@praxispilatesnyc is the place to be for a thoughtful and transformative mat practice.
i am forever inspired by and in awe of how dedicated @sarahpopkowski is to her practice and her teaching
here’s our interview (partly)
link in bio to read
manual adjustements are a big part of my teaching because they are also a big part of how and who i learnt from - but i believe there’s a specific way to do it for it to be a learning moment and not just a correction
ultimately my goal is to give your nervous system the opportunity to experience being organized slightly differently. that opens the door to a world of possibility
been very into knotted necklaces lately. i dress pretty simply at the studio : button downs, wide pants, denim, mostly in shades of grey/cream/navy, so i like something heavier, a bit tactile, a bit of color. if i need to demo something i just tuck it into my shirt and with the weight of it, it stays. the beads are cool against my skin, like a small, refreshing secret
my obsession started with this prohibitively expensive necklace : vintage jade in these strange purple/green tones. i learned to hand-knot them while in seoul last october (spent a lot of time on trains) and started sourcing deadstock and vintage beads
still, i kept thinking about this one, checked on it every few months. a few weeks ago i sent a slightly unhinged message with a lowball that should not have worked (and he said yes)
now it’s mine. when i hold it, it looks like grapes at different stages of ripening. it makes me think of my cat, podo (grape in korean)
my favorite image for lower abdominal connection is wide, taut and hollow (…hollow as a feeling, not an aesthetic to chase)
think a softening in of the abdominals to allow for the contraction - like a melting in and wide that helps the deeper layers (especially the transverse) gently tension and narrow, knitting the muscle fibers a little closer together while the surface stays quiet. we’re creating that sense of tautness without gripping
you might also feel a light lift through the pelvic floor that supports that hollowing, like your insides are getting gently held in a hammock
snippets of my conversation with the lovely @nikidesaintamour , posted on @river_wip
this interview is the first of a series of 5 where i get nosy with my favorite teachers (i’m doing it for us, really)
read the full thing in my bio
