About Pilates

About the Pilates Method

To define Pilates (the exercise method formerly known as “Contrology”) accurately, it is helpful to understand what Pilates is not. The method’s creator, Mr. Joseph Pilates, states in his book “Return to Life Through Contrology,” originally published in 1945:

“Contrology is not a system of haphazard exercises designed to produce only bulging muscles. Just to the contrary, it was conceived and tested (for over forty-three years) with the idea of properly and scientifically exercising every muscle in your body in order to improve the circulation of the blood so that the bloodstream can and will carry more and better blood to feed every fiber and tissue of your body.”

Pilates is a bridge between somatic education and physical fitness. It is a sequence of exercises determined by your unique needs, either on specialized apparatus or a mat, or both. It is designed to optimize neuromuscular functioning by concurrently increasing self-awareness and layering each movement with more challenge and complexity. Pilates will keep the body continually extending and flexing, stretching and strengthening, moving and stabilizing, contracting and relaxing. Pilates is disciplined, efficient, and thorough. It is also healing, liberating, and facilitates self-expression. Again, Mr. Pilates' words:

“Contrology is complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit… [It] develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit.”

CENTERING

Pilates exercises are always initiated from one's center, meaning about 3 thumb widths' distance beneath the navel, and then 2 to 3 thumb widths' distance inward, toward the spine. In martial arts, it is called the lower dantian and where from movement is initiated in these practices as well. Many think of this region as being their core.

In Pilates' two published books, Your Health (1934) and Return to Life Through Contrology (1945), he documented frequently observing poor posture and premature degradation of the spine in others. He attributed these conditions to what we attribute them to today: prolonged sitting; use of technology designed without ergonomic considerations; prioritizing wealth over health; and psychological stress. The area he frequently noted as misaligned, compressed, and weak was the low back, which invariably co-existed with a "protruded stomach" on the opposite side of the body.

"Powerhouse" is a term used often by Pilates when instructing students and is still used today, despite not being explicitly refererenced in his writing. While there is not universal consensus on the breadth of what constitutes the powerhouse, it is generally considered the canister that is the body's trunk, extending from the pelvic basin inferiorly to the ribcage superiorly. It is agreed that when referencing the "powerhouse," Pilates was referring to the body's center. Pilates would instruct that all movement began with engagement of the powerhouse, either to mobilize the torso or stabilize the joints and musculature therein to allow for exploration of movement elsewhere in the body.

The benefits of core integrity continue to reveal themselves in current research studies. For Pilates, from core integrity came longetivity as it fostered a healthy spine (central nervous system), revitalizing breathing mechanics, and strengthened immunity.

When aware of and moving from one's center (the core's skeletal system and musculature), optimal physical alignment can be restored. The core, specifically the psoas, is the spine's messenger. Connection to one's core therefore brings about optimal spinal alignment. This not only promotes a healthy nervous system, but through improved communication along the spine, each end balances with other: the perineum (yin), and the head (yang).

It is balance within the body that Pilates strives for. Joseph Pilates was against building bulging muscles not because of aesthetic reasons, but because he rightly knew such musculature was an indicator of physical imbalance and subsequent maladaptive compensation, which caused undue stress running deep into the organs, viscera, and respiratory system.

CONCENTRATION + CONTROL

What makes Pilates unique and, for some, a challenge to comprehend is that it is about the quality of the movement, rather than quantity. It is not about what you do, but how you do it. That is, each Pilates exercise is repeated at max, 10 times, and before the speed of movement quickens, movement that is both precise and adaptive/controlled and free is practiced. Practitioners invested in truly reaping all of the benefits of Pilates must be disciplined, as Pilates exercises are done successfully when the body is moving in natural balance, rather than over-utilizing one muscle group while another lies dormant. This requires the practitioner to incorporate building awareness of their body into their Pilates practice. One cannot “go through the motions” in Pilates or mimic what the instructor or a classmate is doing, and expect to reap the full extent of the Pilates Method's benefits. Mr. Pilates' words:

“Concentrate on the correct movements EACH TIME YOU EXERCISE, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits of their value.”

FLOW

When the practitioner is in a Pilates session, he or she must be 100% focused on what the body is doing and what the body will be doing next. The practitioner is continuously moving. There is no stopping for a break in-between exercises - a component that can be brutal, but creates a very efficient workout. When moving through a Pilates workout, as it is intended to be executed, the body and mind do not rest for a second. The mind is always 100% focused on what every inch of the body is doing and the body is constantly going from contraction to stretch, extension to flexion. By increasing focus and effort, the workout time is minimized .

PRECISION

Another rewarding challenge that Pilates poses is that often an exercise requires the practitioner to engage a muscle that he or she is not accustomed to using or thinking about during a workout, if ever. It is often a smaller muscle that, over time has weakened, while larger muscles around it have picked up the slack and subsequently become overdeveloped and/or tight. One undoes physical damage when doing Pilates. At the same time, future damage is being prevented. The practitioner works out the body uniformly. A reason why large range of motion is not always merited in Pilates is simply due to the fact that you are at times working smaller muscles. From a smaller muscle, one cannot expect a large movement. Therefore, re-wiring the brain to no longer think that “bigger is better” is essential when it comes to practicing Pilates successfully. Mr. Pilates’s words:

“Developing minor muscles naturally helps to strengthen major muscles. As small bricks are employed to build large buildings, so will the development of small muscles help develop large muscles. Therefore, when all your muscles are properly developed you will, as a matter of course, perform your work with minimum effort and maximum pleasure.”

BREATH

The breath is a key component in the Pilates workout. Mr. Pilates recognized the invigorating, revitalizing qualities of expansive inhalations and extended exhalations. The breath in Pilates is somewhat counter-intuitive. Unlike most forms of strength training, in Pilates the inhale is often directed during exertion. As it facilitates the depression of the respiratory diaphragm, an inhalation creates opposition to the transversus abdominis and intercostal muscles, thus activating the deep myofascial system and stabilizing the trunk, spine, and pelvis. This stabilization is optimal for joint health, as it is protective against This all leads back to the brilliant efficiency of Pilates.