“Pilates develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind and elevates the spirit.” – Joseph Pilates
What is Pilates?
Pilates is an exercise method that conditions both your body and mind, boosting mental wellbeing and enabling you to move more efficiently. The exercises target your deep postural muscles, building strength from the inside out, and making long-term changes to the quality of your movement.
Although Pilates was originally developed for dancers and athletes, the method can have enormous benefits for absolutely anyone – from world-class athletes to couch potatoes, and from expectant mothers to pensioners. The adaptability of the approach means Pilates can be tailored to suit people of any age, ability, size, or gender.
How could Pilates help you?
The beauty of Pilates is that its benefits are almost endless, and they vary from person to person depending on your individual body and needs.
Pilates for busy, working people
Prolonged sitting, standing, and repetitive movements – whether that's typing all day, plastering houses, or anything in between – can cause your spine to lose its natural shape, which often leads to tension and back pain.
Pilates helps you regain that natural alignment of your spine, activating your postural muscles to keep you upright, and making you more aware of your posture. This provides a physical and mental release, reducing stress and anxiety, as well as easing back pain and headaches, and improving your mobility.
Pilates for older people
For older people, Pilates helps to mobilise joints that often become stiff with age. By keeping you mobile and active, it's great for ensuring you can remain independent. By realigning your spine, the exercises can also release pressure on your internal organs, which often become cramped, giving you an all-important immunity boost.
Pilates for expectant mothers
Pilates is also commonly recommended for pregnant women. Exercises can help to strengthen the pelvic floor, prepare you for labour, and help you return to normal more quickly after birth.
Pilates for sports, fitness and rehabilitation
By focusing on strengthening your core muscles, Pilates can have huge benefits for dancers, athletes and enthusiastic amateurs in any sport. It increases your stamina, and builds muscle tone, flexibility, and coordination. Its gentle, low-impact nature also makes Pilates ideal for preventing injury, and aiding recovery from operations or sports injuries.
Pilates for emotional wellbeing
Finally, if it's mental rather than physical tension that you're struggling with, Pilates is great for encouraging relaxation. By guiding you to a deeper understanding of your own body and how it works, Pilates increases your mind-body connection, improves sleep, reduces stress and anxiety, and helps you to feel more in control.
History of Pilates
The originator of the Pilates Method, Joseph Pilates,was born in Dusseldorf Germany, he was a frail and sickly child suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever. He was determined to overcome his fragility, thus he experimented with various sports such as boxing, body-building, weight training, martial arts, gymnastics, dance, yoga, skiing, swimming and so on. He selected the most effective features of each sport and worked out a system that had the perfect balance of strength and flexibility. He began to teach the techniques to others, and was even training detectives at Scotland Yard when the First World War broke out. He was interned due to his nationality, so he helped out in the camp’s infirmary aiding the sickly to improve their health, which resulted in further development in his techniques. In 1926, he migrated to America and along the way he met his future wife, Clara. They shared the same view on fitness and decided to open a studio; originally his clients were boxers but soon attracted top ballet dancers, actor, actresses, athletes and gymnasts. Joseph Pilates called his method ‘Contrology’; it was only after his death in 1967 that his techniques became Pilates.
An animated History of Pilates - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsxYc-LGdXc