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Pilates pure and simple


In his book Return to Life Through Contrology we see grainy black and white photos of Joe Pilates stretching and rolling, going from one seemingly odd pose to another. After swimming, a crescendo on moments begin as Joe performs one wildly difficult maneuver after another. A variety of complex positions you can only imagine.

The year ways 1945. The place New York City. Without knowing it, Joe was developing a revolutionary exercise modality that is just starting to begin seeing it’s potential today. Potential not only as fitness but as rehabilitation, as a guaranteed tried and true way of optimizing the body, developing it in such a balanced and specific way that it’s become the cornerstone for many top athletes.

The first line in his book is, “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness”. This concept was as old as the Greeks but times had changed. The Industrial Revolution gave rise to population increase, war, dirty industry and unhealthy living conditions abounded and there was Joe right in the middle of one of the most populated and to some degree one of the polluted cities in the world. Joe didn’t have time to care, he saw into the future when people would want a healthier, happier life for themselves. He believed Contrology was one simple way to achieve these goals.

72 years since the publication of his book I spent the weekend with students who were first learning the advanced mat work. I’ve taught this sequence many times. I simply love it. Instead of teaching them one at a time I teach them in groups in hopes that those with the ability can see the connections from once exercise to the next. They begin to feel the magic in the madness. The exercises begin on page 26 with The Hundred. On page 27 we have one of the first, if not the first exercise manual on how to perform an exercise step by step along with his, “Remarks.” Joe writes, “At first you will probably not be able to carry out instructions as illustrated in poses – this proves why these exercises and all succeeding ones will benefit you. However with patience and perseverance you eventually should succeed in achieving the ideals as posed – with accompanying normal health.”

As I held Joe’s book side to side with the manual I was using I took great pride in continuing this classical tradition. As I taught the four students I saw in my minds eye each one of them eventually teaching four students multiplying exponentially something that is so rare these days, knowledge that is for all of our benefits, knowledge that crosses all sexual, color, religions and party lines. Pilates knows no boundaries. It is there for all of us.

Once upon a time there was an attempt by someone to claim the Pilates method as their own. This attempt failed miserably and it continues to belong to all of us, from the individuals who practice at home, to the clients in the studios, to the studios found all around the world, the teachers and the teacher trainers who carry on the tradition. It belongs to the young and the old, the fit and the infirm.

You may be thinking I can’t perform any of these exercises, how are they for me? Within the method are the building blocks, the key components of movement broken down into their discreet essential elements for all of us to use like a secret code. Teachers call these modifications or variations. They don’t look anything like what Joe is doing in his book but if you go deeper into the method you will see the similarities. Starting there and building up to the “ideal as posed” requires a dedication and love of Pilates, it requires, “patience and perseverance” cornerstones of developing a strong mind, body and practice.

Within Pilates we find bigger lessons than simply movement on the mat. We find a way to stretch and grow as humans, to become empowered, to cross invisible barriers we never imagined were there. In this journey we find a new sense of ourselves. As each of the four students teach the method to the next four students I see hundreds and then thousands of invisible barriers crumbling under the successes each one of them will have in the future.

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