reFORM Pilates and Movement co-owner Matt Lueders is a huge fan of GYROTONIC® equipment and the GYROKINESIS® method. He’s used GYROKINESIS® to improve his flexibility and coordination, unify his body and mind, and go beyond a traditional Pilates practice. Read about Matt’s discovery of GYROKINESIS® and why he considers it an almost perfect exercise system below:
“reFORM has been offering GYROKINESIS® classes since 2009. My personal journey with the GYROKINESIS® method has brought about the most dramatic changes in my body of any system I’ve worked in. Pilates made me strong, got me out of chronic pain, and brought my awareness to opening tight and restricted parts of my body. GYROTONIC® exercise brought life into these restricted areas and vastly improved my flexibility and coordination. Five years of a consistent GYROKINESIS® practice has brought unity to my body, breath, and mind. It has allowed me to move in ways I thought would never be possible for me, and has completely revolutionized the way I move in Pilates and on the GYROTONIC® equipment. It has taught me how to move so that I am no longer spending time each day trying to relieve bodily discomfort from patterns of misuse, but rather instinctively using my body in a way that is natural, healthy, expressive, and easy.
Here are my thoughts on why it’s the best kind of exercise in existence today.
Coordination:
With practice, GYROKINESIS® movements recruit energy and movement from the whole body. Movement of the head has echoes all the way to the feet; one even begins to feel the energy that continues beyond the physical body into the space all around. Movement takes on freedom and grace. Think of the suppleness of a cat, or a sea creature. By allowing the energetic lines throughout the body to move harmoniously, we become both stronger and more efficient.
Rhythm:
The best time to stretch a muscle is within five seconds of contracting it. The arch and curl pattern which appears so prominently in a GYROKINESIS® class is an easy example of this: you work your arch, and then work your curl, and go back and forth with rhythm and breath and soon your range of motion is increasing, you feel strong and relaxed. This pattern is then applied to every joint in the body and we go back and forth in every plane of motion.
Flow:
As we go from one exercise to the next, the transitions are choreographed to keep the rhythm going, and to help us stay connected to the “seed center,” the sacral chakra and the origin of all expressive movement. By working with rhythm and flow we can often enter into a trance-like state where the apparent division of mind and body disappears.
Texture:
We can direct our energies into any of a number of the body’s systems: muscular. skeletal, nervous, respiratory, visceral, lymph, etc. By moving with attention to the texture of the movement (chewy, pulsating, dry, light, bouncey, heavy, sharp, etc.) we can improve our contact with each of these systems and work to unify them. Just as the movements coordinate all of the body’s muscles, they harmonize its systems to improve overall heath and well-being.
Group Energy:
GYROKINESIS® movement can, of course, be practiced alone. However, as members of a group class move together and begin to tap into their personal expressive energy, what appears is greater than the sum of the parts. There is a lightness and playfulness to a group GYROKINESIS® class that brings people together and allows their bodies to evolve more quickly than when practicing alone.”
– reFORM Pilates and Movement Co-Owner Matt Lueders
Want to learn more about the GYROKINESIS® method? Contact us today or drop by the studio to speak with an instructor.