Summary
This book represents the first major publication in 1945 by Joseph H. Pilates and William J. Miller detailing the exercises, poses, and instructions fundamental to the matwork developed by Joseph and Clara Pilates. Based on his concepts of a balanced Body and Mind, drawn from the approach espoused by the early Greeks, these are the exercises that currently sustain a worldwide revolution in fitness strategies and exercise techniques.
Joseph Pilates has been nothing short of revolutionary in his impact on the world of fitness and exercise. You will learn in this book the original 34 exercises that he taught to his students, many of whom have become exercise gurus in their own right. These carefully designed exercises constitute the results of decades of scientific study, experimentation and research into the variety of physical ills that upset the balance of body and mind.
Pilates makes extraordinary claims about the benefits of his defined science of "Contrology". The exercises shown in this book constitute the breadth of his original definition of Contrology, and are basic to the growing army of worldwide trainers whose teachings rely on the instructions contained in this book. Living testimony to the validity of his own teachings, the photographs of this book are of Joseph Pilates himself at age sixty!
In this book, you will learn the exercises that Joseph Pilates recommended to accompany the basic advice regarding posture, body mechanics, correct breathing, spinal flexibility, and physical education. It is fascinating to study these exercises and to discover the origins of what is being taught by fitness enthusiasts, health educators, and exercise trainers around the world.
About the Author
At the beginning of the First World War, Joseph Pilates was imprisoned in England along with many Germans who happened to be living at the time in and around Lancaster, England. He was a German national who had been boxing and performing in England prior to 1914. While living in the Camp, he taught other residents the series of exercises that he had developed for personal use over the preceding decades both in Germany and in England. His own exercise sets drew strongly from his studies of yoga and Zen, as well as ancient Roman and Greek exercise regimens.
Since the early 20th Century, and now in the 21st Century, Pilates has been acclaimed by dancers, exercise specialists, and high profile entertainers for the extraordinary effectiveness of his specialized exercises for fitness and health.
