When it comes to alignment, I don’t know if there’s a more nebulous-sounding term than “neutral pelvis.”
If you’ve ever taken a Pilates class, you’ve probably heard it:
“Find your neutral.”
“Make sure your pelvis is in neutral.”
I remember hearing it all the time when I first started taking Pilates and not understanding it all.
I knew what it meant when my car was in neutral, but my pelvis?
No clue.
I even completed my Pilates certification in 2004, still trying to understand what it meant.
It wasn’t until I started training with Marie-José Blom in 2011 that I began to actually get it.
On the surface, neutral pelvis itself is pretty simple:
Your pelvis is in a neutral position when the ASIS bones (which poke out at the top front of your hip bones) are in the same plane as your pubic bone.
(I break this down in more detail in this post from 2022: Neutral Pelvis and How to Fix Yours If It’s Not.)
What’s tricky for most people, me included, is we’re so used to what it feels like to NOT be in a neutral pelvis that when we are, it feels weird.
That said, a neutral pelvis isn’t a position you want to find and lock yourself into.
But you DO want to know how to find it and get back to it when you leave.
Why?
Because when your pelvis is in neutral:
- Your glute muscles work better and make walking way more efficient.
- Working glutes means better balance and a rear-end that gets toned with every step you take.
- Your deep abdominal and spinal muscles naturally activate when your pelvis is in neutral, making standing and sitting tall easier and your spine much more stable.
- Your pelvic floor loves a neutral pelvis because it can automatically contract as needed throughout the day without you having to think about it.
- When your pelvis is in neutral, the curves of your spine easily align, setting your spine up for shock-absorbing success.
In today’s video, I’ll show you how to find a neutral pelvis in the quadruped position, AKA on your hands and knees.
After you check out the video, I’d love to know your take. Make sure to let me know in the comments below.
In and out of neutral,
Sydney
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