The Pilates method: history and philosophy

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HISTORICAL REVIEW

                                                       The Pilates method:
                                                       history and philosophy
                                                       . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

                                                       Penelope Latey

                                                       Until the mid-1980s the Pilates Method of exercise was little known outside the world
                                                       of dance but has grown in popularity rapidly in the last decade: coming out of
                                                       obscurity. Pilates method is much more than a list of exercises. It is a way of
                                                       connecting and conditioning the whole being-body and mind. This article traces its
                                                       history in context and examines the initial principles of the method, with the
                                                       beginnings of modern developments. # 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.

                                                       Joseph (Hubertus) Pilates:                     Joseph Hubertus Pilates was born
                                                       1880^1967                                   in 1880 near Dusseldorf in
                                                                                                   Germany. He was apparently a
                                                       Joseph Pilates ran an exercise studio       sickly child, suffering from rickets,
                                                       in New York from the late 1920s to          asthma and rheumatic fever. There
                                                       the 1960s. He wrote two books on            was concern at one time that he
                                                       his method, and some films of his           might have tuberculosis. He was
                                                       work are available, but otherwise his       probably taken to health spas and
Penelope Latey
Pilates Practitioner, Senior Lecturer and course co-
                                                       method has been passed down via             given exercise regimes that were
ordinator of the Grad. Cert. in the Pilates Method     apprenticeship training from                popular at the time for people in
at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS),          teachers who were themselves                poor health. Long before the advent
Australia. Council Member and ex-president of the      apprenticed to him. It has been said        of antibiotics and other successful
Australian Pilates Method Association (APMA).
                                                       that Pilates ‘did’ and Clara, his wife,     drugs, and before the life-saving
This paper is modified from an annotated excerpt
from the book Modern Pilates written by Penelope
                                                       ‘explained’. He had no formally             procedures of modern medicine, to
Latey. Due to be published, September 2001, Allen      structured teacher-training course,         stay alive meant one had to remain
and Unwin, Australia.                                  and only since the 1980s has there          fit and strong. Regular exercise was
Correspondence to: P. Latey
                                                       been any formalized dissemination           one of the few ways available to
1 Toongovah Road, Waverton 2060,                       of his work. First came the book            combat ill health. Health spas and
NSW, Australia.                                        The Pilates Method of Mental and            exercising for health had become a
E-mail: latey@tpg.com.au                               Physical Conditioning by                    common part of German life.
                                                       P. Freidman and G. Eisen,                      The industrial revolution had
Received April 2001
Revised June 2001
                                                       published in 1980. Later on, a              brought more sedentary lifestyles
Accepted July 2001                                     number of Pilates associations and          and an increased density of living
...........................................            other groups of Pilates instructors         which led in turn to increases in
Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies (2001)
5(4), 275^282                                          around the world produced training          contagious diseases and infant
# 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd                         courses of varying length, quality          mortality, together with a general
doi: 10.1054/bwmt.2001.0237, available online at
http://www.idealibrary.com on                          and depth.                                  decline in health. Exercise for health

