San Francisco is a beautiful city. In describing its landscape, one might mention the bay, the fog, Golden Gate Park, all of its unique and defined neighborhoods, and its iconic skyline. However, no description of San Francisco would be complete without mention of its hills. If you live here and take advantage of the city’s walkability, there’s no avoiding going up and down, and up some more. But what happens in your body when going up versus going down?
To keep it simple, we’ll relate going up and down—or incline and decline—to squatting.
Think about walking uphill as the upward phase of a squat. Muscles have to contract and shorten to propel you upwards against gravity.
Think about walking downhill as the downward phase of a squat. Muscles have to lengthen with control to prevent you from falling downwards with gravity.
All of this muscle shortening and lengthening happens unconsciously, and thank goodness for that, because how else are you supposed to walk and talk all at the same time? But the fact that these processes occur unconsciously, much like breathing, provides an imperative to tune in consciously from time to time. It’s as if our bodies move on unconscious code, and Pilates can provide a much-needed update to ensure you're moving in the most efficient and safe manner possible. Join Mollie this week to delve deeper into this fascinating subject and provide your unconscious code the update it deserves!
CLASS THEMES
Monday, October 23rd @ 12pm with Mollie:
Moving from San Francisco to Florida, I realize how much I miss hills. Fun facts: San Francisco’s Twin Peaks is 922 feet in elevation while the highest point in Florida, Britton Hill, clocks in at 345 feet above sea level. Today we’ll explore how to bring climbing to the mat when our bodies don’t have access to a steep incline.
Wednesday, October 25th @8am with Destinie:
This class will resume Wednesday, November 1st!
Friday, October 27th @ 12pm with Destinie:
Last class alert! MELTβ into the Weekend disappears again after today. You don’t want to miss it! This class is designed to rehydrate your connective tissue. Say goodbye to stiffness as you unlock greater flexibility, mobility, and a sense of calm. It's the perfect stress-buster, weekend mood-setter to cap off your week.
*Full-length foam roller required—we recommend this specific one, but any full-length roller that you can lie on from head to tail will do the job.*
*As always – if you can’t make it live for class, just sign up to receive the recording automatically.*
