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Pilates Principles - Alignment

Pilates is based on 8 principles, they are there to guide us when we are practising.

 

Alignment leads the way.

 

Alignment means:

 

‘an arrangement in which two or more things are positioned in a straight line or parallel to each other.’

 

If taken in its strictest sense one could imagine our bodies as being rigid, inflexible, lacking in mobility.

 

When practising Pilates in a class and as part of our daily activities we are looking for the dynamic alignment of the myriad of joints that ideally work to support and facilitate our flexibility and mobility - feet, ankles, knees, hips, etc.

 

The importance of the alignment of one body part to another cannot be over stressed; the positional relationship of the head to the ribcage to the pelvis (hips). If you master this, improved posture will be apparent. Without this alignment poor posture is manifested which can lead to wear and tear, sometimes felt as pain.

 

As a leading principle one can only be motivated to get it right if only to avoid the possibility of wear and tear at the joints with possible pain. Or, if you bring the positive to the fore, to revel in all the benefits that improved posture can bring.