Pilates has helped me tremendously with my long and diverse hikes. The Quiraing in Scotland and The Sleeping Giant in northern Ontario are but a couple of examples

fitness, movement, pilates, hikingThe Cornerstone PilatesJanuary 27, 2025Cornerstone Movement Institutehiking, pilates, knee pain, knee health, strong knees, glutes, quadsComment

Somatosensory System and Movement Pt. 2

Since everything we think and do are intimately woven, the parietal lobes are interconnected with the prefrontal cortex (where the motor cortex resides) and together these regions make up the highest order of movement integration in our body.

anatomy, movement, neuroscienceThe Cornerstone PilatesJuly 2, 2023The Cornerstone Pilatespilates, pilatesburlington, neuroscience, neuroscience of movement, #neuroscienceofmovement, somatosensory system

International Women's Day

In my 15 years as a Pilates instructor, I would also be remiss if I do not mention the bold resilience of my clients. Thank you for choosing me to be a part of your health journey and for inspiring me always with your continuous determination to embrace your strength from within.

movement, women's history monthThe Cornerstone PilatesMarch 5, 2023The Cornerstone Pilateswomen's history month, inspiring women, pilates, pilates teacher, women, international women's day

Osteopenia / Osteoporosis - A True Story

I discussed this diagnosis with Jocelyne. Her knowledge and training of how the body works, be it muscle, bone, tendons, ligaments, etc., helped assuage the fear this diagnosis instilled.

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The Brain in Motion

If you think of us as humans, our behaviours, our choices, our passions all require movement. But each and every thing we do requires a complex set of motor activations that are linked with one another to execute the behaviour. It all happens in a nanosecond.

movement, neuroscience, pilates, small businessThe Cornerstone PilatesJune 7, 2022The Cornerstone Pilatespilates, pilates studio, burlington, neuroscience, movement, movement and the brain, connection, science of movement

Implicit vs Explicit Memories

Pause for a second and think of your favourite activity and then connect it with how you feel when you’re doing it. Procedural memory is intimately connected to our emotions via neural pathways.

neuroscience, pilates, movementThe Cornerstone PilatesDecember 20, 2021The Cornerstone Pilatesmovement, memory, implicit memory, explicit memory, emotion, pilates, pilates burlington, neuroscience

Movement and Memory

Memory is a theoretical construct that explains current behaviours by referencing them to events that happened in the past. Memory is basically how we function everyday. We don’t wake up every day and have to re-learn how to walk, how to dress ourselves, how to brush our teeth. This is cemented, it is learned.

movement, pilates, neuroscienceThe Cornerstone PilatesNovember 1, 2021The Cornerstone Pilatesmemory, muscle memory, implicit memory, explicit memory, pilates, neuroscience, movement, short-term memory, long-term memory

What is Movement?

Sedentariness today is changing the way our bodies move. Our skeleton counteracts the pull of gravity and our muscles should be able to move freely, but with our current culture, our bones become misaligned and our muscles tend to have to do some of the work of our bones.

anatomy, pilates, movementThe Cornerstone PilatesMay 7, 2021The Cornerstoen Pilatesmovement, pilates, rehabilitation

The Ins & Outs of breathing

Poor breathing patterns occur when ventilation exceeds metabolic demands. When stressed for example, we take shorter more sporadic breaths, which results in not fully exhaling. When we don’t fully exhale, it will result in upper chest breathing patterns.

pilates, anatomy, breathThe Cornerstone PilatesApril 4, 2021The Cornerstone Pilatespilates, breath, breath workshop, workshop, freedom of movement, movement, breath and movement, better ways to breatheComment

Don’t make it a resolution, make it a lifestyle change

In neuroscience, it is proven that the brain and the body both react in very similar ways. We KNOW that a pattern can never be erased.

fitness, pilates, athletesThe Cornerstone PilatesJanuary 15, 2020The Cornerstone Pilatespilates, resolution, lifestyle, fitness, exercise

Reflexology and Fertility

Reflexology is generally relaxing and calming. It relieves tension, improves nerve and blood supply and helps the body to achieve a state of homeostasis.

