What is Pilates?
“Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.”
Jospeh Pilates, Return to Life Through Contrology, 1945
Pilates is a form of exercise which emphasises the balanced development of the body through core strength, flexibility, and awareness in order to support efficient, graceful movement.
In Beth’s sessions, she uses varying progressions of 34 mat exercises, depending on the participant’s level of flexibility and manoeuvrability.
Pilates works for a wide range of people – from top athletes and dancers, senior citizens, women rebounding from pregnancy, and people at various stages of physical rehabilitation.
The Six Pilates Principles:
Centering – Control – Flow – Breath – Precision – Concentration
Core strength and torso stability are the key elements of Pilates, this is what sets it apart from many other types of exercise. The core muscles are the deep, internal muscles of the abdomen and back. When the core muscles are strong and doing their job, as they are trained to do in Pilates, they work in tandem with the more superficial muscles of the trunk to support the spine and movement.
As you develop your core strength you develop stability throughout your entire torso. This is one of the ways Pilates helps people overcome back pain. As the trunk is properly stabilized, pressure on the back is relieved and the body is able to move freely and efficiently.
“Pilates is not a fatiguing system of dull, boring, abhorred exercises repeated daily ‘ad-nauseam.’ Neither does it demand your joining a gymnasium nor the purchasing of expensive apparatus. You may derive all the benefits of …[Pilates] in your own home.“
Joseph Pilates, Return to Life Through Contrology, 1945