Rekindle Your body, heart & mind
Five Reasons to Invite Pilates into Your Life!
Pilates is a mind-body resistant training program that focuses on core stability, posture, flexibility, strength, breathing and movement control. Here are five reasons try a Pilates Mat or Reformer session to enhance your daily routine:
1. Mindfulness
Breathing mindfully when exercising is an essential component of Pilates. Why? Because the breath helps enhance abdominal engagement. There are no careless moments—Pilates is an intelligent form of body conditioning—with attention to movement control. So, rather than diverting your attention, you focus the mind and breath on the task at hand, directing your body through the movement.
2. Core activation
Each exercise engages the core abdominal muscles, emphasizing the strengthening of the “powerhouse” region: abdomen, back, lower back, inner/outer thighs and buttocks. Strength is achieved through stabilization with a focus on movement and functionality. Pilates also places attention on lengthening the body, without adding bulk to muscles.
3. Improved flexibility
Pilates’ “stretch and strength” equation is about maintaining alignment as you work and/or stretch muscles, not only increasing the range of motion, but contributing to joint hydration. This improvement in flexibility/strength contributes powerfully in other physical activities—including daily life—helping to reduce the risk of injury. Resistance training on the Reformer, or with the use of props and your own body weight on the mat, works the muscles deeply.
4. Improved posture
Most people don’t realize that a strong core is necessary to simply sit up straight. Pilates not only corrects postural problems, but promotes changes in habitual posture patterns by improving spinal, scapular and joint flexibility, plus strengthens shoulders, lower back and the abdominals (yep, there are a number of abdominal muscles: Rectus Abdominus, Obliques—internal & external, and the Transverse Abdominus.
5. A full-body workout
Since we each have unique musculatures—with varying degrees of imbalances and past injuries/pathologies—Pilates will help you gain control of your entire body. It’s a re-education. The use of resistance exercises in a mindful way gradually allows for greater overall muscle functionality, attainable for all ages, shapes and fitness levels.
Decompress with yoga and meditation for all bodies and levels of experience
· Unplug + Awaken to the nourishing beauty and healing powers of a yoga practice.
· Liberate the emotional and energetic currents of your life with movement designed for your body.
· Savor the benefits throughout the day.
Stress is the immune system's worst enemy. Whether you're dealing with a brief—or longer-lasting—bout of stress, your body may become compromised by physical and mental tension. Yoga can help. Research shows that even 10 minutes of daily yoga and meditation reduces the physical symptoms of stress. So, practicing yoga at a pace suitable for your goals—emphasizing alignment, flexibility, and breath—opens the heart, soothes the mind and rejuvenates the body. Don’t hesitate—dive in—your body, heart and mind will thank you.
Benefits you'll reap from Private Sessions with emma
Do you ever take group classes and find yourself wishing the instructor would pay more attention to your alignment?
Do you worry that you’re not doing the moves right?
Do you have special concerns that one-on-one instruction could help you with?
Would you get more movement in your life if the class time worked around your schedule?
All this is possible with my hands-on, tailored, private Yoga and Pilates sessions!
Here are a few benefits private sessions offer:
1. Do you have specific goals? Each private lesson is specifically designed to help you meet those goals, whether it be to gain strength, flexibility or develop strategies to keep healthy for running, cycling, hiking, and other physical activities.
2. Are you a beginner? Private sessions help reduce the stress and confusion of large classes. They’ll provide you with a firm foundation to feel both comfortable and confident that you are doing the moves properly for optimum improvement.
3. Private sessions will enable you to cross-train for marathons or triathlons, with hands-on adjustments tailored to your individual needs in a safe and inspiring environment.
4. If you are recovering from an injury, and have special health concerns or other limitations, working one-on-one will help you learn when to modify certain postures and how to adapt while in a class setting.
5. Private lessons provide the necessary guidance to better equip you to meet your objectives—an invaluable investment for your personal growth and health. One-on one’s make it possible to create a practice plan that’s appropriate to use at home or during out of town trips.
6. A personalized class, based on your specific health concerns and goals, will set you on more solid footing and can accommodate even the most hectic of schedules. You can have the convenience of privates in your own home, office or my studio space, to maximize your time and energy.
55 min. sessions--via Zoom or in person
CLASS RATES:
Private $75
2 people $90
3 people $105
TO BOOK A SESSION CALL/TEXT:
575-779-0930
OR email: emma.rainey4@gmail.com
emma johnson, your enthusiastic guide
emma’s lifelong commitment to the exploration of movement has led to a mind-body practice that emphasizes breath awareness as a means to release stress to create inner (and outer) balance. Emma received her Yoga Teacher Certification and Advance Training at White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, Comprehensive Pilates certification from BASI, and certification in BarreWorks from YogaWorks in San Francisco. While raising four daughters, Emma earned an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program in 2009. Past undertakings also include serving as artistic director for several dance companies, attending RI School of Design, and working with homeless teens. Her most recent essay was published in Phoebe Literary Journal; other essays have appeared in Southeast Review, Drunken Boat, Two Hawks Quarterly, Iowa Review, and in an anthology published by NCTE titled: Reinventing Identities in Second Language Writing. Since founding Writing My Way Back Home—A Writers’ Workshop for Veterans, Emma has also conducted writing workshops at University of Iowa, Eastern Kentucky University, the Writer’s Place in Kansas City, and for military children with parents serving overseas.