Do you suffer from constant back pain?
Well Joseph Pilates discovered over eighty years ago that if he hollowed his navel back towards his spine, his lower back felt protected. He did no know then of the concept of “core stability” but he did have great body awareness and thus introduced the direction “navel to spine” or “hollowing” into the Pilates routine. Latest medical research indicates that to achieve the best stability, the pelvic floor and the abdominal muscles need to be engaged which is why we now use the direction “zip and hollow”
The Transversus abdominus muscle wraps itself around our body like a girdle which gives us a natural corset and by engaging this no more than 30% protects our backs and improves our posture. You only have to look in the mirror, engage your core and pelvic floor by 30% and watch your body extend and lengthen to see immediate improvement in the way you stand.
So this is why “zipping and hollowing” is so important and not just in a Pilates class, but a discipline we should follow in our everyday lives too….