Frances Sheridan Goulart is a Pilates mat and Reformer instructor, Hatha Yoga instructor, certified clinical nutritionist and the author of sixteen books on health and nutrition, including the recent Super Immunity Foods: A Complete Program to Boost Wellness, Speed Recovery, and Keep Your Body Strong (McGraw Hill). She lives in Ridgefield, CT.

Sustained movement along with appropriate placement of that shoulder, leg or hip plus careful alignment and a considered trajectory for each part of the body.

We know these bundled cues as the principle of Precision. But did you know that Precision has a crossover value? What’s good for the transversus, in other words, is good for the esophagus.

Something as simple as a bowl or cup of homemade soup is a slurp in the right direction toward better health and healing this winter, especially after a session on your mat or apparatus. According to research from the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, a higher intake of fruits and vegetables (just what you get in a bowl of homemade soup) is associated with a reduced risk of many common forms of cancer. The World Cancer Research Fund reports that consuming at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits daily is associated with a 50 percent reduced risk for cancer. That produce-rich minestrone or chowder also lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and degenerative conditions such as arthritis and diabetes.

Sometimes, when doing Pilates, ingenious props can assist or support our bodies, helping us get to wherever we want to be on our mats. And if physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness, as Joseph Pilates instructed us, nutritional fitness is certainly a companion to that requisite. Indeed, props at breakfast, lunch and dinner can help us reach our healthy hand-to-mouth goals, especially when we are short on time, energy or inspiration (or all three)! Here of some of my favorite, must-have props for the kitchen.

Mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body): That was Joseph Pilates’ gold standard standard. Who can argue with that? But it’s easier said than done.

Use your intuition to empower your body with the right foods, plus a recipe for Carrot-Citrus and Ginger Salad Dribble.

by Frances Sheridan Goulart
Novelist E. M. Forster once observed, “The body says what words cannot.” And that body, when properly trained, often speaks louder than words. As Joseph Pilates promised, “In ten sessions [of Pilates], you will see the difference and in thirty, you will have a whole new body.”
What is the key to this [...]

by Frances Sheridan Goulart
One of the most important Pilates principles that (hopefully) guides us as we master our mind/body connection is imagination.
We’ve got to have an imagination to reap the rewards of Pilates and to rear a healthy, well-nourished body. Test: Do you eat the same bowl of oatmeal every morning? Do you do the [...]