Happy Birthday Joseph Pilates

Today I am writing on what would have been Joseph Pilates birthday born 9th December 1883 and died 9th October 1967.

So for today's blog instead of sharing another one of my favourite Joseph Pilates quotes, I decided to say:

"Thank You Joe for the work you created, the vision you had and the perseverance you showed throughout your life and work."

I have been thinking a lot about how I teach and what I teach today compared to what he taught in his day. I believe so fiercely that the Pilates Method works and I also realise that today we can’t know for sure exactly how he did it. What we do know is that in many ways Joe taught the person in front of him what they needed to improve their movement and their life. For example the exercise Eve’s lunge was named after Eve Gentry a dancer and client of Joe’s that had a rare at the time double mastectomy, who was able to return to dance after her work with Joe. I also know there were principles and a belief system laid out in his books and that he constantly adapted and evolved his method and the apparatus. Back to today and the people I work with and the conditions they come with are vastly different to those who Joe worked with in his day and the apparatus I use has evolved and been modernised and very importantly to me our understandings of functional anatomy has come on leaps and bounds. This however, doesn’t necessarily always change what I teach but more how I teach it.

So today I am grateful for his work how it has helped me with my own health, fitness and well being and that it is a vehicle for me to help others and support my family and my community.

I am still thinking about how I teach and what I teach and will continue to for some time I'm sure. But for today I have the Pilates method and the life experiences I have gained along the way and I promise to meet those I teach exactly where they are with the skills I have to share with them.

Happy Birthday Joe

With Gratitude @clairepilates