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                                             Educational Gymnastics: ‘learn to          attaching them to the ends of the
                                             place our body under our own               beds to allow the patients to work
                                             control’ and Medical Gymnastics:           with resistance while still bed-
                                             ‘influencing movements to alleviate        bound. He had realised that doing
                                             or overcome the sufferings that have       exercise with resistance helped
                                             arisen through abnormal conditions’        patients recover muscle tone more
                                             (Wide 1906).                               quickly (Sparrowe 1994). This later
                                                Both forms of modern                    led to his development of the
                                             Gymnastics became so popular that          ‘cadillac’, a four-posted bed with
                                             they were included in the normal           various springs and hanging bars,
                                             curriculum in many German schools          and the ‘universal reformer’, a
                                             before the turn of the century. The        sliding platform with springs on
                                             re-introduction of gymnastics for          which the patient/client lies down,
                                             the 1896 Olympic Games                     sits or stands. The removal of the
                                             undoubtedly provided an extra boost.       fight against gravity in the supine
                                                As a child Pilates worked so hard       position allows tension to be
Fig. 1 J.H. Pilates. Photo from Balanced     at improving his fitness, and at           regulated and the spine and pelvis to
Body USA.                                    body-building, that by 14 years of         be aligned. His work expanded to
                                             age his muscles were so clearly            include various other pieces of
                                             defined that he was posing for             apparatus, which in turn inspired
was gradually introduced to the              anatomy charts. As a teenager he           additional mat exercises.
German population through the                enjoyed diving, skiing and                    After the war Pilates returned to
development of gymnastics. Modern            gymnastics. Eventually he became a         Hamburg in Germany where he
gymnastics, derived from ancient             professional boxer and taught self-        refined his equipment and methods.
Greek gymnastics, were developed             defence. His work in the field of          During this time he met Rudolph
by the German Friedrich Jahn early           exercise led him to an interest in         van Laban, the originator of
in the nineteenth century. His               yoga, karate, Zen meditation and           Labannotation, the most widely
system started with a programme of           the exercise regimes of the ancient        used form of dance notation. This
outdoor exercise and later                   Greeks and Romans.                         was Pilates’ introduction to dance.
progressed to the use of equipment              In 1912, at the age of 32, Pilates      Later the dance world was to be an
that he developed. The aim was to            went to England, where he worked           area of fruitful cross-fertilization for
improve fitness and strength,                as a boxer, a circus performer and a       Pilates. At the same time P. H.
primarily for men. Jahn had studied          self-defence instructor. At the            Ling’s ideas on Gymnastik were
theology, history and philosophy at          outbreak of World War I he was             developing a following in Germany,
university and linked fitness with           interned as an enemy alien. In camp        with Hede Kallmeyer in Berlin and
national pride and well-being.               he refined his ideas about health and      Bess Mesendieck in Hamburg both
   At the same time, Per Henrik Ling         body-building and encouraged all           training teachers. With the release in
in Sweden developed another form             camp members to participate in his         1925 in Germany of a film on
of gymnastics (Gymnastik)                    conditioning programme, based on           Gymnastik, this more gentle form of
emphasizing rhythm and fluidity of           a series of exercises performed on a       physical education with breathing
movement. (This came to be called            mat. Apparently, during the                and movement gained a broader
first callisthenics, then physical           influenza pandemic of 1918, no one         public profile (Johnson 1995).
education, in the United States.)            in the internment camp died from              Pilates migrated to the USA in
Initially Gymnastik exercise was             the disease – this was considered          1926, a time when many Germans
primarily utilized by women.                 extraordinary (Friedman & Eisen            fled their country. His success as a
Promoted from the late nineteenth            1980). Many more thousands died in         physical trainer had attracted the
century as a way of improving                that epidemic than lost their lives in     attention of the German Army and
strength, endurance, flexibility and         the Great War.                             it had requested his services as a
coordination, it aimed to augment                Towards the end of the war             trainer, a request that Pilates did not
the body’s general well-being by             Pilates was transferred to the Isle of     wish to respond to. Another factor
placing controllable, regular                Man, where he applied his                  contributing to his decision to
demands on the cardiovascular                knowledge to help rehabilitate the         migrate is believed to be his work
system with coordinated breathing.           war injured. Here Pilates began            with Max Schmelling, the German
P. H. Ling also developed                    experimenting with bed springs,            boxer. Schmelling began his career

