About the practice of Pilates

Pilates is a Mind-Body-Spirit whole-body exercise system that focuses on integrative movements supported by the core of the body. The exercises are designed in a sequential format with specific rhythms to create efficiency, mindfulness, and control. By learning the sequences of exercises, one will achieve a balanced body that will optimize one’s posture in the process.

Pilates is meant to work in conjunction with other activities and sports, allowing one to feel faster, stronger, and more connected within the body. Pilates also helps one rebuild and rehabilitate after injury or surgery.

Joseph Pilates was a boxer, wrestler, fencer, self-defense instructor and he even had a circus act with his brother at one point. He trained the Nurnberger Polizei in Germany but declined the invitation to train the “New” police. He served as an orderly in a hospital on the Isle of Man where he worked with patients unable to walk. There is where Joseph started to develop the use of springs for rehabilitation. Joseph Pilates emigrated to the United States in the early 1920s and opened a “body-conditioning gym” in New York City featuring his spring-based apparatus system used in classical studios today.