In the late 1920’s, Joseph Pilates immigrated to New York City where he opened a physical fitness studio. This was after a childhood filled with asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever. He turned to physical training to improve his own physique, thus overcoming his childhood ills by using a specific form of breathing, stretching and strength building. This became “The Pilates Method” of exercise, focused on building strength within core muscles, deep controlled breathing and enhanced flexibility.

For years, the focus of Pilates was within the area of Ballet, with clientele including George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis and Ron Fletcher, among others. Today it has branched out into many other areas, with movie stars, professional athletes and everyday people drawn to the conditioning benefits of this form of exercise.

It has also moved into the medical field with many physicians seeing the benefits of using Pilates in their rehabilitation programs. An article titled Pilates gets medical backing in the Denver Post dated 12/27/2004 stated, “Medical science is looking at the workout regimen as a way to heal injured joints and give something even more precious--pain relief. Doctors and therapists are using the movement techniques and the equipment (of Pilates) to help trauma patients and even offer some patients an option that doesn’t involve surgery.”

The central element of Pilates is to create a fusion of mind and body, so that without thinking about it you will move with economy, grace, and balance; using your body to the greatest advantage, making the most of its strengths, counteracting its weaknesses, and correcting its imbalances. The goal is this; to produce an attention-free union of mind and body, the method requires that you constantly pay attention to your body while you are doing the movements. Paying attention is so vital that it is more important than any other single aspect of the movements or the method.

Joseph Pilates believed in circulating the blood so that it could awaken all the cells in the body and carry away the wastes related to fatigue. For the blood to do its work properly, it has to be charged with oxygen and purged of waste gases through proper breathing. Full and thorough inhalation and exhalation are part of every Pilates exercise. Pilates saw forced exhalation as the key to full inhalation. “Squeeze out the lungs as you would wring a wet towel dry,” he is reputed to have said. Breathing, too, should be done with concentration, control, and precision. It should be properly coordinated with movement. Each exercise is accompanied by breathing instructions. Joseph Pilates stated, “Even if you follow no other instructions, learn to breathe correctly”.

Energy is … the reward of exercising and strengthening the CORE, the physical and spiritual power center of the body and through which almost every movement--whether graceful or explosive--is initiated, transferred and ultimately accomplished.