Getting a sense of gravity

In late November, a group of Instructors joined Senior Pilates guest Educator Maggie Macgill for a workshop on Gravity, at Sense of Power Pilates at Pyrmont in Sydney.

Maggie teaches Pilates trainers how wonderful gravity is. Sure, gravity isn’t so great when you knock your iPhone off the table at the local café, spill your coffee over your new leggings trying to catch it, and have to go see James at the phone repair kiosk to get a new screen for the second time in a month. But that’s another story.

For the purposes of this story Gravity is amazing. Particularly if you’re a Pilates instructor.

For anyone who hasn’t met Maggie, she presents as informed, intuitive, sensorial and measured, much like her Gravity mat work Masterclass that I had the pleasure of attending.

Maggie’s been teaching Gravity work to Instructors for many years. With 20 years of international teaching experience, you can see how easily she comes into the space and how much care she takes with every Instructor in the room. She takes great pleasure in allowing the Instructors to feel out her gravitational cues throughout the class. She’s deliberately hung giant red arrows around the room, pointing down of course, as a clever reminder of the gravitational forces around us at all times.

She’s a graduate of the Master’s Program at The Pilates Centre in Boulder, Colorado, and mentions that it was this program and her time spent as an apprentice that made her into the teacher she is today. During her apprenticeship, she learnt an enormous amount about rehabilitation from complex injuries and chronic pain and the sports-specific applications of Pilates work.  It’s also her love for running that makes her Pilates journey all the more unique.

After multiple injuries as a result of her running, Maggie decided to apply her Pilates principles to her running. “I decided that I would only run in a way that effectively took the Pilates principles and skills into my running…to make my body feel more like a Pilates workout after a run,” said explained. With her number one inspiration being nature and being in the wilderness, you can see how running fitted perfectly with Maggie’s desire for efficient movement.          

In Maggie’s class today it’s all about sensing and sequencing and as she describes it ‘getting out of own our way’.  She goes through the motions of what feels like the structure of a Classical Pilates-style class but she’s encouraging you to find the most tense or least connected part of the body and connect through that. “By the time you are there, you arrive with all the power to find a strengthening power”, she said.

Maggie keeps highlighting how we need to be sensitive to the gravitational forces all around us. She encourages us to sense new things and acquire a more comprehensive grasp of our own body, which in turn helps us move more effectively. I find myself tuning in more, hearing what my inner body is telling me and truly connecting on a deeper level before I execute any movement.

Throughout the entire class Maggie is encouraging us to think about how we align ourselves with gravity, how we can absorb the forces like a sponge and ‘allow the river of gravity to run through you’, even in simple exercises like the Pelvic Curl.

In our Leg Circles, she highlights the ‘breakthrough moment’ of going further. The point where gravity takes hold and we let go, trust the process and learn what the body is capable of.

In our Roll over, Roll-ups and Scissors she talks about how the down gravitational pull actually gives you the up. Specifically in the Roll over instead of keeping the energy reaching out as the feet are overhead, she encourages us to let the feet fall to the floor, feeling the full effects of gravity pulling us closer to the earth.

Every transition is meticulous in detail. There’s a constant flow and other Instructors in the room also comment on this.

For Saw, we see ourselves dropping an elbow down to the floor and encouraging a deeper rotational twist, feeling an even better release than before. We progress to Shoulder Bridge, and for the first time I’m asked to drop my foot to the floor in this position. Feel the gravitational pull, acknowledge it then connect to bring the leg back up.

She emphasises every moment on the floor where gravity can take hold. It’s clear that her body mind and centering work also plays a big role in how she’s wanting you to feel in the class.

The Kneeling Side kick is another great example as we reach our ear to inner hip in a lateral side bend, it’s like we’re reaching to the floor before the hand makes the mat.  We do this a few times before the leg follows with effortless ease.

To round out the class we finish with a Boomerang and a stretch. We end the class and you can tell everyone feels enlightened, lighter and happier. There was time for thank yous and many rushed back to their busy lives. But just for an hour today they appreciated gravity, its full effect on the body that we normally take for granted and Maggie’s unique style that grounds us as students and as teachers too.

In my own assessment, Maggie’s style provides a fresh approach to the exercises and a new perspective. It makes matwork light-hearted and a fun way to move on the mat. It becomes a new way of exploring mat work and a great way to encourage our clients to do the same.

Thank you to Pilates ITC for arranging this event. Pilates ITC offers Continuing Education for Pilates Instructors through Masterclasses and Workshops online and in-person. To see the full line-up of events, head to www.pilatesitc.edu.au/continuing_education/

Maggie will also run her Love To Move Program in 2023 pilates-on-the-run.mykajabi.com/love-to-move-program-2023