The History Of Pilates
The Pilates exercise discipline was invented by a German circus performer and boxer, who designed a series of floor and mat exercises to help balance the body, improve motion and promote mental and physical harmony. This method was for many years the premiere exercise technique of the dance world. Such notables as George Balanchine, Martha Graham and Suzanne Farrell frequented the original New York studio set up by Mr. Joseph Pilates.
Joseph Pilates was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, in 1880. His father was a prize-winning gymnast of Greek origin and his mother was a German, naturopath, who believed in stimulating the body to heal itself. Joseph Pilates was a skinny and sickly child. He suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. He was so skinny that he could not fight back the older boys who taunted him and it was under these conditions that caused him to begin his life’s journey to fitness and health.
He studied both Eastern and Western forms of exercise including yoga, Zen, and ancient Greek and Roman regimens. He came to believe that our modern life-style, bad posture, and inefficient breathing were the roots of poor health. His answer to these problems was to design a unique series of life enhancing physical exercises that help to correct muscular imbalances and improve posture, coordination, balance, strength and flexibility, as well as to increase breathing capacity
and organ function.
He went to England in 1912 and when World War I broke out in 1914 he was placed in an internment camp along with other German nationals. It was here that he began to develop the floor exercises that later evolved into what we now know as the Pilates mat work through the use of “Controlology”, the comprehensive integration of body, mind and spirit. A terrible epidemic of influenza swept the world in 1918. The internment camps were the hardest hit. Under Pilates’ rehabilitation program no detainees under his care succumbed to the disease. He devised rehabilitation equipment from bedsprings and beer keg rings. These were the origins of the equipment used today.
Pilates returned to Germany after the war and trained the Hamburg Military Police in self-defence as well as taking on personal clients. In 1925 through the persuasion of Nat Fleischer and with the aid of Max Schmelling he moved to New York. There with the help of his wife Clara, a kindergarten teacher, he established his gym, developed the Pilates method of exercise, invented the Pilates exercise equipment, and of course, trained students. In the same building as his gym there were several dance and rehearsal studios, which led to his being discovered by the dance community. Through the use of “Controlology” its dancers were sent to Pilates for rehab.
Joseph Pilates taught in New York from 1926 to 1966, referred to as the “Golden Years.” He was a friend and teacher to many renowned dancers and choreographers. He trained a number of students who applied his work and became teachers of the Pilates method themselves. This first generation of teachers who trained directly under him are often referred to as the Pilates Elders. Some committed themselves to passing along Joseph Pilates work exactly as he taught it. This approach is referred to as classical style Pilates. Other students went on to integrate what they learned with their own research in anatomy and exercise sciences.
Joseph Pilates died in 1967 at age 87. He had maintained a fit physique throughout his life. He was renowned for his flamboyant personality liking cigars, whiskey, and women. He would be seen running the streets of Manhattan, in the dead of winter, in his habitual bikini bottom training attire. His wife Clara continued to teach and run his studio for another 10 years after his death.
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Tagged With Controlology, George Balanchine, Germany, Hamburg Military Police, Joseph Pilates, Martha Graham, Max Schmelling, Nat Fleischer, Pilates Elders, Suzanne Farrell, World War I, Zen
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