Today, our post has been written by Julie Klutinoty. Julie has been training and giving classes in Yoga and Pilates for years. In fact, we started working together in both of these disciplines for a number of years. This post is about Pilates, what it is and the history of it, and how it can help people. Thanks, Julie.

“You will feel better in ten sessions, look better in twenty sessions, and have a completely new body in thirty sessions.”
One of Joseph Pilates’ most famous quotes accurately describes the effects his exercise system has on it’s participants. Young or old, large or small, anyone can do Pilates. In truth, being alive and breathing are the only prerequisites needed in order to practice Pilates.

What is Pilates?
An exercise technique originally called ‘Contrology’, created by Joseph Pilates in the early 1920’s. Focus and concentration, breathing, centering, alignment and flow comprise the basic principles to a ‘system’ that is outgrowing the notion that it is a fad. Pilates is still going strong today, and it’s a resource for many of us who want to be strong, but find that other forms of exercise might not be giving us the results we were looking for. 

Background:

An immigrant to the US in the early 1900’s, Joseph Pilates arrived in New York City, with wife Clara, and opened the first Pilates studio. He designed one-of-a-kind apparatus to accompany his unique system of mind, body exercise that has proven Joseph Pilates was ahead of his time. 

In the 1940’s, Joseph was using his technique to rehabilitate and train injured dancers and athletes. He was gaining popularity and the Pilates technique was becoming known among professional athletes and dancers across the country.

It was during this time, the Pilates technique had established it’s reputation as a credible tool for physical therapy. From New York City to Los Angeles & Sante Fe, New Mexico; it wasn’t long before the work of Joseph Pilates was being sought after by fitness gurus as well as the injured. Instructors trained by Joseph Pilates were in demand and over time, his instructors were training ‘2nd Generation Instructors’ and so on.

Today, it is not uncommon to find the Pilates technique offered in Hospitals as a form of physical therapy, particularly with regard to back and spine rehabilitation. 
In the United States, maturing Baby Boomers continue to make up a large percentage of the population. Here they turn to the Pilates technique as a perfect antidote for an aging body. 

Street corners, fitness centers, and even schools; in most major cities throughout the world, the Pilates technique is showing up to be not just another exercise method… but a physical template for living in a strong, balanced body and growing old gracefully.

Julie Klutinoty for 

Valentina Boonstra