Pilates Principles and Life
by Sarah Garbellini
Joseph Pilates (1883-1967) was to become infamous for his Pilates Contrology exercise framework. From his early start as a frail child he realised strength and fitness as a way to overcome his health issues. His father was a professional gymnast and his mother a naturopath so he was surrounded with the knowledge he later built into his Pilates method. He became a gymnast, loved skiing and diving and became a professional boxer and was even a human statue in the circus.
During WW1 he was sent to Lancaster castle where he trained other inmates and then later he was sent to another Internment camp located on the Isle of Man (an island btw the UK/Scotland and Ireland ) and compared the starving cats to the starving prisoners and noticed their animal behaviour of regular stretching. He began instructing his fellow inmates in the art of stretching and breathing and also became an orderly in the hospital, rigging up bed frames with springs to help the injured perform supported exercises.
He had a firm belief that every person should aim for greater flexibility and full diaphragmatic breathing, and this began the basis of Contrology , which after his death at the age of 83 was changed to become known as Pilates.
Following the end of WW1 he returned to Germany where some research shows he collaborated with dancers and experts in exercise.
He then emigrated to America around 1925 and met his future wife Clara on the boat across. They later opened a studio in NY in 1926 and had a devoted following in the dance community. It is said that Clara became the real powerhouse in passing on his teaching to other instructors and nurtured the idea of adapting exercises to suit the individual, encouraging her students to continue this in their teaching.
3 principles:
Joseph Pilates based his work on three principles:
Breath
whole-body health and
whole-body commitment
The whole-body term referring to mind, body and spirit.
These Principles are traditionally cited as:
• Breath – Joseph Pilates believed Diaphragmatic breathing benefitted blood circulation and awakened cells and muscles throughout the body. He believed if nothing else – we should all learn to breath deeper and with control.
• Concentration – promoting mindfulness / awareness of the movements you are performing
• Centring – both physical and the mind. Focus on the central core postural muscles as they keep the spine supported and aligned
• Control – this encompasses your awareness of the range and execution of your movements and requires both your centering and your concentration
• Precision – the idea that repetitions are only beneficial if they are accurate and incorporates the above principles of control and centering
• Flow – once you have mastered the centering and control and practiced with precision then your remaining goals is to perform the movements with flow and ease = Integration of movement.
Our modern day interpretation of this, is that they become innate to your subconscious pattering of movement allowing you to incorporate better movement strategies into your daily lives without having to focus on every small part.
Is there a difference between Yoga and Pilates?
Fundamentally yes, though in practice there may be overlaps in a specific exercise’s ‘look’ or ‘feel’ however the fundamental intention of the exercise will be different a majority of the time. My understanding is Yoga has a fundamental grounding in ancient spiritual and philosophical tradition. Joseph Pilates developed Contrology with his sole intention for it to be exercise. His goal was flexibility and full range of movement with control ( core stability) throughout the body. His focus was on using the breath to help movement but also to cleanse the internal body. His philosophy of whole-body being mind, body and spirit allows for some of the overlap in philosophy with yoga. This philosophy is a valuable grounding idea for every person whether we follow either movement paradigm.