The Double Leg Stretch.  It's always fun teaching a newbie this exercise.  I warn them it takes coordination, and of course it's always met with a laugh and the exaltation that they are NOT coordinated.  Because of this coordination needed for the exercise, I tend to teach it in two parts.  The movement and then the breath.  The movement alone can be hard, as your arms are circling while your legs are just moving in and out.  The tendency for most people is to also circle their legs.  They tend to stop, put their head down and laugh, or just make the most perplexed face because they know they didn't do it correctly but can't figure out why.  Then I add the breath.

Coordinating breath and movement happens in other breathing exercises, too.  Again, Beginner exercises have breath and movement, or what we simply call breathing exercises.  Beginner breathing exercises would include The 100, The Roll Up (or Roll Down depending on the body), Double Leg Stretch and Spine Stretch Forward.  These are the mat exercises.  Beginner Reformer would just be The 100, although I tend to add it to twisting on The Short Box for those who have breathing trouble, like asthma.  I might just add breathing to every exercise if I notice the client is someone who tends to hold their breath. 

Back to The Double Leg Stretch and breathing.  Breathing isn't easy.  Even if you don't have breathing problems, per se, most people don't breathe properly.  We rarely breath into the back of our rib cage, particularly the bottom of the back of the rib cage.  The Thinking Body by Mable E. Todd discusses in detail about the back of our rib cages and the importance of breathing into those muscles.  (I haven't read it in many years, so you'll have to check it out and pipe in about my accuracy.)  It's the EXACT movement that is happening on a deep level in The Double Leg Stretch.  The arms and legs basically stretching from the spot in the back of your ribs AND breathing into that spot at the same time makes this exercise EVERYTHING in Pilates!  It's whole-body coordination, breath and movement. 

If you are a Pilates lover or enthusiast, you can see how The Double Leg Stretch can tie all of your Pilates workout together!  The perfect execution of mind, body and breath inside out!  What a challenge to adhere the whole of your workout to this single exercise!  It's a brilliant observation and has made the way I work out and teach much different.

How are you doing with this exercise?  Need any help trouble shooting?  Are you up for the challenge of monitoring your whole hour of Pilates to the perfect execution of this single exercise?  Let me know how you're doing!  I'd love to hear from you!

Stay tuned to next month's blog.  I'm starting a series on the Five Parts of the Mind!

Until next time, my friends….

Love, Light and Blessings,

Julia