It’s important to consider what Spring and Summer shoe choices you’re making, because your choice in footwear can make a dramatic difference in how your whole body feels. Your shoe choices will either be setting you up for better health, or potentially can create more aches, pains, and increase your risk of injuries. Ahhhh Spring…. flowers are blooming, the grass is turning green, and it’s the time for new beginnings!  Which usually inspires a lot of us to start Spring cleaning around the house. Perhaps it’s time to evaluate what shoes you’re wearing to decide if they are helping or hurt ..read more

Eating Healthy is Easy! I love Sourdough Bread! But eating Gluten-Free means there’s not much bread in my meal-plan, unless I’m creative. This week I made an amazing Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread with Dairy-Free Coconut Kefir Water, and Coconut-Cashew Kefir milk. My mouth is still watering just thinking about it… And I’ve got a few leftovers still in the fridge! I’m always posting food pics on my personal Facebook page… and this week, my Gluten-Free Sourdough Pan Bread was extra fluffy, and yummy. I just had to post a pic.  After seeing the photo, a bunch of my friends all wanted ..read more

Q&A about foot fitness resources from Centerworks.com This week I received an email with questions about some of the foot fitness resources I’ve got available at Centerworks.com.  I had such a great conversation with Lisa about taking care of her feet and figuring out the best exercises for feet after foot surgery, that I asked if I could share our conversation in a blog post.  I’m sure Lisa isn’t the only person out there recovering from foot surgery and wondering what the next step is to get back to 100% with healthy, pain-free feet. Questions about Foot Care afte ..read more

Give Yourself the Gift of Good Heath The Holidays…the season that we tend to spend more time eating cookies than exercising. When socializing becomes all about food and family and we find ourselves forgetting about our fitness. In honor of not falling off your wellness wagon through the holidays, I hope you’ll join me for the Centerworks Holiday Health Challenge! It’s easy, it’s on the honor system, and it’s the best gift you can give yourself this food-filled, holiday season! Here’s the Centerworks Holiday Health Challenge –  Ready… 4,3,2,1, GO…  4 Days a week (minimum) 30 minutes of Cardi ..read more

Is Pilates a Good Workout?  This is a question asked by someone who has never done a Pilates workout! But the answer might surprise you, because there are several factors to consider – and really who is the best person to decide what qualifies as a “good” workout? What do you consider a good workout?  Is it one that gets you breathing harder or elevates your heart rate?  Fatigues your muscles? Improves your flexibility? Focuses on your core? Works the whole-body? Makes you think? Challenges your physical abilities? Breaks a sweat? Improves your balance? Enhances coordination? Do you have to be ..read more

Why Hips and Pelvic Placement Matter for Healthy Movement and How Pilates Exercises Can Benefit You Are you dealing with annoying chronic aches and pains, or have you experienced an injury that seems impossible to fully recover from?  Body posture and proper pelvic placement play a HUGE role in how easy (or challenging) it might be to maintain your whole-body health.  Doing Pilates can be an excellent way to explore exercises to help you improve pelvic placement, enhance posture and body awareness, and put your pelvis where it belongs to help develop healthy movement habits for better function ..read more

It’s a question frequently asked by new Pilates students, “When will I see measurable results from my Pilates workouts?” Everyone is eager to start reaping the benefits from their investment in Pilates workouts.  And since we’re living in an instant-gratification society, the faster we can get results, the better!  Patience seems to be a lost art.  We want our aches and pains to disappear instantly – even though the poor posture and movement habits we’ve been using that created the problems have accumulated over time, leaving us with the aches, pains, and injuries we are now trying to get rid ..read more

Do you have Kyphosis? It’s a fairly common back problem. In fact, there are more than 3 million cases of Kyphosis in the US per year.  What is Kyphosis?  It’s commonly known as having a “hunchback.” Kyphosis is an excessive outward curvature of the upper back and is most common in older women, often is related to osteoporosis.  But it’s not just a women’s problem, men can have Kyphosis too. Some people experience back pain, neck pain, and stiffness. Kyphosis is a body posture that can become disfiguring. Sadly, with the increased number of hours that we’re sitting in front of our computers and ..read more

Have you ever wondered if doing Pilates can make you taller?  It’s an interesting question… Can Pilates make you taller?  We assume that we hit that growth spurt in our youth and then at some point the tables turn and we seem to start getting shorter.  You go to the doctor for a checkup one day to discover that you’re not as tall as you used to be!  Poor posture, as well as gravity, have somehow stolen a quarter of an inch or more from what we once thought of as our “adult” height.  And for most of us, we just assume that this is the natural order of things, and that as we age, not only do we ..read more

Is Pilates Good for You? My initial response is YES, Pilates is good for every body!  In fact, I think that every body should be doing Pilates. Joseph Pilates believed this too! He wanted the world to do his exercises at least 4 days a week, as outlined in his book Return to Life through Contrology. But it’s expensive, there’s equipment that I don’t have at home, I can’t afford Personal training, I don’t have time, It’s too hard, I’m not fit enough… These are just a few of the excuses I’ve heard from people who are trying to justify why Pilates is NOT good for them. If you don’t like to exerc ..read more