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So Much More Than Yoga Pants

There are researchers in the field of movement that study and write thesis assignments based on the work that they do. Movement Specialists, studio owners, teacher training schools read these and create easy to understand programs based on this research to be made available to all Pilates Instructors and movement practitioners. This is called continuing education.

pilates, anatomy, fitnessThe Cornerstone PilatesJuly 10, 2019The Cornerstone Pilatespilates, pilates burlington, teacher training, pilates instructors, pilates studio

Pilates Footwork - a healing method

There wasn’t a single time, that after my practice on the reformer that my ailments didn’t disappear. I knew it had to have something to do with the feet. There was a connection with the pressure of the feet and the foot barre of the reformer. That’s how I got interested in Reflexology.

anatomy, pilates, reflexologyThe Cornerstone PilatesJanuary 27, 2019The Cornerstone Pilatesreflexology, pilates, feet, treatment, menstrual cramps, reformer, reformer pilates, migraine

How does our Brain Perceive Pain in our Body?

The experience of pain is deeply personal, shaped by the complex ways in which our brains process and respond to it.

fitness, pilatesThe Cornerstone PilatesNovember 8, 2018The Cornerstone Pilatespain, brain, perception, pilates, burlington pilates, back pain, low back pain

Pilates: Movement that gives you "All The Feels"

Attention to detail, specific cues to isolate specific muscle fibres when doing a set of exercises. Focused areas where we will tell you what you should feel and where you should feel it. This attention to detail delivers information through proprioception and motor control.

fitness, pilatesThe Cornerstone PilatesOctober 23, 2018The Cornerstone Pilatespilates, proprioception, motor control, pilates studio, mat pilates, springboard pilates, reformer pilates

What is this thing called the “psoas” muscle?

The psoas (pronounced so-az, is a deep muscle that’s part of our core) intricately webs our structural biomechanics and our emotions to form one heck of a powerful piece in our beautiful machine we call the human body.

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Athletes get the Edge with Pilates Improving their Game

Adding Pilates to sports training helps the body learn to execute moves not only automatically, but with proper biomechanics. Using the core and deeper intrinsic muscles to move the arms and legs can prevent injuries.

fitness, pilates, athletesThe Cornerstone PilatesSeptember 3, 2018The Cornerstone Pilatespilates, athletes, conditioning, strength, burlington, burlington pilates, pilates burlington, post-rehab, strength training, one-on-one, trainer

Can Pilates Help With Weight Loss

To lose weight, you need the physical capability to do exercises. Many people who are busy and/or sedentary struggle to perform weight loss exercises. Pilates will help you build strength, tone your core and increase flexibility and range of motion in your joints.

pilates, fitness, weight lossThe Cornerstone PilatesAugust 16, 2018The Cornerstone Pilatesweight loss, pilates, pilates burlington, fitness, lose weight, exercises, core, abs, strength, exercises to lose weight

Building a Small Business

Build your brand and stick to it. There will be days when you want to give in, when you start to second guess yourself and wonder if you went about it all wrong. Stick to what you know, your main reason for starting and don’t add what the business around the corner is adding just to compete with them. Instead, be better at what you know, continuously learn about your trade and become the expert you need to be for the best outcome for your clients.

pilates, fitness, small businessThe Cornerstone PilatesJuly 31, 2018The Cornerstone Pilatesentrepreneur, pilates, small business, local business, support local, burlington pilates, burlington, pilates burlington, being an entrepreneur, building a small business, steps, how to, advice

Pilates and MS

In Pilates you learn to move correctly, with the right muscles, firing at the right time. This helps prevent fatigue (one of the most common symptoms) because you aren’t using more muscles than necessary. We learn to isolate specific muscles and instead of recruiting a whole mass of muscles to do an exercise…

pilates, fitness, multiple sclerosisThe Cornerstone PilatesJuly 11, 2018The Cornermultiple sclerosis, pilates, burlington pilates, pilates burlington, ms burlington, ms, ms exercises, movement for ms

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