The history of Pilates
What is all the fuss about?
Well Pilates is certainly not a fad as its been around a long time now
even though it has only become very popular and well-known in recent years.
Here is a brief look at the fascinating history of Pilates.
Well Pilates is certainly not a fad as its been around a long time now
even though it has only become very popular and well-known in recent years.
Here is a brief look at the fascinating history of Pilates.
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Joseph Pilates was born December 9, 1883 in Germany. His father was a metal worker and enthusiastic gymnast, and his mother was a housewife and naturopath who believed the body was able heal itself without artificial drugs. His mother's healing philosophy and father's physical achievements greatly influenced Pilates' later ideas on therapeutic exercise.
Pilates was a sickly child and he dedicated his entire life to improving his physical strength. Although he was originally a gymnast and bodybuilder, when he moved to England in 1912, he earned a living as a professional boxer, circus-performer, and self-defence trainer at police schools and Scotland Yard. Nevertheless, the British authorities interned him during World War One along with other German citizens in a camp where he taught wrestling and self-defence to other inmates and he began refining and developing his concept of an integrated, comprehensive system of physical exercise, which he himself called "Contrology". Whilst interned in the camp he also worked as a nurse and started experimenting using springs attached to the hospital beds so the patients could start exercising even whilst bed-bound. Such were the origins of the first Pilates machines, which were shaped like a sliding bed and used springs as resistance. |
After World War I, he returned to Germany and collaborated with important experts in dance and physical exercise,but he left his native country, disappointed with its political and social conditions, and emigrated to the United States around 1925. On the ship to America, he met his future wife Clara. The couple founded a studio in New York City and directly taught and supervised their students well into the 1960s. "Contrology", encouraged the use of the mind to control muscles, focusing attention on core postural muscles that help keep the body balanced and provide support for the spine. In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and of alignment of the spine, and strengthen the deep torso and abdominal muscles.
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Joseph and Clara Pilates soon established a devoted following in the local dance and performing-arts community of New York and students regularly consulted with Pilates for training and rehabilitation. His exercise regimen built flexibility, strength and stamina. Gradually, a wider audience got to hear of it, and it grew in popularity.
Joseph and Clara continued teaching until Joseph died in 1967. They had a number of disciples who continued to teach variations of his method or, in some cases, focused exclusively on preserving the method and the instructor-training techniques they had learned during their studies with Joe and Clara. From there many different schools of Pilates have evolved, but all are based on the principles Pilates developed, and the practice of Pilates has continued to florish and grow so that today it is embraced by athletes for conditioning, by medical professionals for rehabilitation and injury prevention, and by the wider population as an accessible and effective may to improve our posture and general well-being. |
