Your back is not a straight line.

You might have heard it before, in a gym, in a class, from a physiotherapist, maybe from your mother; “Keep your back straight”. It is not wrong, but it is shorthand, and shorthand gets repeated for years without anyone checking what is underneath it. In private classes in our studio Pilates Practice Amsterdam, the “back” is one of the first study areas we open up. Our top experienced teachers have the exact eye, training and years of experience to do this together with you.

The first thing is that the back is not a straight line. It curves, and those curves are there for a reason. What we are looking for is not straightness but length. We want a back that is long and decompressed, with space between the vertebrae, free to do what it can actually do. That feels very different from holding yourself stiff.

The second thing is that every back has its own history. Old injuries, years at a desk, the way you were told to sit as a child, what you carried and on which shoulder. Part of the work is getting you reacquainted with your own. Your neck, your ribcage, your lower back, the back of your pelvis and your sitting bones all get grouped under the word "back," but each of them has its own feeling and its own supporting role. Most people cannot tell them apart in the beginning, which is completely normal, and it does change with practice. This work takes years to progress and actually never ends but getting refined as you move towards older age, which is a bliss!

The third thing is that we live very frontally. Almost everything we do happens in front of us, on screens, at tables, behind a steering wheel, on a phone. Then the complaints start. Rounded shoulders, back pain, small frustrating aches that never really settle. Here is the question people do not expect us to ask: have you ever thought about how all of that relates to your feet? Your back does not organise itself on its own. It organises from the ground up.

The fourth thing is about how we look at the world. Our eyes stay fixed on one distance for hours and the neck slowly follows, which is why a forward head position is one of the most common things that walks through our door. So we also teach you to engage your vision, where you look, how wide your gaze is, how your eyes and your neck work together. There is no real Pilates without vision practice.

None of this happens in one class. The format we recommend is one committed hour a week, ongoing, for a long time. There is a lot for us to pass on and a lot for you to learn and practise. We are grateful to hold this space for you.

All bodies, all levels welcome.

Book your first class now!