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                                                                                       his advice and work was being used
                                                                                       without due acknowledgement;
                                                                                       something the Pilates community
                                                                                       still has problems with today.
                                                                                          Even though Pilates had
                                                                                       experience with strength and fitness
                                                                                       training, gymnastics, boxing, and
                                                                                       instructing for self-defence, in the
                                                                                       long term it was dancers who
                                                                                       worked with him most
                                                                                       enthusiastically. Pilates became a
                                                                                       friend of Ted Shawn, a dancer who,
                                                                                       with Ruth St Denis, founded the
                                                                                       Denishawn Dance Company, then
                                                                                       went on to help develop the dance
                                                                                       centre at Jacob’s Place in the mid-
Fig. 2 J. H. Pilates New York Studio. Photo from Balanced Body USA.                    1930s. Shawn welcomed many
                                                                                       different forms of movement, and
                                                                                       there Pilates taught mat classes and
in the early 1920s, becoming the             health...saw them pass the                outdoor training. This early style of
European light-heavyweight                   remainder of their shortened and          Pilates was orientated towards
champion in February 1928. He                spoiled lives, either in constant pain    strength work and reminiscent of
then left for the USA to become              or in mental suffering, or both’          boxing training.
world heavyweight champion in                (Pilates 1934).                              Films of Pilates’ later work show
1932 (Mullan 1999). Schmelling’s                Pilates must have been appalled at     a more flowing style with a similar
manager is believed to have helped           the suffering during the Great            movement quality to modern dance
fund Pilates’ studio on 8th Avenue           Depression and frustrated that so         (Video: J. Pilates, Physical Mind
in New York so that the boxer could          few were following his advice or          Institute 1995). Ron Fletcher was
continue training with him (Winsor           using ‘contrology’. As a recent           one of first well-known dancers to
1999).                                       immigrant among many new                  use ‘Contrology’. Pilates’ ability to
   On the boat to the USA Pilates            immigrants, with particular ideas         return dancers to the stage after
met his future wife Clara, a nurse,          about sustaining good health and          back and leg injuries gained him an
who would work with him at the               happiness, Pilates found it extremely     excellent relationship with Hanya
studio. Calling his method                   hard to establish a new profession        Holm, Martha Graham and the
‘Contrology’, Pilates established his        when many were in the throes of           choreographer George Balanchine,
American studio just before the              bankruptcy, unemployed and facing         who all used and recommended him
beginning of the Great Depression.           starvation (Townsend 1994).               (Eisen & Freidman 1980). By the
There is no information on how the              The ‘balance of body and mind’,        end of the1940s he had developed a
Depression affected the studio but it        he claimed, is the only route to good     significant clientele among dancers.
must have been extremely difficult           sustainable health. He went on to            Pilates’ second book, Return to
after the October 1929 stock market          deplore some of the common                Life Through Contrology, co-
crash.                                       practices of the day in regard to         authored with W. J. Millar, was
   In 1934 he was able to publish a          looking after babies and children.        published in 1945. In it he sets out
small book about his method. Your            He explained the roots of ill health      the development of his philosophy
Health set out his philosophy and            from childhood onwards as poor            and a list of exercises to follow and
ideas about good health and how to           care and lack of exercise. The end of     practise at home. He wrote no other
achieve it. This little publication          his booklet becomes a long                books.
exuded an element of determination           advertising essay espousing his              By the time Pilates died in 1967,
and frustration. Pilates referred to         method of exercise, good hygiene,         a number of studios based on his
‘Business men, both during and after         and explaining why one should use         method had been opened, catering
the [first world] war, were so busily        his specially designed beds and           to its extensive following in the
engaged in piling up fortunes, that          chairs that are ‘posturally correct’      American dance world. During this
they entirely neglected to devote the        (Pilates 1934). He ended the booklet      time his wife Clara had worked side
necessary time to safeguard their            by voicing his dismay that some of        by side with Pilates and after his

