Do Not Let The Chair Slam Into Your Back
By Indrek Kornel
February 13, 2019
Hello,
My name is Indrek. Have we met before? Probably not … but if we have, when would you like to meet again?
This article is a reflection on a process in my life through the sphere of Pilates. It is something personal but also, in a way, something general. A look back to some key thoughts that have accompanied me and helped me move forward.
Where I am as a person is best described with a phrase that I say to my mother every year – “Last year, I had no clue what I was saying, this year I finally know what I am doing”.
Entering the world of movement has given me opportunities to meet many kind and giving people. In this article, I will mention my current Fantastic Four of kind and giving Pilates teachers. With each of them, I associate an experience, question or a phrase that is very meaningful to me. Some of these interactions were very brief, but a crisp, clear “moment of insight” is sometimes all it takes.
Kaisa Marran – “Let the body move”.
 |
Indrek completes his initial Pilates Certification with Kaisa
For me, this is related to finding quality in movement, but also something beyond that. Is the movement done relevant to the structure of the body at hand? What do you have to do, to make a body stuck? My body and mind both remember what it means be stuck. I’ve had firsthand experience in teaching my own body the “functional” form of a chair for several years, so I’m not going to do that again.
The experience and values that I have gained from Kaisa over the course of two years are:
- Letting the body move, accepting the current situation at hand
- Letting the body actively move (!!!) and challenging the person
- Not making me stop and correct every little detail (less is more)
- Teaching me to be more dynamic, not staying in static stuck movement
- Honesty towards myself, my own body
- Noticing if quality in movement was lost and how I have to be responsible for my own body to maintain quality
Pilates progressing me as a person gives me qualities that I want to further share.
Deborah Lessen – “It feels good to breathe”
 |
Indrek with Deb Lessen in Stockholm
From the small amount of experience I have had with Deborah, something else clicked. What does it mean to be, as a whole, while being a teacher? I received comprehension and clarity into being calm – minimizing words and movements – while making people work hard. Always to the point, no extra noise.
“It feels good to breathe” – this phrase is probably relevant to everybody because who would really want to stop breathing? This has probably been the most difficult phrase to comprehend for me since, when I was in my non-functional phase, my posture was kyphotic and my rib cage was not that mobile.
What made me progress out of it was “Let the body move”. My personal and teaching experience before Pilates included many different variations on the phrase “push those ribs in”. If I put clients into positions or cue them in a way that they feel their breath getting stuck, then I am certainly not letting the body move. In fact, I am working against movement and breath.
Do I want to take movement away? How do I move towards getting the whole unstuck?
If I look at movement like a performance or a theatre piece, then what makes me bored is that the dynamics on stage are flat. It means there are no events, no change for hours, maybe even the same tempo – slow motion from start to finish. Esthetically, there is something pleasing, but movement-wise it remains static, there is no change.
Kelly McKinnon – “What do I teach the body in front of me?”
 |
Looks like inspiration to me!! Kelly, Indrek and others.
When I moved and have been give feedback, I tried to integrate that feedback into my daily movement and Pilates practice. All feedback was relevant to my body and challenged me. Movement that I was once not able to do, I can now manage, because I have progressed or advanced In a dynamic way.
What do I teach the body in front of me? – What I often heard before was “Teach the body in front of you”. Thanks to Kelly, I received a phrase that is a bit different – a question, not a directive – that made me think more about what I do as a teacher.
Dynamic movement – if I teach the body to be dynamic and challenge the body in front of me, then I am teaching the body to progress, advance, become something more. It gives perspective …
Static movement – if I teach the body to be static, use flat dynamics, do not challenge the body in front of me, then what am I really teaching? Do I teach the body to progress? Do I advance the body?
Presumptions … Am I deciding to soon what a body cannot do? Do I see perspective in movement? Do I take the possibility of movement away from the body? Do I teach the body to be afraid of movement?
Kati Kornel (Hi Mom) – “How do I receive feedback?”
 |
Indrek’s Mom Kati on the left! At a Deb Lessen workshop in Germany.
It is always interesting to observe how people give and receive feedback. I used to be really bad at receiving feedback. That was especially true at the point in life when I might have been stuck.
What helped me to get unstuck is the communication with my mother. In our communication, there are no barriers and no bad intentions. There have never been thoughts about fighting, dominance or showing who can dish out more anatomical terms to the other. We keep ourselves free from thinking about some hypothetical background story of the person with whom we are in communication.
When we practice, there might come an unexpected fist into the stomach when not pulling abs in and up enough. This is something sweet, fun and we always laugh about it. This is a simple silly example, but relevant in the context of receiving feedback.
Is that fist an attack or a helping hand? If I perceive it as an attack, then it would be an attack.
“How do I receive feedback?” for me is related to being stuck. If I would have not learned how to receive feedback, I doubt I could have become unstuck. Not engaging with the question “What do I teach the body in front of me?”. Not realizing that “It feels good to breathe”. Not understanding what it means to “Let the body move”.
* * * * * * * * *
This is where I am right now. Last year, I was somewhere else. Next year, I will be somewhere further. I do not want to let the chair slam into my back again. The chair that we all have sat on for years. What did it teach my body? Something that I had to reteach and relearn in my own body for myself.
 |