Feb 20, 2019
Laura Meets Baby (Chair)
By Laura Cotler
“The Arm Chair informs the rest of the workout,” said Andrea Maida, at her Solana Beach studio. The Arm Chair, also known fondly as the “Baby Chair,” or “Old Lady Chair,” wasn’t included as part of my contemporary Pilates trainings and I didn’t buy one for my new Gratz studio. I’d only seen it at Vintage Pilates and I had just recently read Andrea’s Blog on the Baby Chair. I was intrigued, and I wanted to find out more so I could give my view as a former contemporary instructor trying out this semi-obscure chair for the first time. So, I travelled from my home in Davis, California to take a lesson with Andrea to find out what the Arm Chair was all about.
And Baby was not in a corner. Baby was center stage all dressed in white, looking fairly medieval with her springs and leather and wooden handles. Baby saw me and I was a little intimidated. I looked sideways, demurring. ”Have a seat!” said Andrea. “I must admit I’ve been a little obsessed with the Arm Chair lately, and sometimes I like to start here,” she said. And so, we started our session, albeit a little unorthodoxically for a classical Pilates session, beginning on the Chair and not the mat or reformer.
We started with Boxing! I thought that was a solid name to give the first exercise on the Old Lady Chair! What could possibly go wrong for me on a chair with smallish, light springs?
On a body like mine, with hypermobility syndrome, there were some things…
My left knee kept wandering, the handles wouldn’t stay level, and the springs kept hitting the back of the chair. Curse you Baby Chair! But I kept on boxing and found the Chair really was a good teacher. I finally found my center, which helped everything else come together.
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Next up…
Next up for this body in front of Andrea was Hug, Shave, and Rowing. Hey! I could feel my back! I didn’t have to use my biceps so much because the springs were light. Wait! Was I getting a massage? Turns out the Arm Chair is the perfect place for an assist. Jay Grimes calls these “pushes and pulls” but he only gives them if you deserve them. Maybe I was deserving!
“Breathing” was last. As with all Pilates exercises, Breathing is a full body exercise. Exhale round forward…AH! THE BACK OF THE CHAIR MOVED! “Control. breathe,” I thought. “Can you move a little faster?” asked Andrea, kindly.
“Flow,” I felt. Joseph Pilates gave us metaphors for life through movement.
And the Arm Chair did inform the rest of my workout! I even found a connection in Rowing 1 I had never felt before. That part where the two-way stretch moves the straps back before you round forward? Who did that? This girl!
My self-proclaimed “beached whale” Breaststroke even got back into the water!
Hallelujah! I’m singing the praises of the Arm Chair from the highest mountain! I am Julie Andrews in Sound of Music channeling Romana! I am Romana!
Oh, thank you Baby Chair!
Sunni and The Arm Chair
By Sunni Almond
I sat down to write this article almost a year ago, thought I’d have it out by September, but lots of things happened between then and now. Had I written it back then, this would’ve been a very different article about how this innocuous little chair with its skinny springs, and fun moving back can give you a surprise kick in the (or awareness of) __________ (fill in the blank with your favorite body part or Pilates A-Ha thought of the moment).
However, along with all the other life-changing moments of the past year, I also received the news that my penia is now a porosus (stick “osteo” in front of those two endings, and you’ll get my drift). I never in a million years thought that I, the CrAzY active Fire Monkey that Chinese astrology pins me as, could possibly ever get that “old lady with the hunchback” syndrome. I run and jump and dance and play, going rough and tumble with the biggest dogs and littlest kids. I am NOT that frail, fragile flower that you think of when you think of an osteoporotic woman. I am a giant kid, well at least until I lost an inch – that eye opener was discovered at my last doctors appt.
So now all my favorites have been taken away: no more loaded flexion (even though my short spine is the loftiest, lifted, most decompressed short spine out there), no more open leg rocker, jackknife, or boomerang. Tower, I’m going to miss you. No more twisting it out, so there goes saw, spine twist, and all the fun combinations thereof that you can think of. Each of these things that I have worked so damned hard to achieve are now off the table for me … insert very sad face emoji.
So, now that I’m a card carrying member of the Straight Spine Society, or Flat-backers as it were, enter the Arm Chair (sound of angel choir).
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Sunni works with a straight spine….good job Sunni!!
This little baby is a tough guy and will help me keep advancing and working supremely harder than you would think by just looking at it. Yes, it is often used when rehabbing shoulders, and arms because the springs are the lightest in the studio, but don’t let this little gem fool you into thinking it hasn’t got guts. You can sit on it, kneel on it, get cozy sideways on it, face the front, face the back, stand behind it, and (if you’re brave enough) even stand on it. Work ALL your parts!
In effect, this little baby is one stop shopping. If you haven’t had an opportunity to try one out, get yourself to a studio that has one. There are 2 great books written for it. The big one by Kathi Ross-Nash costs a mint, but its value is endless. Reiner Grootenhuis also wrote one that is quite useful in its own right — more of an exercise manual and a bit easier on the wallet.
Bottom line, if you have clients with neck, back, shoulder and arm issues, the arm chair is a great choice, but don’t ever discount it as prime piece of muscle, stretch, strength and endurance apparatus. It will leave you shaking with that famous tremor of truth and you can most definitely find the two-way stretch.
Shameless promotion stuff:
I will be bringing The Nuts N Bolts to England and Canada in 2019, several different studios, (YES!!!!) so come and join the fun and add to your burgeoning toolbox with enough stuff to spin your clients’ heads and keep them filling your studio with anticipation of what you’re bringing to their eager bodies next. Get a good grip on the differences between C & C and learn the full Basic System and the ways to make your contemporary pieces work more classically. Keep your eye on the FB group Going More Joe for all kinds of info, sign up for my email list and make sure you get workshop and event info, and you don’t want to miss out on all the goodies on the Going More Joe website. See you in the UK or Canada, and I come bearing gifts. Look for workshop details on the Going More Joe FB group, or your inbox as details get firmed up.
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Laura Cotler has been teaching Pilates since 2000. Laura discovered her passion for Pilates after her mother died in 1999, when she began seeking more meaning in her life. She opened her first Pilates studio in 2002, envisioning a space where women and men, Pilates teachers and their students alike, can develop a feeling of strength and acceptance of their bodies that will go with them from the Pilates studio into the wider world. Laura holds certifications from Polestar Pilates, Stott Pilates®, The Pilates Method Alliance, Oov® by Daniel Vladeta, and is a MELT certified Hand and Foot Instructor.
For many years, Laura taught contemporary Pilates. Then, after a long illness, she began practicing the classical order on the reformer and mat. As this method brought Laura back to health, it inspired her to pursue her passion for Joseph Pilates’ original work.
She was so inspired by the original work and what it did for her health, that she equipped one side of her studio with Gratz apparatus and is currently studying to assess for The Work at Vintage Pilates with Jay Grimes. She teaches at her studio, Lift Pilates, in Davis, California.
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Website: TruePilatesLasVegas.com
Email: studio_s@icloud.com