Movements? Children know best.

Charles often demonstrates "Pilates moves" in his playtime. Inverted V, plank, leg pull etc. It's not easy to capture his movements on camera because those movements take place so naturally and quickly. Here are few rare shots that captured Charles in "Swan" and "Single leg kick" positions, look at that beautiful extension throughout the spine ^_^:

Healthy children are born with natural instinct to move their body efficiently, and in the way the body is really designed for. Remember the graceful somative movements seen in the video in my post "The Forgotten Fundamentals"? Moving efficiently can be viewed in terms of whole body coordination or in terms of specific skilled movements (Booth et al., 1997; Clough, McCormack, & Trail, 1993). It is very important for children to retain this ability to move efficiently for long term engagement and also enjoyment in physical activity throughout whole life span.


However, as the pressure to excel in school increases, children are spending more and more time sitting down reading and doing homework. Of course academic and cognitive development in children is very important for the competitive world today, but the implication of sitting for longer duration is that poor posture is often developed in these otherwise healthy children, causing them to lose the ability to move efficiently. This can possibly reduce their enjoyment in being active and in sports performance, and many children grow up as sedentary adults. The rest is then history and we know that inactivity among adults is now epidemic.

I will be sharing more of what I read and learn about movement development in children. Meanwhile, let your kids have as much opportunity to be active as possible. Tumbling on the grassfield, having ball of a time in all kinds of ball games, or even just hopping around the house... more importantly, parents are really children's best friends and teachers that we have to be involved. Jump and hop silly with them, run and laugh in the park... Through these activities, not only we can emotionally bond with our kids and improve our own health, we are actually helping them associate physical activities to the warm feeling of being loved and being happy...all so important to make being physically active an enjoyable experience for a life time.

There are many ways to add fun physical activities in our daily life. What do you do with your kids?

Special Core Training

Physical and skills development for Charles has always been our top priority. ^_^

Challenge to this exercise can be increased by shifting the supporting surface away from the centre of torso. Maybe next time we will ask Charles to rest only his heels and top of his head on the wood stumps.

Closure of Planet Earth Pilates

I have closed my studio. Exactly ONE YEAR AGO.

Sorry if I took longer than expected to announce this on P-Latte. It was not easy for me to recover from the heartache of shutting down something which I have put so much effort and time (not to mention $$) in. In fact, I was like a cowardly ostrich and was not motivated to talk about it.

You may wonder why was the studio closed, well, in short and cliche, due to partnership problems.

The history was, Planet Earth was meant to be P-Latte Studio and was really meant to be the manifestation of my passion and love for movement and should have been operated by myself. My very close Uni-mate cum ex-boss, pleaded me to combine my studio with his organic food business. His wife called me and told me how devastated he was when I rejected the idea. In the end, I joined the partnership.

I gave up the 800-square feet dream-unit overlooking the greenery of MacRitchie for a 2100 sq.feet office space in order to house the organic biz. In the end, some partners did not do what they were supposed to do, they point fingers at each other for low revenue and slow growth. They felt that the only salaried staff aka me (as they all continued their full time, stable day-job), was not doing everything under the sun as they assumed I would. They felt that I should not only teach Pilates, but also to man the organic shop, wash toilets, water the plants, housekeep, stock-take, do sales calls and even deliver. In reality, I simply couldn't do all those all at the same time.

When the biz ran low on cash flow, they stop paying me the monthly salary as promised, claiming that I could take the revenue of Pilates classes in return. Then suddenly they demanded rental for my studio space. And suddenly they were closing their organic biz and asked me to take over their shop space if I wished to continue my studio, however I would need to pay them a reasonable "take-over" fee.

I was hoping to find a solution to be able to afford the rental of the huge extra space, but yet again, another "surprise" came suddenly from the landlord who called me the day before Christmas eve in 2010, our rental unit will be repossessed in 24 hours because my partners had not been paying the rent for months, and I needed to pay the outstanding of $10k or i vacate within 24 hours!

at this nick of time, my partners were uncontactable, they left me alone to settle the issue. They had no sense of urgency, no moral values, no ethics. They had been pocketing the rental I paid them and left me alone to solve all the problems they created!!

At last, after few stressful weeks, I was lucky enough to have found a Church which could take over the rental lease, such that I did not need to pay any penalty. I closed the studio, stored or sold my equipments. Said teary goodbyes to my clients, and finally  I broke clean from the "partners" and ended the year-long nightmare.

A precious lesson learnt.

So that was it. The short-lived Planet Earth disappeared.

From then, I was very depressed, beaten and lost. For months, I doubted myself in all aspects: my ability in decision making, my ability in trusting others, my ability in teaching, even my intelligence and my self-esteem; I could not even look at other people in the eyes because of the intense shame and sense of being a loser in me! The whole business experience negatively impacted my emotions, my family well-being and my relationship with my husband...

One year has since passed, I finally got myself up and look at the flipped side of the failed business. I rediscover my strengths and weaknesses, I am more awareness of my blindspots, and most importantly, I learnt that I am surrounded by people who truly believed in me, loved me and supported me. My husband and son who stood by me throughout the year and bear with my endless bouts of unreasonable emotional roller-coasters; great friends who helped me and encouraged me during the most difficult time (like Elsie Tan & Jason Lim); and also clients who showered me with endless understanding, trust, support and loyalty; through this difficult period, I was brought much closer to God and I now understand that there is really a reason for everything that happened. All this happened because it is part of our Master Weaver's plan.

