What We Can Learn From Imperfect Movement

Forget perfection! Experimenting with misdirection and asymmetry in Pilates is a key part of the formula for discovering untapped movement capabilities (and untangling ingrained patterns).

- Chantill Lopez

WEIGHT. WARMTH. VARIABILITY. TISSUE INTEGRATION. PLAY. Being able to work when off-balance and out of alignment. Embracing the wiggles, the wobbles. Prioritizing wholeness over perfection.

How can these concepts, when applied to movement, enhance our ability to accurately assess safety in our lives through a neurological and psychological process?

How can training our bodies in a specific way unwind patterns of conscious and unconscious behavior and in turn promote the greater potential for motor skill development and new movement habits?

Movement can be simple, yet the human brain is complex. The idea of “imperfect Pilates” began, in part, as a way to organize strategies that bolster vagus nerve health (vagal tone), open the body and brain to greater movement variance, and promote positive compensation. For most of my 22-year teaching career, I’ve been engaged in supporting movement skill development through exploration and curiosity, putting a consistent focus on how we learn to make better movement choices no matter the context or environment. The overarching philosophy of working this way is to achieve integrative and wholesome movement in an imperfect setting—aka our bodies.

This approach has been an inquiry into how to teach movement to the whole person and all that they bring to each moment of experiencing their body. It isn’t a straightforward path. It’s meandering and fraught with twists and turns indicative of our entire mental, emotional and physiological history. The question becomes how can we address the whole person while still working within the scope of the body?