The first stage of body self-assessment is to teach your self visual awareness of the ideal body alignment. This acts as a basis for comparison when you assess the alignment and other characteristics of your own body. The feet are the basis for our standing posture, so it is normal to check from the feet upward. Remember that none of us is perfect and that most of us deviate from the ideal in at least one or two respects.
Aiming for alignment
Pilates exercise aims to help you achieve symmetrical alignment of your shoulders and hips and of your head and neck over your spine. Such symmetry is not only pleasing to look at but a/50 provides the basis for strain-free movement.
Body Checks
Positioning
Your shoulders should be level and your hips aligned. Your head should be directly over your spine.
Ideal body alignment balances the heaviest areas of the body—head, ribcage, and pelvis—over one another to create maximum stability and minimum stress on the spine.
Misalignment occurs when one of these elements shifts away from the center— for example, if the head pokes forward, the spine tends to angle backward to compensate. This stresses the muscles and ligaments of the spine, making injury more likely. It is common for a primary fault to create a succession of additional faults in an effort to redress the balance.
Head and neck
The head is, for its size, the heaviest part of the body. To avoid experiencing strain its weight should be balanced evenly over the neck and spine, neither tipping to either side nor being held too far forward or back.
Shoulders
The shoulders should always appear to drop in a relaxed manner away from the neck. They should also align horizontally with one another. In profile the shoulders should be held neither too far forward nor too far back.
Curves of the back
We have already seen that the spine has both convex and concave curves when it is viewed in profile. These curves should not be flattened or exaggerated in any way.
Pelvis
The position of the pelvis is critical for good posture. In profile the pelvis should neither tip forward excessively, which exaggerates the curve in the lower back, nor backwards, which over-flattens this curve. Pilates exercise teaches you to adopt a healthy, neutral position for the pelvis
Knees and legs
The position of the knees is in part determined by the alignment of the hip joint. The kneecaps should face directly forward and the knee joints should not angle inward (knock knees) or outward (bow legs). In profile the upper and lower legs should be aligned vertically between hips, knees, and ankles. If the lower leg curves back away from the vertical line then the knees are said to be hyper extended.
Ankles and feet
When standing, your feet should face directly forward and carry your weight evenly across the soles of the feet.
