By Denise Vidal
Now that you have mobilized your pelvis, let’s try a stability exercise.
Using the breath that we discussed in blog #4, ‘The Infamous Core’, we are going to stabilize the pelvis and isolate our legs from the hip joint. This movement is not only the fundamental movement for most Pilates exercises, it also the basis of sitting, walking, running, and climbing stairs.
Lie on your back with your knees bent. Inhale and visualize the sphere in your abdomen expanding. As you exhale, see the navel, spine and hip bones narrow around the sphere. Inhale again, and as you exhale engage the sphere while slowly lifting your right heel off the floor. Continue to lift the rest of your foot and thigh, while maintaining the pelvis in neutral. Our goal is to keep equal weight on all of the points of the pelvic clock, while ï¬nding smooth movement in the hip socket.
Keep your pelvis stable as you lower your leg. Try the same thing with the left leg. Next, begin to alternate legs as if you were marching, being careful to put one foot down before picking up the other. Continue to coordinate the movement with your breath, inhaling before the movement then exhaling and engaging your abdomen to lift your leg.
Do this 5-10 times and let me know how it goes.
