"Yesterday in a pilates studio,
Tim Driscoll of
hosted a high heel recovery clinic.
He explains that the back of the heel is a part of our bodies that needs some... um, healing..."
September 15th, 2009
So wrote reporter and photographer Andrea Silenzi of WNYC Radio in her blog posting on the Culture page of their website.
"Putting the Heel in Healing..."
Here are some great photographs taken by Andrea showing the different stages of the clinic:
leveraging the heels
exploring buoyancy using exercises on stability balls
Also check out this great quote about the supportive potential of the
top-of-the-hamstring-tethering and core strengthening principles experienced
in the clinic by Kendall Farr, fashion stylist and author.
Andrea Silenzi; "After the workshop, participants put their heels back on and took a walk around the room. Kendall Farr of Brooklyn felt that with the stretches, she could now consider wearing her red, patent leather pumps to an upcoming wedding instead of her old faithfuls."
Kendall Farr: "I’m a stylist and I saw these shoes on a shoot, and I said to my client, Yeah, I could just about crack my head open over those. And he said, well, alright, then take them. But here’s the thing. Because they’re the red patent leather, I feel a little like Dorothy, but I also feel like I am on my way to drinks at Trevi fountain or something, or meeting someone on the Spanish Steps. Now they won’t make me cry and sob and beg for mercy."
Kendall's Red Strappy Heels
Kendall has her own great blog which at the moment is featuring shoes and boots of the fall season. Her website as well has a section "Ask Kendall" in which she answers style questions with savvy. www.kendallfarr.com
Because Tim is writing a book about High Heel Healing, he's getting feedback from people who could not attend the clinic, but whohe could send a detailed description of an exercise and see what the response is:
His friend and fellow blogger,
who lives in L.A. has this to say about the Suspension Bridge exercise:
"Oooh Tim, this is very good! I love the imagery. It makes perfect sense and I was able to read it once and do it myself. Wow, that is some stretch. And it really makes a difference in how you stand."
Here: try it for yourself, the way Deb did!
If you don't have a stability ball, you can just put your heels on an upholstered surface that is not too squishy, like a chair or an ottoman.
Lie down on your back on a mat or soft flooring,
and place the backside of the heels of your feet on a stability ball.
Position your body so that the knees are bent with the thigh bones perpendicular to the floor. Establish what would be a sitting position, only you are laying down on your back
Don't flatten your lower back - instead, lengthen the tail.
Don't flex the feet, instead, find the contact of the heels into the ball
Place the feet together and allow the top sides of the feet and the toes to soften and drape into a forward curve
Press gently but definitely with the backsides of the heels into the ball in a way in which your body senses the buoyancy of the ball, and you sense your body's own potential to be buoyant
Place your fingers on your sit bones to discover how the hamstrings on each leg connect on to each sit bone, as if the sit bones are little anchors for the hamstrings to tether down on to, like the way cords on a tent tether down to the spikes in the ground
Perform the bridge by using the gentle force of the heels down into the ball to initiate the tethering of the hamstrings down on to the sit bones. It is like a pulley system that would suspend a piano off the ground for it to be moved to a higher floor: the cords pull down for the piano to rise. In this case, the cords of the hamstrings tether down to the sit bones for the pelvis to rise.
Once your body is in the bridge, sense the suspension. The hamstrings are like the swooping cables on a suspension bridge. The cables are tethered to anchors that are fastened down toward the ground. The cables don't lift or hike the bridge up. The cables suspend the bridge so that it is buoyant and has resilience.
These are the sensations you develop in the heels-to-hamstrings-to-sit bones connection: buoyancy in the backsides of the heels and resilience in the giving full length of the hamstrings in order to give your spine suspension.
These sensations along the backside of the body (which begins with the backs of the heels) takes the weight off of the toes and also supports the spine, so you can frolic in your footwear all evening.
To read more about tethering, buoyancy, and suspension and how developing these sensations actually tones and strengthens, check out my previous posts in this High Heel Healing category. But if you really wish to understand how the heel can really connect you in your body along the entire backside from calves to hamstrings to lats to the fully supportive length of your spine....
Consider taking a session Tim!
He has had more than just a hand (and heel) in the development of the High Heel Recovery Clinic:
Let him know if you are interested
in the next clinic or if you'd like to try your own private one-on-one session with him!
Call 212-647-8878!
Backbone and Wingspan Pilates
Founder and Teacher: Tim Driscoll
Tim teaches his unique
support-for-the-spine, posture, and core methods at:
Mind Your Body Upper East Side Manhattan
and Contour Studio in Bedford Hills
Call Tim at 212-647-8878 or
email him at tim@backboneandwingspan.com
to inquire about his availability and special introductory rates!
Backbone and Wingspan®
Backbone and Wingspan LLC
Tim Driscoll: Universal Principles of Movement with Pilates Apparatus
Backbone and Wingspan Upper East Side Manhattan NYC and Bedford Hills
Integrating Fitness, Movement, and Health Call anytime! 212-647-8878
The photos for this exercise are a bonus! I did not have photos when Tim gave me the instructions but I was able to do it very easily. Everyone should try this, it's great!!
Posted by: Deb Markanton | September 27, 2009 at 12:36 PM