaches us, she said she didn’t explain things the same way-but she understood what Romana was looking for in the work. Janice then realized how she could get the results that Romana was after.
I feel working with Janice has finally given the results that this Method promises. I have a long way to go but after each lesson the path gets clearer.
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