The fabulous Tracy Maurstad, aka Pilates Mistress, Facebooked me that her back has been hurting after matwork since she's started trying to be more lengthened in her spine, consistent with what I call Lifted Flexion or Resisted Flexion.

I immediately suspected she was focusing too much on length and too little on stability so I asked if we could do a Skype session so I could check her form.

About 3 minutes into the session, I thought to turn on the camera and what you'll see here is the fast and furious aftermath of what happened once I'd asked Tracy to perform Double Straight Leg Stretch for me to watch which confirmed my suspicions - I'm the powerhouse whisperer! - and then I taught her, step by step, how to protect her back by muscularly stabilizing it during exercises like Double Straight Leg Stretch.

She was in her living room office and I was in my bedroom office. For those of you eagle eyed viewers out there, yes, those are Tampa Bay Rays pillows and our mascot Raymond on my bed. I'm sorry. I can't help it.

My last disclaimer is that I really wasn't gasping, I think I was holding the camera so close to my face while filming that it picked up the sound of respiration as if I were Darth Vader or something. Goodness me, production values just keep plummeting.

After a dance career, sitting through law school and carrying a GUN on her right hip for 25 years, Susanna had labrum repair and socket remodel surgery in 2008.

Here's the good news: The pain that WAS there prior to the surgery is gone. Here's the bad news: New pain moved in and has plagued Susanna ever since in spite of rehab protocol and seeking the help of over SIXTY practitioners looking for relief but never finding any.

Her range of motion in her right hip was restricted, it hurt constantly and sometimes severely and although she was able to soldier on through her daily activities, she was giving up some of her most loved cardio because of the pain.

Susanna is a Pilates client, not a teacher, and she attended a weekend of workshops I taught in Pensacola, Florida in early December and because she hadn't given up on trying to find help, she took a Developmental Private with me after the workshop ended on the last day I was in town.

In that session, which we did NOT film because I was out of memory (please, would someone please come be my video monkey, please??) all I did with her was, starting on her LEFT side, her "good" side, I performed my Assisted Knee Floats and Stirs then, after her mirror neurons had a chance to figure me out, I moved to her right side, her painful side, and performed a baby version of my AKF&S and, holy Joe Pilates, her right hip, the one that had been in spasm for YEARS, the one that more than SIXTY other folks couldn't release, released. And not only did it release but all the pain it carried with it went away, too, and not only could she move pain-free, we ended with her femur sweeping across her chest and THAT, dear viewers, hadn't happened for Susanna in a very long time.

In a perfect world, I would have continued to work with Susanna to show her how to perform the KF&S on herself but I had to catch a flight back to Pass-a-Grille and told her we'd have to do a Skype session in the next couple of days in order for me to finish her off and get her self sufficient.

How cool was it that she said she has a place in Tampa and would be there in a few days and Tampa is just north of my little fishing village on my little barrier island so we made a date for me to work with her in her Tampa home and THAT'S the footage you'll see here.

I tried to recap as much as possible and if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that you should NEVER EVER give up looking for help and that small trumps big every time. My entire original problem solving protocol repertoire is built on tiny, teeny, slight and easy movements the vast majority of which are "no touch" meaning that I don't touch you, you do it yourself, from the inside. Working small and simple and easy had NEVER been done by any of the doctors, physical therapists, Rolfers, massage therapists, trainers or Pilates teachers who tried to help Susanna before she presented herself to me.

When something's in spasm, taking the work away is all it takes to convince spasming muscles to let go and when you do, even after years of tension and aggravation, they comply because we are amazing creatures set up to function beautifully and when we get out of our own way, we almost always go back to that state of balance, grace and ease. I promise.

Enjoy!

Here are two cheater ways to open the front of the body and make extension exercises much more comfortable. Tibetan Tummy Rub and Windshield Wiper Feet are two of my favorites, they're easy to teach and the results are pretty awesome. There's a full version of Tibetan Tummy Rub already up on this site, search for it if you want the full experience. There are examples in a bunch of the 38 full length mat classes up on this site of how to teach Windshield Wiper Feet in mixed level classes. Enjoy!

With a couple of lateral curves in her spine, Deanne's Roll Up was dicey and straightening her out was my main focus in helping her work on her Roll Up technique. We used my Domes and Elevator alignment protocols to straighten her out and you'll see how I go about working on one element at a time, starting with the most important which is always, always, always proper alignment.

Here's a detailed explanation of the hip flexors and how they work, a practical to see and feel them in action and a protocol that I developed that's foolproof for teaching someone how to "get out of their quads" and use balanced hip flexion.