The Yogi guide to Pilates

You are only as young as your spine is flexible.  ~ Joseph Pilates

I attended a great Pilates conference in Miami with my friend Emily last month.  We spent two whole days learning and doing Pilates.  We met one of the "Founding Fathers" of Pilates, Mary Bowen.  She is 86 years old and is moving like she is still in her 40's - seriously!  She worked personally with Joseph Pilates back in the day and her stories and expertise were wonderful.

My first experience with Pilates was on the mat.  I took a mat class and thought it was just a boring ab class.  I was also about 20 years old and completely clueless.  Working out to me at that time of my life involved high energy cardio will a little old school ab crunches.  So when I attended the Pilates mat class I thought - this is boring and geez my neck hurts.  Well, guess what?  I was doing it wrong!

I always tell folks interested in Pilates that the mat exercises are some of the most challenging and that using the equipment first is the best way to really "feel" the exercises.  I also suggest that a few private lessons are essential to really understanding the Pilates method.  

I say "method" for Joseph Pilates truly was cutting edge for his time.  He believed that you were only as strong as your core.  If the deeper muscles in the center of your body were weak than you were setting yourself up for many physical problems.

Joe once claimed. “I’m fifty years ahead of my time."

Well, he was right and certainly a little arrogant as well! I suppose he had a right to be somewhat arrogant for he worked his whole life to educate and promote his wellness method. 

Joseph Pilates was born in Monchengladbach Germany in 1883. As a child, Joe had asthma and other ailments. He turned to exercise and athletics to battle these ailments and was always studying various exercise regimens to expand his knowledge base. He became enamored by the classical Greek ideal of a man balanced in body, mind, and spirit, and he began to develop his own exercise system based on this concept. 

Growing into adulthood, Joe was no longer the sickly child he had once been as he became an avid skier, diver, gymnast, and boxer.  Those who have practiced Pilates will understand how many of his exercises mimic certain movements from these athletic activities.

In 1912 Joe went to England, where he worked as a self-defense instructor for detectives at Scotland Yard. At the outbreak of World War I, Joe was interned as an “enemy alien” with other German nationals. During his internment, Joe refined his ideas and trained other internees in his system of exercise.

After his release, Joe returned to Germany. His exercise method gained favor in the dance community, primarily through Rudolf von Laban, who created the form of dance notation most widely used today. When German officials asked Joe to teach his fitness system to the army, he decided to leave Germany for good.

In 1926, Joe emigrated to the United States. During the voyage he met Clara Zeuner, whom he later married.  Joe and Clara opened a fitness studio in New York and by the early 1960s, Joe and Clara were training many clients including New York ballet dancers.

Joseph Pilates died in 1967 and left no rights to his method.  For over 20 years there was a legal battle between some of his protégé on who could say they owned the rights to the Pilates method.  In the end the courts ruled that no one owned the rights to his methods and so anyone could say they were teaching Pilates.

By the 1990's the Pilates business boomed once people were allowed to teach the method without legal ramifications.  Different schools were developed and today you will find that certain styles have evolved but in the end the exercises remain the same.  Pilates is not only featured in fitness facilities all over the world, but has become a crucial training adjunct to elite athletes all over the world.  Pilates is also a great way to help those injured or post surgery to regain strength and flexibility.

A friend recently asked me what was the difference between yoga and Pilates.  I would say that there are many more similarities between these two modalities but a few slight nuances that make them different.  Here are a few contrasts:

Yoga concentrates mostly on increasing strength and flexibility of the spine and limbs; Pilates focuses on building abdominal strength first, and then symmetrical musculature as well as overall flexibility. 

In Pilates, every movement emanates from the center/core and extending through the rest of the body parts.  In yoga, it is the concentration on the breath, first, then focusing on deepening a pose.  In yoga, the primary goal (aside from proper alignment in the poses), is to stay connected to the breath; in Pilates, the first order of business is the precision of movement, and then, the coordination of that movement with the breath.

I truly believe that both yoga and Pilates complement each other and are excellent for everyone.  Both are highly adaptable for any level and ability which is excellent for someone new as well as someone more advanced.

Joe says it best when trying to convince people to practice Pilates:

"In 10 sessions you'll feel the difference, in 20 you'll see the difference, and in 30 you'll have a new body."

Enough said.

So my suggestion is that if you have only been on the yoga train I think it time to jump on the Pilates wagon as well.  Your body, mind and spirit will thank you.

Stay well my dear friends!

The light in me honors the light in you,

Namaste