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death continued to run a studio until    to use it for post-acute rehabilitation       his method. He berates the ‘quack’
her own death in 1977.                   and general fitness.                          cures promoted by ‘proprietors of
   Pilates was extremely possessive                                                    patent medicines and manufacturers
of his method of exercise; even                                                        of mechanical apparatus, massaging
though he taught about half a dozen
                                         Traditional Pilates                           belts, rowing machines, nostrums,
instructors, he was reluctant to
                                         philosophy and principles                     serums and other injections’ (Pilates
entrust it to others and remained the    The exercise system that Joseph               1934), possibly referring to other
sole master at his studio. Except for    Pilates developed mixed the                   early exercise regimes, patent cure-
Your Health and Return to Life           practical movement styles and ideas           alls from ‘snake oil’ salesmen and
Through Contrology nothing               of gymnastics, martial arts, yoga             early forms of unsuccessful
comprehensive was published about        and dance with philosophical                  inoculation. He believed that
his method until after he and Clara      notions. Pilates was a great reader           wellness began in childhood and
had died. In 1980 The Pilates            and was fond of quoting the                   that ‘The first lesson is correct
Method of Physical and Mental            German philosophers Johann                    breathing: properly instructed how
Conditioning (Eisen & Friedman)          Schiller: ‘It is the mind itself which        to draw the abdomen in and out at
was published. This book clearly         shapes the body’ and Arthur                   the same time holding their breath
sets out, with some refinements, his     Schoepenhauer: ‘To neglect one’s              for a short time... then they should
philosophy and principles, and the       body for any other advantage in life          also learn how to fully deflate the
mat exercises of his method.             is the greatest of follies [sic]’, two        lungs in exhaling’ (Pilates 1934).
   Pilates taught his assistants by      principles he incorporated into his              The remarkable health sustained
apprenticeship. His early assistants     beliefs (Friedman & Eisen 1980).              by the detainees in the internment
tended to move away and open their       The amalgamation of philosophy,               camp during World War I,
own studios, Ron Fletcher and            exercise (movement) and the                   especially in the face of the influenza
Carola Trier among them, but some,       performing arts as we see it in the           pandemic, the consequences of the
such as his later assistant Romana       Pilates method has been common in             use of mustard gas-observed in the
Kryzanowski, stayed with him. Eve        Germany from the nineteenth                   war injured on the Isle of Man, plus
Gentry, another early apprentice,        century onwards. Pilates was only             the prevalence of tuberculosis, his
moved away to pursue dance then          one of a number of Europeans to               own asthma (all conditions that
returned to the method, bringing         develop and interrelate the concepts          threaten the lungs), must have
with her clearly organized gentle        of physical practice and mental               focused Pilates’ mind on breathing
exercises that more easily applied J.    discipline. Pilates’ 1934 booklet             problems. He was probably also
Pilates’ principles, now known as        Your Health was produced by the               aware of Leo Kofler, the Delsarte
‘pre-Pilates’ work as well as a new      ‘Prof. Pilates Health Studios’. In the        system and Else Grindler and her
approach to some of the principles.      Introduction he said:                         followers, whose systems all worked
Some of Pilates’ early followers                                                       with breathing (Johnson 1995).
merged his work with their own, and        Perfect Balance of Body and Mind, is           Pilates felt that most people were
some students took pieces of the           that quality in civilised man, which not    overdressed and overheated and did
method, sometimes only the                 only gives him superiority over the         not wash properly. On hygiene he
exercises without understanding the        savage and animal kingdom, but              emphasized ‘ ‘‘Hardening’’ of the
principles, and developed their own        furnishes him with all the physical and     body. Fewer clothes the better.
style, though still labelling it           mental powers that are dispensable for      Cleanliness of the skin. Massaging
‘Pilates’. There are consequently          attaining the goal of Mankind – health      with brush’ (Pilates 1934). Does this
many different interpretations of the      and happiness. The purpose of this          hark back to his early childhood
                                           booklet is to transmit in a simple form,
Pilates method, each subtly altered                                                    when he was improving his health?
                                           the causes of present day ill-health and
by new understandings of the                                                              On posture and breathing:
                                           immoral conditions, and the resultant
human body or influenced by one of         effects which prevent the average           ‘Drawing in of stomach and the
the many new movement styles that          human being from attaining this             throwing out of the chest. The spine
had developed since the beginning of       physical perfection – man’s inherited       of every normal child is straight. The
the twentieth century.                     birthright.                                 back is perfectly flat’ (Pilates 1934).
   Today, not only dancers and                                        (Pilates 1934)   Pilates believed that a healthy adult
athletes use the Pilates method                                                        should also have a flat spine.
extensively, with modifications and        Knowing Pilates’ background one             Overweight problems, particularly
variations to some of the exercises,     can understand much of his                    around the abdomen, ‘have their
but the general public is beginning      determined belief in the rightness of         origins in the ‘‘miss-carriage’’ of the

