I took my first Pilates class over ten years ago. It was taught at the Y, and the instructor was an older woman who moved with grace and control. While I admired her movement, I hated the class. I tried it once and never went back. I wasn’t exactly someone who loved slow, deliberate movements.

Most of us can agree that at times during our hectic day, we experience some tension or tightness in our neck and upper shoulders. Although I am always happy to do shoulder rolls and neck stretches, sometimes I just need a little bit more of a stretch.

Try these stretches below to release tension in the neck and upper shoulder blade region.

How is it that I’ve had obliques my entire life but am just now understanding what it feels like for them to activate? Don’t I use them every single day? Don’t they literally function to keep me upright and stable? Thanks to this week, my obliques are now engaged and sore in a way that I never knew was possible.

I consider the five Basic Principles the essence of STOTT PILATES; what distinguishes the STOTT PILATES brand from all other Pilates methods. As a trainee, if you are going to learn one single thing from our training courses, learn the Basic Principles.

I started doing Pilates in 2003 after I had my second child. A few years later I found myself in the middle of a divorce. I no longer could be a stay at home mom and housewife. I wanted a career that could give me more purpose and afford me the opportunity to work and be a stay at home mom at the same time.

My story of a spinal injury and the benefits of rehabilitative Pilates is well known.  My passion for Pilates led me to leave the practice of law and bring STOTT PILATES training to the United States where I opened Equilibrium in 1996 as the first licensed training and certification center in Michigan.

I’m not totally lost when it comes to working out. Yes, some days my idea of a crunch is the one I get from a Lay’s potato chip. But I’m no stranger to fitness- I’ve been doing physical therapy pretty much since birth. Here’s the story: I was born with severely clubbed feet, which led to a whole plethora of orthopedic issues, and here I am, 10 surgeries later with a better walk!! but the osteoporosis and severe arthritis in my feet and ankles that come with the territory of being laid up, and in and out of wheelchairs during my youth.