Pilates
movements focus on “the powerhouse” – the core muscle groups
including the abdomen, lower back, hips, and buttocks. Together, these
muscles form a person's physical center. By initiating each movement from
the central core of the torso and flowing outward to the extremities,
Pilates creates a streamlined body, improves coordination and body
awareness, combats stress and tension, and helps to correct posture
imbalances.
Joseph Pilates, the founder of the the Pilates
technique, was a fragile and sickly child—he suffered from rickets,
asthma, and rheumatic fever—but through study and training overcame his
supposed limitations and went on to become strong, fit, and determined to
share with others the techniques that allowed him to develop a healthy
body and mind.
Much of Pilates' technique was developed in an
English internment camp where he was confined during World War I because
of his nationality. The equipment which is now present in a Pilates studio
began as bedsprings attached to a wall, allowing Pilates' charges
(patients recovering from injuries in the camp infirmary) to exercise
safely.
After the war, Pilates moved to the United States
and began developing and refining the core of what is now the Pilates
Technique. By the 1960's his more famous clients included George
Balanchine, Martha Graham, and many of the most famous members of their
companies.
The Method has continued to grow, benefiting from
advances in exercise science and from the extensive experience of those
practicing the Pilates Method as students and teachers. In the midst of
this dynamic body of knowledge, the core principles remain the same—a
focus on the abdominal and other “powerhouse” muscles that support the
spine, exercise routines with low repetitions of each exercise or move but
high concentration, and a careful progression from preparatory moves to
more complex and difficult ones.
The Pilates studio now includes much specialized
equipment, a far cry from the original bedsprings! All exercises can be
performed on the floor (“Mat” classes) or on the Pilates apparatus—the
Reformer, the Cadillac, the Spine Corrector, the Ladder Barrel, and the
Wunda Chair.
Pilates, with its combination of mental focus and
physical effort, helps to restore the body's natural balance. Through
deep, coordinated breathing and careful attention to each movement as part
of the holistic rhythm of the body, Pilates trains the mind and body to
work together toward the goal of total fitness.
Education for Body and Mind
