Have you ever been told to “brace your core” before lifting something? Or found yourself stiffening your body in an effort to feel stronger or more supported?
Many of us have learned to rely on tension as our primary strategy for creating support. And sometimes, that’s exactly what the task requires.
… But not always.
One of the key ideas we explored in our recent The Intelligent Core: Support Without Stiffness workshop was that support isn’t about finding one “correct” strategy. Different tasks place different demands on our body, and the way we organise ourselves should be able to change with those demands.
Our bodies don’t just need support when we’re standing still. They need to support us when we carry shopping, pick up grandchildren, climb stairs, reach into the back seat of the car or catch ourselves after a stumble. Some of these moments call for more abdominal activity. Others benefit from more mobility, more breath or a different way of organising the body altogether.
The goal isn’t to brace less. It isn’t to brace more.
It’s to develop the awareness to choose the most appropriate strategy for the task at hand.
That shift in thinking is where resilience begins.
A resilient body isn’t one that avoids tension. It’s one that can regulate it—creating the right amount of support for the task at hand, then letting it go when it’s no longer needed.
One phrase we kept returning to throughout the workshop was:
The more movement options we have, the more support options we have.
When we rely on a single strategy—whether that’s gripping, bracing or holding tension—we have fewer ways to respond when life asks something different of us. Expanding our movement options allows us to become more adaptable, more resilient and ultimately more confident in how we move.
This idea doesn’t stop with the core. In many ways, it’s the foundation for balance. We often think of balance as standing still, but balance is really another expression of adaptability. It’s the body’s ability to organise itself, make small adjustments and respond to changing demands.
That’s exactly what we’ll explore in the next workshop in our Understanding Your Body series.
Balance Beyond Balance: Stability, Strength & Confidence
Balance is about much more than standing on one leg. Together we’ll explore how strength, movement awareness and adaptability work together to help us feel more steady and confident in everyday life.
Whether you’re walking on uneven ground, carrying groceries, navigating stairs or recovering from a stumble, balance is less about holding still and more about responding well.
Every workshop in the Understanding Your Body series explores a different aspect of movement, but they all come back to the same question:
How can we create a body that is adaptable, resilient and able to respond to whatever life asks of it?
That’s the journey we’ll continue in Balance Beyond Stillness.
Balance Beyond Stillness: Stability, Strength & Confidence
Friday 9 October | 12:00–1:30pm
Bookings are now open via the Evolved Pilates app and website. You can read more about the workshop here
