By Kerry De Vivo
Today (December 9th) is Joe Pilates’ birthday. Though he passed away in 1967, his method of physical and mental conditioning lives on today. He created a method, not random exercises, and you can see that on display in these photos.
On the Reformer Short Box, Renee is doing Round Back. On the middle Reformer, Caraline is doing Round Back in the Stomach Massage Series. Amanda is demonstrating the starting position of the Mat exercises Rolling Like a Ball (never to be done on the Reformer but it makes for a photo that relays the point). The point being that the Pilates Method is masterful. It intertwines concepts from exercise to exercise, from Mat to Apparatus.
Do you see what I see? Can you see in each of these photos that Joe Pilates has us working with a similar challenge of finding a universal, lifted round back, supported by the Pilates powerhouse? Each exercise challenges that concept in a different way, which allows us more application to every day life tasks. Happy birthday Joe, your work is genius.