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spine’ and poor posture affects good
health.
   There were no exercise
descriptions in Your Health,
however. Pilates most definitely
wanted clients to attend his studio.
Around this time Pilates drew up his
designs for a bed and chairs. These        Fig. 3 The Hundred. Photo from P Latey. Published with permission from Allen and Unwin.
were never manufactured, though
his Wunda chair is of a similar
design to his armchair. Eleven years
later he published Return to Life
Through Contrology (hereafter              body remove harmful germs. ‘True              vigour and fast dynamics, matching
referred to as Return to Life),            heart control follows correct                 his written descriptions of how to
written by himself and W. J. Millar.       breathing which simultaneously                move. These facts, and his very
In this 1945 book Pilates describes        reduces heart strain, purifies the            definite philosophy, suggest that he
his work as ‘Contrology’, sets out         blood, and develops the lungs’.               was a very robust man physically
the philosophy behind his work and,        Pilates felt it was vital to breathe          and mentally and that even to
for the first time, describes and          both deeply and fully: ‘Squeeze               attempt his original exercises one
illustrates a set of 34 exercises to do    every atom of air from your lungs             would have to be equally robust.
at home (Fig. 3). The explanation of       until they are almost as free of              One would also have to ignore the
the philosophy that underpins his          air as is a vacuum’ (Pilates & Miller         normal curves of the spine, and the
exercise system is more                    1945).                                        hazards of over-bracing the body.
comprehensive. ‘Contrology is                 Stretching and rolling the spine              After Pilates and Clara’s deaths,
complete coordination of body,             (with the chin pressed tightly to the         his method, as described by
mind and spirit’. Pilates has added        chest) was also important. He                 Friedman and Eisen in 1980 in The
spirit to his earlier definition, aiming   claimed that this helped to correct           Pilates Method of Physical and
to encompass the whole person,             posture by flattening out the curves          Mental Conditioning has subtly
including their emotional well-being.      in the spine and straightening out            changed. The fundamental
‘Contrology restores physical              the body. Pilates believed that the           principles remained the same, but
fitness. [it] develops the body            back should be flat ‘like a plumb             new ones were added, and the
uniformly, corrects wrong postures,        line’ (like a baby’s). Thus in                original principles clearly delineated.
restores physical vitality, invigorates    performing floor exercises, the full          Most importantly, the concept of
the mind, and elevates the spirit’.        length of the back was always                 ‘center’, which Pilates called the
His guiding principles included            pressed firmly against the mat.               ‘powerhouse’, was named and
‘concentrating on the purpose of the          Pilates also thought that one              carefully explained. The range of
exercises as you performed them’           always had to articulate/move                 exercises was enlarged and
(Pilates & Miller 1945).                   evenly throughout the spine and               developed, with exercises structured
   Pilates enlarged on his ideas about     that one needed to exercise all the           into progressive levels, and with the
correct breathing in Return to Life:       muscles: ‘Developing minor muscles            beginnings of a move away from
The exercises: ‘stirred your sluggish      naturally helps to strengthen major           very extreme effort.
circulation into action and to             muscles’ (Pilates & Miller 1945).                 Development has continued since
performing its duty more effectively          The exercises were described in            then, and there are now what are
in the matter of discharging through       detail, with breathing, movements             termed ‘pre-Pilates exercises’ as well
the bloodstream the accumulation           and aim carefully noted, and                  as a whole range of Pilates-based
of fatigue-products created by             illustrated with many photos. Words           exercises with further variations and
muscular and mental activities.            commonly used in describing how to            modifications. Some of the exercises
Your brain clears and your will            do the exercises include ‘Keep legs           have been simplified to ensure
power functions’ (Pilates & Miller         (tensed, knees locked) ‘arms                  connection with the body from the
1945). He believed that vigorous           rigid, shoulders locked’, fists               inside out, making the method more
exercise was important, as this            clenched, ‘snap-kick’ (Pilates &              accessible. The principles have been
achieved a ‘bodily house-cleaning          Miller 1945).                                 refined to reflect current
with blood circulation’, and that             Films which show Pilates working           understanding of applied anatomy,
breathing correctly helped your            and teaching reveal his extreme               physiology and kinesiology.

