Joseph Hubertus Pilates was a boxer, circus performer, self defense instructor and legendary party animal. Born near Dusseldorf, Germany in 1880, he developed the "mat work", the basis of his method while a prisonor in a British interment camp during World War I. After the war he returned to Germany to become a part of the group of dancers and moment analysts who originated what we now call "bodywork". Pilates Emigrated to the U.S. shortly before World War II and founded his own exercise studio in New York City.

The basis of Pilates' work (referred to as "The Method") is creating a strong, flexible, efficient, balanced and injury free body thru exercises that motivate from the abdominal wall and breath while lengthening the spine.The Method consists of seven basic movements performed in different relation to gravity, resulting in hundreds of different exercises. These exercises consist of both "Mat Work", done without equipment in group classes, and exercises on special designed equipment, taught privately. It is usually a good idea to take a few private classes to begin with in order to understand how the work feels on your body.

The Abdominal Wall (Abs) is divided into three parts, lower, middle, and upper. The lower abdominal wall is engaged by the image of " scooping out the pelvis", the middle by the image of pulling the belly button in and up between the shoulder blades, and the upper by closing the bottom front of the rib cage or pressing the bottom back of the rib cage into the floor.

The Method increases lung capacity through the use of breathing, teaches efficient moment, and lengthens the spine. Often the first time someone engages their abdominal wall they have difficulty breathing in. This is because we "Belly Breath", using only a part of our lungs and breathing muscles. When the Abs engage the lungs have to expand backwards, stretching the muscles in the back of the ribs, causing the back to relax and the spine to lengthen. This is called "breathing into the floor" or breathing thru the back". The breath out also engages the middle Abs. The basis of contemporary Method instruction is the Neutral Spine. If you were to hang a skeleton from its head the shape of the spine would be arches at the neck and low back. If the skeleton were lying on the floor, the low back and the neck would be slightly off the floor. Without the arches the vertebra of the spine would shatter with even the slightest shock from running or jumping. Keeping a Neutral spine while engaging the Abs is difficult. Keeping the arch in the lob back comes from pressing the "tail bone" at the bottom of the spine (between the buttocks) into the floor. This will bring the top back of the pelvis slightly off the floor. The arch behind the neck is kept by pressing the bottom back of the rib cage into the floor (keeping the top of the pelvis slightly off) without pushing the chin into the neck. Using the Abs, breath and spine in this manner will not only develop strength and flexibility but is also a process to help you become more aware how you are moving, were you hold excess tension, and what movent habits you have that might cause or exacerbate injuries. This awareness combined with the Method's ability to develop strength and flexibility where it is most need makes this work excellent for rehabilitation, not only do you recover, but you learn how not to reinjure yourself.

Finally, the Method is a mental and spiritual discipline. The aim is not only to improve your body, but to help you enjoy it in all aspects of your life.

Doing it right gets in the way of doing it well.

We have to find our limitations in order to exceed them.

Learning comes from trying again like it were the first time each time.

Showing the effort is not necessarily doing the work.

Strength comes from the need for it. --June Singer

Always be a beginner. -- Rilke

Question authority, especially if they own the trademark.

In order to be filled with the spirit, you have to be empty first. -- Native American saying

Force is trying to do something. Power is stopping yourself from not doing it.

The form and movement of the spine may be the best metaphor for reality and consciousness that we have available.

For every complicated question there is a simple solution, and it is wrong. -- S.J. Pearlman

Awareness lives half way between discipline and pleasure.