 

My life is but a weaving
Between the Lord and me;
I may not choose the colors–
He knows what they should be.

For He can view the pattern
Upon the upper side
While I can see it only
On this, the under side.

Sometimes He weaves in sorrow,
Which seems so strange to me;
But I will trust His judgment
And work on faithfully.

‘Tis He who fills the shuttle,
And He knows what is best;
So I shall weave in earnest,
And leave to Him the rest.

Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needed
In the Weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

Complimentary Trial Class at Elements Pilates

If you have always wanted to try out Pilates, here is a great "lobang" from Elements Pilates:


1. Complimentary Mat class for Beginners, every Saturday noon.
- As always, Elements Pilates places great emphasis on educating clients on body awareness and important fundamentals on proper movement. In this one hour intro class, be prepared to learn about how to locate body landmarks and how to check your own movements.


2. National Day Promo Reformer trial class @ $46 
- Unlike usual trial class which is slightly cheaper but packed with lots of participants, this class intimately contains only TWO students, so you can get all the attention you need from the instructor as a beginner!


Please call or email studio to register in advance to avoid disappointment:

Email: info@elements-pilates.com

Tel: 6720 0178

By the way, this is NOT an advertisement and I receive no rewards or whatsoever from Elements Pilates. I just want to share any good stuff i come across for any one out there who wants to find out more about Pilates. Enjoy! ^_^

Talk - Science of Pilates

I felt in love with the Science Cafe at the Singapore Science Centre when my husband gave a talk there last year. I love the lively, casual interactive ambience that allows interesting discussion among the audience and the speaker.

I am so glad that I am able to host a cafe there too.

SCIENCE OF PILATES

Date: 28th Feb 2011

Time: 7pm

Venue: Singapore Science Centre

I will talk about the background of Pilates and more importantly, the scientific basis of the Pilates Method. I always tell people that I love Pilates because it make so much scientific sense to me. It is constructed based on strong understanding of how the human body is structured and how it moves. The effectiveness of this method is well-known among clinical practitioners and it only requires more research to be done to collect the scientific evidence. I never give up on the dream to conduct research on Pilates...

Registration required. Hope to see u there! ^_^

Workshop: Pilates for Runners

Want to find out more about how can Pilates help improve your running performance, and prevent injuries?

Together with my colleague, I will be conducting this "Pilates for Runners" workshop organised by Republic Polytechnic on 29th January 2011. Details are here.

Sign up by 15th Jan 2011. Hurry!

Hope to see you there!

ACSM Clinical Exercise Specialist

I have been eye-ing on this course for few years! Finally, after 5 years, I can afford the time and money to take this course - ACSM Clinical Exercise Specialist Certification course!

In the past, like many other trainers, I trained my clients with mild lifestyle diseases (like high blood pressure, diabetes) with a lot of caution and common sense. But now after the course, I am armed with the knowledge to be much more confident in dealing with high risk clients with cardiovascular and metobolic diseases.

I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn so much from Mr Peter Brukner (the only angmo in the photo below) and other fellow course mates who were doctors, cardiologists and physiotherapists. I just love attending courses because not only I get to learn new knowledge but also to reflect on the old and think of ways in improving my practice.

Now I need to study real hard for the certification exam. As i do so all those vague memory of physiology and biochemistry i learnt from my undergrad and postgrad are slowly creeping back...Gosh, how i wish i can do so by gulping down the 2 inch thick text book. S The exam is not easy as 90% of my course-mates failed and re-taking...

Wish me luck (a lot of it) to pass!

Give your brain some downtime

I was checking out my friend's status updates on Facebook during my few minutes "work" in the toilet, an interesting article from New York Times caught my eyes:

"scientists (from Universities of California, San Francisco) point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas."

I am definitely one of those who constantly occupy my shortest available "free" time with my iphone, hoping to make myself more "productive". Check and reply emails, socialise with friends on FB, admire Charles' photos, chat on Whatsapp and read the Bible on my iPhone, in the tiniest windows of time, like when I am walking down the corridor at home and even when I am doing business in the loo. My phone literally lives and breathes in my palm almost 24/7. My "productivity" reached new height when i mastered the skill to read magazine/books while I jogged on treadmill!

Maybe lack of downtime is causing me running out of creativity and mental focus. No wonder it is now so difficult for me to sit down, organise and blog my thoughts! I am sure I am not alone in suffering iphone-obsession syndrome. So often that we see families sitting together at restaurant but each member individually dwell on their own iphone/ipad/PSP and have minimal conversation or interaction with each other. It is so sad to see precious family time is invaded by technology...

So let's take few minutes off reading this blog or net-surfing, look out of the windows and look at the trees and flying birds outside, take a walk with your family, or lie down on a mat and do some simple pilates exercises. Let our over-worked brain rest and recharge, so to allow it to take up other challenges in our daily life.

The Forgotten Fundamentals

I came across this video and was truly thankful to its creator. The video is so beautifully made, capturing the fundamental somatic movements that most of us have forgotten, as our movements became more "sophisticated".

I am so-going to read more about the Feldenkrais Method. It seems to be really interesting and good for functional rehabilitation.

A week's treat

Sudden craving over junk food when I was in Wheelock place after Pilates course. Must be my hormones to blame.

This looked good on the number (of calorie) but definitely tasted bad.
Costed me $3 for a tiny pack (palm size only). I should have sticked to my organic sweet potato chips which tasted much better and cheaper... so sad that my junky calories of the week wasted on this horrible pack. :-(