A Strong Flexible Body, A Focused Mind, The Art Of Conscious Movement
The regular practice of Pilates delivers many benefits, giving gradual and positive changes to the body’s strength and flexibility. Pilates exercises require a ‘core stability’ of the deeper postural muscles which takes time and concentration to acquire. The postural muscles which support and stabilise our skeletons don’t need repetitive overloading to strengthen them. Instead, the Pilates student will learn how to activate these muscles to a moderate, functional level, and then try to maintain their posture as they perform a series of flowing exercises.
You will find that your hour long class will fly by, as the time spent listening, sensing and responding to your body is both relaxing and energising. Making changes to the postural system will help you to stand taller, as you become aware of how to align your spine and the muscles which support it. After just a few weeks, when someone asks you if you have lost weight, you will realise that you feel taller, more mobile, a little leaner and more positive about your body.
A Lifetime’s Work Isn’t Learned In A Weekend
Joseph Pilates first published his booklet ‘Your Health’ in 1934, “a corrective system of exercising which revolutionises the entire field of physical education”.(ISBN 0-9614937-8-X) Ten years later his work ‘Return to Life Through Contrology’ was published,(ISBN 0-9614937-9-8) a systematic progressive exercise regime which has evolved into the movement method we now know as ‘Pilates’.
Part of the beauty of the original repertoire of exercises is the routine way in which they are performed. The sequence of the exercises delivers a balance of strength and flexibility with minimal repetitions which avoid undue fatigue in muscles and joints. The method focused on continuous flowing movements performed with thought and precision. The results of regular practise are obvious to see: besides the improvements in strength and tone, Joseph Pilates’ exercises improved posture and body alignment.
Although the “system of corrective exercises” was intended for all, in fact to begin with most of the visitors to ‘Joe’s Gym’ were dancers and athletes. They found the work helped heal the injuries caused by habitual imbalanced movements that plague physical performers. Until the 1990’s, Pilates exercises were still mostly used by the dance community, a clientele who already had a high degree of physical ability.