hey hey Barrebabes!
charity & chill
As a mindful movement teacher, I spend most of my professional life helping people achieve personal goals and work towards strength, balance, and peace within themselves so they can then send that energy out into the world. Now, we can send something a little more material than good vibes to those who need it more than us. I'm very excited to announce my first annual Chillout for Charity with CBD, a fundraiser party featuring my signature CBD stretch class followed by wine, raffle prizes, and a mini-marketplace with CBD products and gifts. Proceeds go to Covenant House, an organization providing immediate assistance to homeless babies and children in NYC. Join me at Solfire clothing storeTuesday, December 11th 6-8pm.Entrance tickets/donations if you can't make it are available here.
abs abs abs
The holidays are generally a terrible time to focus on abs because of the onslaught of indulgent meals, cocktails, and family/work stress - all of which, for various reasons, can hide your excellent midsection with a layer of puff. But I think it's actually a great time to focus on technique and let go of outcomes for a time. While I can't promise super flat abs from here till New Year's, I discovered while pregnant & post-partum that truly focusing on alignment and forgetting about pancake flatness helps keep deep connection and strength in the center so that when the puffy layer finally does deflate, it will reveal a smooth, firm low belly zone.
Movement teachers, myself included, often tell classes to "keep abs in," "pull navel to spine," or "hollow out the belly." Real talk, this is basically short cut language to keep your back safe and get possibly lazy bellies out of bed, but you really don't want to try to stay like that permanently. If you've been working out for awhile, chances are your core muscles already do their job, and who has ever seen any improvement from walking around with your abs sucked in all day? Not I, says the ex-ballerina with teenage body image issues.
Instead:
- focus on moving/standing/walking with a properly aligned, truly neutral pelvis.
- bring your pubic bone into the same plane of space as the front of your hip bones.
Try it, with hands on the bones to sense their placement. Check in with your alignment while seated, standing, walking, etc. If you, like me, tend towards a slight sway back/anterior pelvic tilt when standing, you will feel a lift in low belly when you bring pubic bone forward. If you, like me, tend to slump a little when seated, bringing your pubic bone back to line up with hips will feel like a similar lift. No grip, no clench, certainly no stress, just your good 'ol postural alignment serving you well.
That’s all for today!
With love and planks,
Annie
