profile

Pilates Home Practice

Improve your posture, improve your life

Published over 2 years ago • 2 min read

During the years I was going through my Pilates teacher training there were lots of opportunities to discuss posture with experts and fellow students.

I always raised my hand immediately to volunteer as the sample body because I knew that my posture was a key to my chronic pain.

Wise, compassionate movement teachers, physical therapists and body workers were often gathered around me pointing out my imbalances and postural anomalies.


It felt incredibly frustrating not to be able to step outside myself and see what they saw. I knew that my dropped arches, externally rotated legs, knock knees, tucked pelvis, contracted and flared ribcage, tight shoulders and forward head were a key to the stabbing pain under my shoulder blade, almost daily headaches, stiff necks and numb hands. But I didn't know what to do to make a difference.

I was driven to understand.

I was doing Pilates all the time. I was strong enough to perform the super advanced repertoire on all of the apparatus. I was in better shape than ever but I was still in pain everyday.


What I didn't know then was that I was practicing and exercising while in the flawed pattern that was causing me pain. I kept reinforcing the very thing that was hurting me.

My body thought it was the best strategy to keep me safe after whiplash from a couple car accidents and soft tissue damage in my thirties.

I couldn't imagine a different way of thinking about my body and how it worked.


I thought that more was more and working harder was better.


At the time I was actively seeking help, getting massages, seeing a chiropractor and doing workshops on rolling and releasing. Those were all great. But what I didn't understand was that after I spent 4 hours luxuriously releasing the tight spots in my body I stood up and put them all back because that was my body's strategy for support.


It wasn't until a fateful day after the birth of my 2nd child when I went to Austin, Texas for a workshop with one of my heroes, first generation Pilates teacher, Mary Bowen, that I met Wendy LeBlanc-arbuckle and the 2 of them taught me about doing less and releasing into gravity.


It was a profound experience like a rebirth.

It was just the beginning. I continued to explore and study which culminated in a year long mentorship with Wendy in Balanced Body's passing the torch program. I'm so grateful to Wendy and all she taught me about embodiment and so much more.


During the pandemic, out of necessity, I've learned to help my students on the same journey to understand their tension patterns, achieve easier posture and relieve long held chronic pain all without meeting in person.

I'm now using sophisticated tools that allow me to do virtual postural assessments and create laser focused videos specifically for my students' issues.

I realize I've created a series of sessions that are exactly what I was looking for during my search for answers.

It's not about fixing your posture as much as it is understanding your posture. Recognizing why you've held on to tension patterns over the years from physical or emotional trauma, bad habits, excessive repetition of certain movements due to your profession and then letting them go. The miracle is that once you let go of the tension your body's deep, intrinsic support system can kick in. Posture should never be static and it informs everything you do.


Want to try it?


I'm giving $200 off my virtual postural analysis package through January 15th.

I'm only selling 10 at this price so I'm sure to give you all the attention you deserve. I really want to help you feel better and move better so you can live more fully.





Pilates Home Practice

Kristen Iuppenlatz Grech

Feel so good you'll dance in your kitchen! Simple shifts will make a huge impact as you become aware of the daily postural patterns that keep you in pain and add bite-size exercises into the things you're already doing everyday. Soon you'll feel lighter on your feet and you'll bounce and glide through your day.

Read more from Pilates Home Practice

Happy almost spring! It's my favorite time of year when the garden bursts with new life and the feel of the sun on my face feels like heaven. My birthday is the last day of winter and it always feels like I come alive again in the spring. It's time to get out into the world again, to go for walks and get active. If you have any aches and pains from sitting for hours or being too still over the winter, listen up! I've got an opportunity for you to work with me to feel better... so good, in...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

If you ever feel pain in your knees, hips or shoulders you'll probably benefit from exploring the relationship of your feet to the rest of your body. Just a small shift in the way you stand into your feet will cause a ripple up your whole body. Stronger feet allow you to release tension up above and feel more grounded and at ease. It can be really simple to make a huge impact. Surprising, right? I had no idea when I first started to examine the role my feet play in my posture and the way I...

6 months ago • 1 min read

It's the end of another year. How are you, Reader? Are you the kind of person that does inventory? Do you take the time to look back and celebrate your triumphs, ponder the things that failed and dream about what you'll upgrade in the new year? Everyone has a different way of doing it and who knows what works best. One year I scribbled on some scrap paper as I shivered in my freezing car, waiting for my children to have enough of sliding down a snowy slope on inner tubes with their cousins. I...

over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Share this post