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Some developments of the
traditional principles
In the 1970s and early 1980s many
more Pilates studios opened in
America, and the method went
offshore when Alan Herdman
brought it to London and started his
studio at ‘The Place’ (London
School of Contemporary Dance).
Although the method was still only
taught by apprenticeship, the
method was now influenced by
Friedman and Eisen’s clear
                                          Fig. 4 The Center. Photo or drawing from photo P Latey. Published with permission from Allen
descriptions of how to exercise           and Unwin.
correctly by following six
fundamental principles.
                                             movement go hand in hand with                avoiding strain or pain through
                                             control.                                     attention to detail, precision and
1. Concentration: To do the               5. Precision: Concentrate on right              flow of movement is sustained.
   movements properly you must               movements each time you                      Breathing is an important element of
   pay attention to what you are             exercise or else you will do them            the method, to heighten breathing
   doing. No part of your body is            improperly and lose their value              awareness, to help focus and use the
   unimportant; no motion can be             (Pilates stated).                            centre and to increase oxygen
   ignored. You must concentrate          6. Breathing: Full and thorough                 intake. Friedman and Eisen also
   on what you are doing. All the            inhalation and exhalation are                described ways of ‘finding’ the body.
   time.                                     part of every Pilates exercise.              In discussing relaxation, for
2. Control: The reason you need to           Pilates saw forced exhalation as             example, they noted that because
   concentrate so thoroughly is so           the key to full inhalation.                  there is an emphasis on control,
   you can be in control of every            ‘Squeeze out the lungs as you                concentration and precision there is
   aspect of every movement. Not             would wring out a wet                        a tendency for clients to tense up
   just the large motions of your            towel...Soon the entire body is              ‘using far more effort than is
   limbs but the positions of your           charged with fresh oxygen from               necessary; in essence they are over-
   fingers, head and toes, the               toes to fingertips....According to           controlling. The cure for this is to
   degree of arch or flatness of             Eisen and Friedman (1980),                   relax the muscles while maintaining
   your back, the rotation of your           Ramana Kryzanowska and other                 enough tone to hold the position
   wrists, the turning in or out of          American Pilates Method                      you want’ (Friedman & Eisen 1980).
   your legs.                                teachers use the following                      On lengthening and strengthening
3. Centering: Our first requirement          variations, ‘Breathe in on the               they note that Pilates always wanted
   in concentrating on our bodies            point of effort... and out on the            the client to use a full range of
   and gaining full control of them          return or exhalation’. This rule is          movement, encouraging
   is a starting place: somewhere to         sometimes modified to.... ‘If you            ‘lengthening out the body as you
   begin building our own bodily             are doing something that squeezes            worked it’ – thus the client always
   foundation. Consider the part of          your body tight, use the motion to           lengthened away from the center.
   your body that forms a                    squeeze air out of your lungs and            Friedman and Eisen move away
   continuous band, front and back,          inhale when you straighten up’.              from ‘locking’ the joints to
   between the bottom of your rib                                                         ‘straightening’ and stretching out
   cage and the line across your hip        So concentrating, controling                  the joints ‘long and thin’ to find
   bones. We call this your ‘center’.     movement, coordinating full and                 maximum extension (Fig. 5).
   the center is the focal point of the   deep breathing and centering the                   Turning to the notion of the
   Pilates Method (Fig. 4).               body in order to move with an                   straight spine: Pilates was keen on
4. Flowing movement: Nothing              economy of effort are crucial aspects           stretching through the spine and
   should be stiff or jerky. Nothing      of the method. The quality of each              neck. His original instructions for
   should be too rapid or slow.           movement is emphasized rather than              creating a flat back include the
   Smoothness and evenly flowing          encouraging mindless repetition. By             words ‘navel to spine’, ‘spine to mat’

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                                                                                                The repertory approach has
                                                                                             recently been exploited by some, and
                                                                                             turned into the replication of a list of
                                                                                             exercises taught to large groups, by
                                                                                             briefly trained people. It is certainly
                                                                                             quicker (a weekend to 10 days
                                                                                             training), and more lucrative, to
                                                                                             train teachers based on the
Fig. 5 The Double (leg) Kick. Photo from P Latey. Published with permission from Allen and   traditional repertoire. Large group
Unwin.                                                                                       classes lend themselves to that style,
                                                                                             but it is only a productive approach
                                                                                             if the client already has good body
and ‘press the base of the skull into         there are people who practise it. The          awareness and flexibility, no injuries
the mat’.                                     different styles can be roughly                or problems, and is happy to build
   Friedman and Eisen repeated                divided into a few different types.            strength in set areas rather than
these, with ‘chin to chest’ and               Up until the 1980s there were three            carefully working specific muscles.
‘stretching the neck’, which flattens         distinct styles: American West                 Otherwise this approach can be
the whole spine. Getting the client           Coast, American East Coast and                 potentially dangerous.
‘sitting up out of your hips’                 British. By the early 1990s, with the             Skilled Modern Pilates
continued the straight spine idea             profession gathering momentum,                 practitioners, on the other hand, use
with ‘squeezing buttocks so tight             distinctions of place had changed to           Joseph Pilates’ philosophy and
that the thighs turn out’ (Friedman           the broad categories of hard, soft             modified principles with a more
and Eisen 1980), encouraging the              and rehabilitative Pilates, and                gradual introduction to movement,
pelvis to tilt posteriorly. All this was      Pilates-based exercises (The Method            via ‘pre-Pilates’ exercises; and
aimed at creating a flat back, which          Forum Physicalmind Institute                   include many adaptations and
we now know is not a good thing.              1996). Current styles can be divided           developments that connect with our
   Friedman and Eisen also included           into two basic schools: the repertory          improved knowledge of how the
‘correct’ foot positions, avoidance of        approach and modern Pilates.                   body works. We are further
hunched shoulders and articulating               The repertory approach closely              influenced by other movement
the spine one vertebra at a time:             follows the original exercises as set          disciplines, by developments in
which was also controlled with                out by Pilates himself, and later by           psychology and by theories of
pinched buttocks.                             Friedman and Eisen. This more                  emotional factors and how the mind
   The understanding that                     traditional method uses set exercise           works. While the overall pattern of
improvements will take time,                  sequences and set numbers of                   movements may be similar each
commitment and consistency, and               repetitions, with only a small                 body will have different needs.
that ‘one properly done movement is           amount of modification for different              So, in Modern Pilates the initial
worth any number of sloppy ones’,             body types or problems. It continues           emphasis is on understanding the
is continued in their book, with the          with the ‘spine to mat’ flat back              body and improving awareness,
proviso that pain and strain are to           approach and ‘squeezing the                    connecting breathing, getting the
be avoided.                                   buttocks’ tight for assisting postural         feel of the right muscles working and
   Friedman and Eisen’s principles            control (Gallagher & Kryzanowska               the over-worked areas being de-
can be summarized as concentra-               1999). It is fairly fast and dynamic           stressed. The exercises are always
tion, control, centring, flowing              right from the start of the                    tailored to the clients’ particular
movement, precision and breathing.            programme.                                     needs, body types, weaknesses and
As the first comprehensive record
of the method, aside from Pilates’
own publications, their work
is invaluable.

