THEN AND NOW

Joseph Pilates, or "Uncle Joe" as my mentor, and Joseph's chosen protege  Romana Kryzanowska affectionately called him,   was a man who believed completely in his method and practiced what he prescribed to others well into his eighties. She often regaled us with stories of his robust character, about retrieving a stolen article from his studio -at gunpoint - while wearing only briefs down the middle of Manhattan, to how he enjoyed Pilates in the snow, and how music was strictly forbidden except soft classical in the background and how he'd bring out tiny shots of whisky to finish his midday power lunch clients.  His legacy began in 1880 near Dusseldorf Germany, Joseph Pilates was born to a prize-winning gymnast father and a mother who subscribed to naturopath forms of healing. Joseph suffered from several health ailments: asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever. In an effort to restore his own health, he studied anatomy books and reinforced what he learned by observing animals in the woods. “Take a horse,” he later said in discussing body conditioning, “If a man wants to race him, he keeps him in top form. He makes the horse move. Why not keep humans in top form too?” Joseph studied Eastern disciplines, like yoga and martial arts, and blended them with more Western forms of physical activities, such as bodybuilding, gymnastics, boxing and recreational sports; even incorporating ancient Greek and Roman forms of fitness practices. By the age of fourteen he had sculpted his physique to such an extent that he was posing for anatomical charts.As a young man, Joseph boxed, and taught self-defense. In 1912 he moved to England where he continued to box and taught self-defense at police schools and Scotland Yard. When Britain entered World War I, his German citizenship led to his imprisonment along with other German nationals as “enemy aliens.” During his imprisonment Joseph taught his exercises to fellow compatriots, and later he acted as a nurse-physiotherapist of sorts. Here he developed the first concepts for his innovative machines by disassembling the camp bunk beds and using the springs as a form of resistance to rehabilitate the injured and bed-ridden. One of the greatest examples of the immense benefits of practicing Joseph Pilates’ holistic approach to health is the outbreak of a terrible influenza in 1918. The 1918 influenza epidemic decimated populations all over the world; areas of close co-habitations of people, such as internment camps, were especially hard hit. However, all those who followed Joseph’s routine survived due to their good health.  After the war Joseph returned to Germany. He continued training police officers in Hamburg and also worked with dance and movement experts. When he was pressured to train the New German Army, Joseph chose to leave Germany. He immigrated to New York, and on the boat met Clara, a nurse. The two married and founded a studio that taught his developing method, “Contrology.” Joseph and Clara taught their method of using the mind to control the muscles to a devout following in New York. Romana Kryzanowska recounted many times how he'd pull someone in off the street because he'd notice something he could help them with, forget to charge clients and throw people out if they didn't pay proper attention... physically if he was particulary cross!  Local dancers came regularly to heal injuries quickly and improve their strength while maintaining their flexibility. George Balanchine and Martha Graham became devotees to Joseph Pilates’ method and often sent their dance students to him. Breathing, proper posture, and the correction of various physical ailments were the focus at Joseph’s studio  His work continues to change bodies and lives and rough estimates suggest around 11 million people are actively practicing Pilates today. In 2006 the Parkinson Center of the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, the Pilates method was being studied due to the benefit of concentration required in Pilates to providing relief from the degenerative symptoms of Parkinson's disease.   And Pilates today is still evolving.  From rehabilition, to sports, to general fitness, and basically put...Pilates is badass and it works.