Imagery

The Power of Imagery

Framing a movement with a vivid and positive image can unlock better performance. When we engage in suggestive imagery, our brains release endorphins into the body. How does it feel when you move these parts of your body?

Try breathing into different parts of your body: your knee, your shoulder, your hip. Picture your breath flowing in and out like a colourful wave, or feel the airy passage at the very tip of your nose.

📏 Posture

Your posture is linked to your mood. A person who feels cheerful and self-confident stands up straighter. When finding an upright seated posture, imagine driving a horse-drawn carriage and holding the reins, or your two best friends pulling your shoulders apart in opposite directions or tying an imaginary balloon around your head as it pulls your head toward the sky.

🧠 Mental Simulation

Elite athletes have long known the secret of mental rehearsal. Before swinging a bat, before sinking a three-pointer, before nailing a golf shot, they visualize it, feel it, and live it in their minds first. You can apply this same technique to any physical goal, including your Pilates practice.

💪 Muscles

Tell yourself that your muscles are elastic and mobile. Take a mental snapshot when you feel length in your muscles during an exercise. That sensation gets stored in your brain as a reference point you can return to again and again.

🧴Joints

Healthy joints are fluid joints. When we move, we generate synovial fluid, which carries nutrients to the bones and cartilage. Rather than bone grinding against bone, a well-lubricated joint is like each bone floating gently on water, free and fluid. Imagine your shoulder and hip joints as ball-and-socket joints, the rounded hull of a ship gliding through water, rocking gently from side to side.

🦴 Bones

Pelvis
The pelvis is like an ancient Roman structure, load-bearing, built to last. Is the architecture balanced? How is the foundation?

Scapula
The scapula is shaped like a shield. When we are anxious or afraid, it rises protectively, almost whispering warnings in our ear. When we are safe and at ease, it settles quietly against the rib cage, resting where it belongs.

Spine
The spine attracts the ribs in toward it as if it were a magnet.

Ribs
Imagine your ribs move with your breath like members of a rowing team rowing through water.

Feet
When you need to find your feet, imagine pressing them into wet concrete and making sure both footprints look exactly identical.

💡 A Final Thought

Your body is listening. Tell it what you want it to feel like. It will believe you.