Towards present-day
Pilates
There are now almost as many
variations to the Pilates method as           Fig. 6 The Leg slide. Photo from P Latey. Published with permission from Allen and Unwin.

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Latey

strengths. The foundations of             method helps them look after their          Johnson DH 1995 Bone, Breath and Gesture
                                                                                           North Atlantic Books, Berkeley
breathing, alignment and working          bodies, has tended to over-inflate the
                                                                                      Mullan H 1999 The World Encyclopaedia of
from the centre are emphasized            profile of the profession before high            Boxing Carlton Books, London
initially. A broader range of             quality standards have been                 Pilates JH Your Health. First published 1934.
exercises is then introduced to assist    established. Nevertheless a sound                Reprint 1998. Presentation Dynamics
in applying the principles of the         modern interpretation of the                     Inc, NV
method, encompassing other                method can be applied safely to both        Pilates JH, Miller. Return to Life through
                                                                                           Controlology. First published 1945.
movement styles and gradually             fit and unfit people, and ranges from            Reprint 1998. Presentation Dynamics
working towards a more dynamic            post-trauma rehabilitation to fitness            Inc, NV
approach.                                 for the ordinary or elderly body; and       Townsend D 1994 The new Penguin
   Selected traditional exercises are     can be extended to the fine-tuning of            Dictionary of Modern History 1789–1945
utilized only when appropriate            elite athletes and dancers.                      Penguin Books, London
                                                                                      The Method Forum (previously the Pilates
breathing, correct alignment and          Present Day Pilates and the Modern               Forum) 1991–2000. Journal of The
muscle control have become second         Method will be discussed in a                    Physicalmind Institute ( previously the
nature to the body. Growing interest      subsequent article in JBMT.                      Institute for the Pilates Method). Santa
in the method has been generated by                                                        Fe, NM
                                                                                      Videos of J.H. Pilates and Eve Gentry, from
this broadening of approach: by
                                                                                           the Physicalmind Institute 1993–1995
changes in the general public’s need                                                       (previously the Institute for the Pilates
to look after themselves, and by          REFERENCES
                                                                                           Method). Santa Fe, NM
ageing baby-boomers becoming              Friedman P, Eisen G, Miller WJ 1980 The     Sparrowe L 1994 Yoga Journal, USA
injury-conscious in the wake of the           Pilates Method of Physical and Mental   Wide A 1906 Medical and Orthopedic
aerobic exercise boom.                        Conditioning Doubleday and Company,          Gymnastics. Funk and Wagnalls Comp,
                                              New York                                     New York
Unfortunately the ‘famous people          Gallagher S, Kryzanowska R, 1999 The        Winsor M 1999 The Pilates Powerhouse.
syndrome’, where those in the public          Pilates Method of Body Conditioning          Perseus Books, New York
eye are admitting that the Pilates            BainBridge Books, Philadelphia

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