Origins of Pilates and Joseph Pilates

The paper focuses on the origin of the Pilates method of exercise. It also takes a step-by-step journey of Joseph Pilates (Joe) who was the founder of the Pilates method of exercise. Finally the paper will consider Pilates in the contemporary world.

Pilates refers to a system of physical fitness that was established in the early 20th century. It was developed by Joseph Pilates. Joe was a German born in the year 1880. He suffered from rickets, rheumatic fever, and asthma during his childhood years. Because of the continuous suffering brought by the foregoing conditions, Joe was very week and he always felt vulnerable in a rough realm. This situation inspired him to embark on an enduring pursuit in a bid to gain health and the much needed strength.

Joe began to get involved in various body movement art studies as a young person such as martial arts, yoga, Roman Regimes, boxing, and ancient Grecian. He was determined to become healthy like his peers. From his various studies based on the intensified understanding between his body and mind of what could not be validated to the combination of both, Joe continuously developed the body and mind together. He did this through a combination of increased spiritual with increased bodily arts. Joe realized that the instinct that generated the method was already operational in his mind. He came to this conclusion through remembering his study of a book on the topic of anatomy as a young boy, his observation of his body muscles, and by watching animals as they move in the forest (Therapy Directory, 2014).

By the time Joe was fourteen years of old, he had succeeded to reach his objectives. He had a body that exemplified perfect fitness that he subsequently exhibited for the German medical a...

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...quely, which Joe assimilated believing that every single body is uniquely different from another. The Pilates workshops have continued to attract and to develop a general community that practices diverse approaches and regardless of the diversity in the approaches, the establishments have continued to spread the Pilates ideology. Just like science has continued to develop over the years the Pilates method of exercise has continuously increased the understanding of people due to its proven medical consistency (Wells, 2013).

The system is popular in various countries including Australia, United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany. It is estimated that by the year 2011 about eleven million people were practicing the Pilates on a regular basis. It is also believed that there are about 14,000 instructors of the Pilates physical fitness in the United States alone.