Episode 17: A Little History About Pilates
Did you ever wonder where Pilates came from? How it evolved? Listen to today's episode to find out more!!!
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Show Notes:
Introduction to the history of Pilates and its evolution.
Joseph Pilates, the founder, originally named his method Contrology, focusing on control of the body for both mental and physical health.
Joseph Pilates' early life, health struggles, and motivation for health improvement.
His achievements as a self-taught athlete and his move to England in 1912 during World War I, where he helped rehabilitate bedridden soldiers.
Joseph and his wife Claire opened up the first Pilates studio in New York City in 1926.
The unfortunate fire accident at the studio when Joseph was 86, leading to his death a year later possibly due to smoke inhalation.
The legacy of Joseph Pilates - Claire's continued teachings and the spread of Pilates teaching by experienced students.
The absence of a legally designated heir or trademark for the Pilates name, leading to it existing as a general exercise technique like yoga.
The importance of a teacher's experience and understanding of the mind-body connection.
The variations of Pilates that exist today, including both classical and contemporary methods.
Importance of fundamental skills in Pilates and minimal equipment needs to get started.
Carrie Van's gratitude for Joseph Pilates' teachings and recommendations for his books, "Return to Life through Contrology" and "Your Health".
Final thoughts and a quote from Joseph Pilates about the importance of physical well-being, mental calm, and spiritual peace.
Key Takeaways:
Joseph Pilates created a unique exercise method, originally called Contrology, which emphasizes the mind-body connection and focuses on breathing, alignment, and movement control.
Despite early health struggles, Joseph became a self-taught athlete, eventually creating his method to help improve both mental and physical health.
After Joseph's death, his wife Claire and other experienced students continued to teach and spread Pilates, with it becoming a well-known general exercise technique today, similar to yoga.
It's crucial to consider a teacher's experience and their understanding of the mind-body connection when choosing a Pilates instructor.
There are different variations of Pilates that exist today, including classical and contemporary forms, and it's important to start with the fundamental skills.
To practice Pilates, minimal equipment is required, making it an accessible form of exercise for many.
Joseph Pilates was a pioneer in his time, emphasizing the importance of physical well-being, mental calm, and spiritual peace, all of which remain at the core of Pilates practice today.
Transcript:
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Better than a Pill. I'm Cari Vann, and I'm so grateful and excited to be here again to share with you today. In today's episode, we're going to be talking a little bit about the history of pilates so that you understand where it came from and also how it has evolved.
Joseph Pilates, hence Pilates being his last name, but actually his method was contourogy. Contrology, not pilates is the method that he created, and again, it involves gaining control of your body. So I can see why he called it contrology. He developed contrology as a way to help improve both mental and physical health, because he believed in the mind body connection with a focus on breathing, alignment, and movement control.
Now, he was born in Germany in 1880, and as a child, he suffered from illnesses such as asthma, rickets, rheumatic fever, and he was often teased because he was frail. And this became a driving motivation for him to improve his health and wellness. And that's what he did, and he took it to the extreme. In fact, by age 14, he was in such good condition that he was used as a model for a series of illustrated anatomy charts. Now, he also became a self taught athlete, and he excelled at skiing, diving, gymnastics, and boxing. So he really made a 24/7 here.
In 1912, during World War I, Joseph Pilates left Germany and he went to England, where he helped bedridden soldiers, rehabilitate their bodies using his method. After the war ended, he headed to New York City, and on the way over, he met his wife Claire on the ship. And together they opened up the first pilates studio in 1926, where he mainly taught his exercise system to dancers, gymnastics and other athletes.
Now, when Joseph was 86, unfortunately, a fire hit the studio and he ended up falling through the floor. But he was able to catch a hold of one of the floor beams and pull himself out of danger, which at that age is really no small feat. He actually ended up dying a year later at the age of 87. And according to some sources, the cause of death might have been due to some complications to smoke inhalation that he suffered during the fire. So his wife Claire continued teaching at the studio until around 1971, and then she passed the work on to more experienced students.
These students continued to teach and spread the work. There was a total of about five advanced students at the time who later went on to teach what is now called classical pilates. Now, when Joseph Pilates died, he left no legally designated heir, and there was no trademark on his work. There were attempts made to trademark his work. In the 1980s, there was a lawsuit, a class action lawsuit, but it failed. In 1996, it was a no go so what that means is that any individual can claim ownership to use the Pilates name, and it exists as a general exercise technique, just, for example, as yoga does.
So because anyone can teach Pilates, what is important to know are a few things. One, it's important to know the experience of your teacher in terms of how long they've been teaching. Also the type of experience, because we're working with many different populations of people. Also, does your teacher have an understanding of the mind of the body and so forth. So obviously, the more experience you have, the more you get to learn. But also, as I said, it's definitely related to the type of experience as well.
There are many forms of Pilates that exist today, and this includes both classical and contemporary and really any version in between. Now, personally, I have become cross trained in classical as well as contemporary techniques and even rehabilitative techniques. I think that it's important to note that there is really no right or wrong way, that there are even original Pilates exercises that I don't teach because I don't like how they, first off, feel on my own body, and they have a higher injury rate.
Like I've said in the past, the most important thing to start with are the fundamental skills. And beginning with these, again, they're often overlooked. Getting them into your body is really key in order for you not to compensate in other areas. Now, the beauty is that when you're doing Pilates, you really don't need that much at all to get started. Typically a mat, I say, like I've said before, a thicker mat for back support and your body. I like to use a hand towel. And for me, I love Joseph Pilates' circle that he created. I think it's key for everything. So as you progress, you may need a few small props to help as well.
So that being said, yes, I am grateful for Joseph Pilates for all of his teachings and his great insight on the mind, body connection, breathing, alignment, and movement control. He was extremely ahead of his time and somewhat of a prodigy. During his lifetime, he wrote two books, "Return to Life through Contrology" and "Your Health". I recommend these books to anyone who wants to get more insight on the man behind the creation of this method and understand things.
On that note, I'm going to end today with a quote from Joseph Pilates, which I like, and it says a lot about his belief in his method Contrology. The acquirement and enjoyment of physical well-being, mental calm, and spiritual peace are priceless to their possessors. It is only through control that this unique trinity of a balanced mind and spirit can be attained. And I will add my two cents to this that it must start with slowing down breathing and paying attention.
Just to recap, today we talked a little bit about the history of Pilates to get a better understanding. Actually understanding that the method was called Contrology, as well as a brief history of the man who created it, I hope that you all enjoyed this episode and found it helpful. Remember, we do new episodes every week on Wednesday and I look forward to having you join me then.
