Issue #371 – Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Get Up Off The Floor! – # 2
Single Leg Kick
by Brett Miller
As I mentioned in ‘Get Up Off The Floor! – # 1’, I think that one of the most important skills to have in life is the ability to get up from sitting on the floor to standing without any help from the hands. I also referenced Claudio Gil Araujo’s ‘Sitting-Rising Test’ to reinforce my vision.
So let’s start with a pic…..
BUT……….there is an important question…..
Yes, it is a very good question, and one that has no easy answer, for indeed EACH AND EVERY INDIVIDUAL must discover this lift for themselves.
So today I roll up my sleeves to to try to give an answer that may speak to (some of) you – and I choose an old friend, Single-Leg-Kick, to help us out.
Let’s come into it slowly. So firstly, let’s just lay be on the floor, up on elbows that are a little bit forward of your shoulders – and then just really hang down.
And then…..
And that starts to bring my body up, of course.
And then…
So I have those two together. Now the other thing I’m going to do as I’m pushing in the floor, I’m going to pull my elbows back.
So now I’m doing three things:
I’m pushing down,
I’m pulling back……
and I’m lifting in the center.
These three actions give an upper body support, a support that you can deepen into the rest of your life!
Oh my, I got a little carried away there, didn’t I?
Let’s finish off the exercise…..with that support in place I can stretch my legs away – and go into the full expression of Single-Leg-Kick, which is to kick alternately one leg one – two – three.
BUT…..that kick….
is secondary!
The primary point of Single-Leg_Kick (as I see it) is to grow in knowledge of this upper body support.
Because……..
We’re going for something quite deep here…we leave the realm of rules and positions and going into the growth of insight, a place where there is great beauty and wisdom, which is of primary importance when doing Pilates….and for when you “Get Up Off The Floor!”.
More to come!!
Brett Miller is the founder of Pilates Intel, he started his professional life in the world of ballet, working with various companies in the US. Later on he moved to New York and branched out into modern along with the ballet. Since then, he has lived in Finland and now in Stockholm Sweden.
Brett became a Pilates instructor in 2005 and has been teaching ever since. The intelligent technique that Pilates is, and the chance to continue to be physical, attracted him to this field after being so long in the dance world. Along with teaching Pilates and publishing Pilates Intel, Brett is a software developer for Ericsson.