Posture, Breath, and Balance: The Art of the Pedi Pole
Written by Sam Cotrone
Sometimes the simplest piece of equipment is the most revealing. The Pedi Pole (also known as the Ped-o-Pul) looks unassuming, but one session quickly shows how profoundly it can reorganize your body—from the feet grounding into the floor to the crown of the head reaching for the ceiling. Lengthening, connecting, and expanding become the total focus.
At its core, the Pedi Pole is about posture and breath. It challenges you to find lift against gravity, connect to your center, and discover true alignment through awareness rather than effort.
The Pedi Pole Springs and pole provide subtle feedback, guiding the body to align properly and focus on the breath. Each movement demands strength, stability, and expansion of both breath and limbs.
Over time, this work helps to:
• Re-educate posture for corrected alignment
• Strengthen the shoulder girdle
• Deepen breath capacity
• Improve coordination and balance
The Ped-o-Pul is both humbling and empowering—it reveals exactly where you’re lacking strength and control while providing a challenging, upright position to address any weaknesses.
In my own practice and teaching, I return to the Ped-o-Pul for recalibration. It reminds me to stand tall, breathe deeply, and let my movement start from the inside as I work to lengthen and expand outward. Every opportunity offers a moment of rediscovery—the perfect balance of focus and play.
When teaching students on the Ped-o-Pul, I’m often asked:
-
“It looks too simple—does it really do much?”
That’s its brilliance. With nothing to hide behind, you learn how to support yourself through standing tall, using your breath fully, and finding the movements that challenge alignment.
-
“I feel wobbly at first.”
Good. That wobble means you’re waking up the stabilizing muscles needed to keep you centered. It’s the perfect place to learn to control and command your body.
Favorite Exercises on the Pilates Pedi Pole
1. Chest Expansion – Opens the chest and strengthens the back while challenging balance.
2. Centering – Teaches deep connection through the powerhouse with a focus on breathing deeply and completely.
3. Single-Leg Balance – Tests control, symmetry, and stability.
4. Roll Down – Articulates the spine while maintaining vertical lift.
5. Breathing with Deep Knee Bend (Facing the Pole) – Integrates all the core principles of Pilates: concentration, control, centering, precision, breath, and flow.
Discover the Power of the Ped-o-Pul
Add the Pedi Pole to your next workout or teaching session. Approach it with curiosity—this modest apparatus will teach you more about your alignment, powerhouse, and breath than you might expect.
At our studio, we integrate the Ped-o-Pul into our Comprehensive Teacher Certification Program, helping future instructors understand the subtleties of posture, breath, and alignment from a classical foundation.
This work is an essential part of our training—developing instructors who teach with precision, depth, and an understanding of how even the smallest apparatus supports the full Pilates system.
Where Posture Meets Breath
The Pedi Pole brings posture and breath into perfect harmony. It’s a quiet teacher, reminding us that strength begins with awareness and lift begins with breath. We see the genius of Joseph Pilates every time we work on the Ped-o-Pul.
About the Author
