develop a lean, strong, healthy body while protecting and stabilizing your joints and preventing injury
At Chagrin Valley Wellness Center, personal health and wellness is an acquired state of being. “Our mission is to achieve proper client posture for ease of movement, maintain core strength and preserve flexibility.” People come to us seeking relief from pain and/or stress, others want a healthier body, most want both.
Pilates was developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. Formed during the First World War, Pilates was used to improve the rehabilitation program for returning veterans. Joseph Pilates recommended a few, precise movements emphasizing control and form. These movements aided injured soldiers in regaining their health by strengthening, stretching, and stabilizing key muscles. Today, more than 11 million Americans practice Pilates on a regular basis.
"In 10 sessions you will feel the difference, in 20 you will see the difference, and in 30 you will have a whole new body." - Joseph H. Pilates
At Chagrin Valley Wellness Center, private sessions and group classes, adheres to the principles of Pilates by conditioning the entire body through proper alignment, centering, concentration, control, precision, breathing, and flowing movement. Our Pilates sessions, called Functional Movement Pilates℠ help improve your flexibility, balance, core strength, and movement patterns, while lengthening your body, and aligning your spine.
A Pilate’s regimen, combined with the benefits of postural balancing through Muscle Release Therapy, MRTh®, will dramatically improve your overall health and wellness.
Interested in becoming a Certified Pilates Instructor?
Functional Movement Pilates℠
People come to us seeking relief from stress and/or pain , others want a healthier body, most want both. Functional Movement Pilates℠ was initially derived from MRTh® clients seeking to maintain their newly acquired postural balance. Benefits of Pilates have become main-stream the last 10 years: core muscle strength, tone muscles, flexibility.
What makes Functional Movement Pilates℠ different?
Pilates was meant to encourage an individual's use of their core muscles to maintain stability in movement. Although by definition Pilates is a form of exercise (physical activity to develop strength), it is not meant to be performed in a "training format." The Pilates taught at Chagrin Valley Wellness Center focuses more on enhancing and strengthening behavior/movement patterns than on building muscle strength.
What is the difference between strengthening behavior/movement patterns and building muscle strength?
In normal day to day activities the human body suffers many traumas, both emotional and physical. The body alters movement patterns to accomodate these traumas. When these compensations take place, the body's ability to correctly function within its core/center is compromised. To just strengthen weak or challenged muscle structures oftentimes compromises our movement patterns even more. Functional Movement Pilates℠ creates an environment where the musculature that has become dysfunctional learns to re-pattern itself to function within its preset core parameters. In other words, it strengthens the muscle so that it works for the body and not against it.
What are some of the areas of the body Functional Movement Pilates℠ targets?
There are approximately 26 core muscles if one was to include all of the small, intrinsic muscles of the back and spine, but the muscles that are normally talked about are the Transverse Abdominal muscle, and the two External Oblique and two Internal Oblique Abdominal muscles. Other muscles targeted are the postural muscles or the muscles that keep us in a neutral center. The neutral center is where our bodies perform the most efficiently while allowing the joints and articulations to permit balanced movement without discomfort.
I am not very athletic and have not exercised in years, am I a viable candidate for Functional Movement Pilates℠?
This question is often what prohibits many people from attempting this format of movement exercise. The honest answer is a resounding YES. Each session, private & group, is personalized to the specific needs, goals, strengths and limitations of each client. The goal is continued progress on an individual basis.
I am very athletic, exercise and engage in physical activities regularly, can Functional Movement Pilates℠ help me?
Yes. Many of our clients lead very active lives be it professional/scholastic/recreational athletes, physically/mentally stressful jobs, busy home life, etc. The efficient and correct movement patterns combined with a dramatically improved mind-body connection acquired in the Pilates studio will ehance any activity you perform.
Another important ingredient to the effectiveness of Functional Movement Pilates℠ is the attentiveness of the Instructors. Here, instructors are educated to notice and correct deficiencies in your breathing and posture, and therefore your movement. Breath initiates all functional movement of the body, so proper breathing skills are where the instructors begin. As the Network of Diaphragms, NOD©, is engaged it will generate the beginning stages of movement. After you learn to breathe properly, attention is turned to your posture. Posture is the body's ability to maintain its normal position by using the soft tissue system to hold it in its proper place during movement. Your posture determines the efficiency of your movement, which is governed by your unique tensegrity model. A well-aligned posture will promote efficient, fluid movement, where as a misaligned posture will inhibit your ability to move as well as your body is meant to. Upon recognition of your postural and movement needs, your Instructor is able to modify those deficient behaviors by embedding efficient functional movement patterns, essentially teaching you how to move correctly. The “teaching” is more a reeducation, given movement patterns are a learned behavior at birth.
Your functional movement patterns are highly dependent on your core strength. The core originates most full-body functional movement, and determines to a large part your posture. Therefore, achieving, maintaining and preserving a strong core is the foundation on which any individual’s health and wellness goals rest. Lack of core development can result in susceptibility to injury, impede the healing process and generally obstruct your healthful state of being.
YOUR focus, on strengthening your core muscles and improving your postural awareness, will relieve and prevent pain
At Chagrin Valley Wellness Center, your Functional Movement Pilates℠ Classes are always instructed and monitored by our Certified Pilates Instructors. The Instructors will teach you how to properly use your body with the machines. Their presence will help you feel at ease with your strengths, weaknesses and limitations. After three private (one on one) sessions with an instructor, you will become eligible for group classes (max of four students per class). The group classes are not a competitive environment. Every student has different strengths, weaknesses, limitations and goals. Instructors monitor every group class to offer guidance and ensure proper movement.
Formula of Evaluation
Function equals Movement
Posture determines Movement
Movement reveals Posture
This formula is utilized by the instructor to determine which movements are necessary to encourage more functional movement patterns that work within the confines of the individual’s posture. While the student is performing the specific movement on the machines the instructor uses this formula as their assessment tool.
If you are looking for a safe & effective Pilates studio in Cleveland, Ohio....you found it!
