JOSEPH PILATES
We thought you'd like to know a bit about the founder
of Pilates!
Joseph Pilates was born in Germany in 1880 and he died in New York City
in 1967 at the age of 87. Much has been written about him, including his
time during World War 1 where, as a German national, he was interned in
England and became a nurse. He developed exercise apparatus for
immobilised servicemen by attaching springs to hospital beds. Even now,
the machines used in Pilates studios are centred around spring and
pulley systems. Over a period of some twenty five years, he developed a
body conditioning system which has become known as the Pilates Method.
Let's make no bones about it, Joseph Pilates had an
evangelical approach to his philosophy of mind and body. He was totally
committed to what he believed was the right system of physical and
mental training. He developed a regime which he termed "contrology", the
complete co-ordination of body, mind and spirit. Acquiring control over
your body through his system of exercises would provide suppleness,
muscular power, with corresponding endurance, good posture and
alleviation of body strain. |
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In terms of balance of body and mind, he
focused on the conscious control of all muscular movements of the body. He
focused on body mechanics and applying proper leverage principles having
regard to the skeletal framework of the body and muscle systems. General
health, he maintained, centres around body posture, mechanics, correct
breathing, spinal flexibility and appropriate physical exercise.
If you read his original texts, first published in 1934, you will note his
conviction that his regime alone could properly counter many of the ill
effects of modern existence which involve everything from bad posture, bad
diet to physical and mental strain. He even produced revolutionary designs
for beds and chairs!
Joe was no slouch; he studied and combined eastern and western forms of
exercise including yoga, Zen, Greek and Roman wrestling. By the time he was
14, he was posing for anatomical charts and he also became proficient in
body building, diving, skiing and gymnastics!
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In fact, he could be
dismissive of many conventional beliefs in areas ranging from science,
medicine and upbringing of children. He was dismissive of many claims
made for health products and regimes devised by large corporations and
even contended that practically all human ailments are the result of
wrong habits.
On the upbringing of children, he commented on children being vaccinated
with "poison" to keep their health, being forced to swallow laxatives
instead of resorting to natural exercise to prevent constipation. He
commented on inadequate sex education, often gained "haphazardly in the
street and elsewhere to their ultimate ruination in body and mind.
Masturbation in both sexes, the curse of mankind, is the result of such
handling of children". |
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Well, whatever one might think of the philosophy
underlying the Pilates Method, the vindication of his early 20th century
preachings is in the continuing growth in the popularity of his method of
exercise in the 21st century. You only have to read the papers and health
magazines to know that Pilates is developing in popularity in many
countries. Its practitioners testify to its benefits. As the authors of the
introduction to the millennium edition of the original 1945 publication by
Pilates and Miller regarding the Pilates Method contend, Joseph Pilates
created a "truly effective" method of controlling and strengthening muscles,
achieving posture correction and stretching and suppleness and the beauty of
it is that it is effective for virtually everyone.
It is difficult to fault the underlying merits of Pilates' philosophy and
its application to achieve balance of body and mind. The desire for such
balance, and how it is achieved, is a matter for the individual.
We at the Pilates Practice believe in what he was trying to achieve and aim
to provide as good a platform as possible to help you, the individual, get
the most out of his teachings.
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