According to Joseph Pilates, when the Spanish Flu broke out in 1918. NONE of the inmates who followed his exercise regime got sick.
Joe was a sickly child, suffering from rheumatic fever, rickets and asthma... but he held the belief that physical conditioning and strengthening would improve his health. You could say he proved himself right! He practiced gymnastics, body-building and martial arts such as boxing and jie-jitsu and by the age of 14, he was fit and healthy enough to pose for anatomical charts. He came to believe that 'modern life-style (as it was in the early 1900s), bad posture and inefficient breathing were the main causes of poor health.
I’ve talked about Joseph Pilates origins a lot in my classes but why is this important now?
Cue Pandemic 2020
There is no better way to fend off infection than by taking care of your body. If that’s not reason enough during a pandemic, I don’t know what is.
But there’s more....
Joe Pilates’ fitness program gained recognition in the internment camp where he was held on the Isle of Man during WW1 and he was recruited to rehabilitate injured soldiers, who...you guessed it, recovered quicker!
He and his wife continued his technique when they emigrated to NYC, and because of the of the rehabilitative nature of ‘Contrology’ (what Joe called his technique) it became popular with with dance community and had a number of famous ballerinas and actors as clientele. Did you know initially close to 60% of their students were men?!
So how does this help you? Well....what’s your pain point? Disc injuries, lower back pain, shoulder, hip and even knee pain. Scoliosis, diastasis recti, flexibility, there are endless ways Pilates (and me!!!) can help you.
And why me? I have a vested interest in my students. I want to see them improve, reduce pain and gain strength and confidence. We have a dialogue, before and after classes, over email, text, what’s app etc and we talk about their pain, their wins and anything in between. Your personal success is personal to me and you’ll know it and feel it.
So -- what are you waiting for? Let's get started!