Thank you for visiting The Pilates Center On-Demand! We offer a variety of classes and workshops to enrich your Pilates practice and teaching experience from the comfort of your own home or studio. Enjoy our complimentary video A Preview Video to learn more about The Pilates Center history and to preview our teacher training program. Our On-Demand library also includes access to our teacher training program courses and individual exercises to enhance your understanding of the Classical Pilates method. *

Pilates and Pandiculation - 3 CEC's Amy Alpers

The human body is designed to move! And, to move in many different directions. Often, when we sense a lack of movement, we think the culprit is a tight muscle that needs to be stretched. This may not be the case, however. That tight feeling might actually be due to weak or inactive muscles that are not contracting our bodies into motion. Pandiculation is a term used to describe how cats and dogs turn on and cleanse their body’s muscles after sleep or rest - an inherent response to sedentary sensations. Humans do this too. One example is that urge to do a big “stretch” when you wake up in the morning or after you've sat for a prolonged period. That urge doesn’t actually trigger a stretch though, but rather a contraction of a lot of muscles. This deep contraction stimulates circulation by cleansing toxic waste that accumulated in the cells from inactivity, and re-oxygenates and invigorates you. The Pilates method is essentially an organized series of pandiculations to bring mobility, flexibility, strength, and detoxification to every part of your body. In this movement-based workshop we will learn how to bring that strength-to-flexibility balance back to the whole body that rejuvenates it and allows us to move with fluid ease and grace, just like a wild animal.