Gyrotonic: Pilates in 3-D!
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I first heard about gyrotonic exercises years ago, but it wasn't until I visited Harmony Mind Body Fitness a few weeks ago that my curiosity was reignited when I caught a glimpse of the gyrotonic expansion machine. So, when studio owner Laura Dixon told me I could come back and try it, I jumped at the chance.
The gyrotonic expansion machine
I've only ever seen gyrotonics offered at pilates studios, so I thought it was a spin-off of the pilates method and reformer work. Not true. While pilates fans will love the spinal movements and moving from the core (or seed center as it's called in gyrotonics), gyrotonic exercises were not designed after pilates.
The two methods do complement each other and like the reformer, the expansion system is a modifiable, modern but medieval looking machine that assists the body in completing Horvath's system of movements. It uses circular weights, resistance pulleys and other adjustable parts to "get the body moving in three dimensions," as Courtney, the certified gyrotonic instructor told me during our session.
Instructor Courtney showing graceful gyrotonic moves.
You start on a gyrokinesis (a relative of gyrotonics done seated) stool, move on to handle work (like in the picture above) and then on to hamstring/leg movements. "Everything moves in a spiraling, continuing motion," Courtney says. "It looks a bit like choreography and when you're done, it feels like you've received a massage from the inside out."
Because it was my first time, my session was slower paced, but I still found gyrotonic challenging, especially the hamstring/leg series, and because it's done in a continual flow, I'm sure seasoned users easily work up a sweat on the expansion machine. It took me awhile, but once I found the connection between breath and movement, I felt that wonderful inside out massage energy and the fluid motion felt awesome on my tight, stiff, just out of bed on a Sunday morning spine.
Try gyrotonic or gyrokinesis at Harmony Mind Body, 1962 N. Bissell St., in Lincoln Park.
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