Movement · The Practice
A Pilates Vocabulary
The short answer
Everything you need to be in the know, the movement terms I’ll use as you work.
- Abdominals, four muscles: the rectus abdominis (down the center), the external and internal obliques (the sides, for bending and twisting), and the deepest, the transversus abdominis (TVA), which wraps like a corset and stabilizes the trunk.
- ASIS, the two bony points at the front of the pelvis; you can feel them moving your hands down from the waist to the crest of the hips.
- Articulation, rolling the spine one vertebra at a time, so each has space to move independently.
- C-Curve, a rounding of the back; the shape of the lower spine as you scoop the abdominals in.
- Extension, a movement that carries a body part backward from neutral.
- Neutral pelvis, the pelvis in its most naturally efficient alignment: not tucked under, not arched, not hiked to one side. The ASIS and pubic bone share one plane.
- Nod the chin, a gentle lengthening of the back of the neck, leaving space between chin and throat (as if holding a small tangerine there).
- Prone / Supine, lying on your belly / lying on your back.
- Tabletop legs, on your back, knees bent and lifted so the shins are parallel to the floor at 90 degrees.
- Sitz bones, the two bony points at the very base of the pelvis (the ones you sit on).
- Dorsiflexion / Plantar flexion, flexing the ankle so the toes lift / pointing the toes down.
- Hyperextension, straightening a joint beyond its limit (locked knees, for example). We avoid this.
- Range of motion, moving a muscle or limb comfortably through its full range.
The practice beneath it all
When the mind needs somewhere to land
Everything in this wing points, in the end, to the same place, the breath, and the nervous system beneath it. It is why I built SOVA: a quiet companion for the moments in between.
- Today, a daily practice that aligns you before the day pulls you a dozen directions.
- Companion, a place to process any feeling, even the happy ones.
- Pages, a soft place to set your thoughts down and out of your head.
- The House, rooms of calm to step into, whenever you need one.