Pilates and Beyond 

I first discovered Pilates at age thirteen with one of Joseph Pilates’ protégées, the late Eve Gentry at the prestigious School of American Ballet in New York City, in what they then called a “Contrology Class”— the name Joseph Pilates gave to the technique he developed.

Long before anyone knew what it was, we aspiring dancers used Pilates as a secret weapon to strengthen our abdominals and our bodies, so that we could jump higher, turn faster and move with greater precision and grace. I practiced Pilates throughout my professional dance career and it kept me inspired, injury free and powerful!

Pilates had been such an effective and profound mind-body tool, that I felt compelled to share it with the public. After getting certified in the early 90’s, with another one of Joseph Pilates “Master Inheritors,” Romana Kryzanowska, and becoming one of the privileged few “3rd Generation” Pilates Master Instructors, I introduced the Pilates “Mat class” to gym facilities in New York and watched the excitement build … people would have one taste of it and they would be immediately hooked. Even after one class, they felt taller, more energized, more capable and more alive!

I was thrilled to be able to influence the lives of people in my classes in New York, but I wanted to share this incredible secret with as many people as possible. Serendipitously, one of my loyal students was in video production and said, ”Jennifer, you really should share this with the masses! Let me help you …” In 1998 I premiered the first ever Pilates video under “The Method” title, helping to pave the way for the current wave of enthusiasm for mind-body fitness, and just look at Pilates now!

Pilates is a non-impact, non weight-bearing system of physical conditioning that focuses on body placement and increasing awareness of the body’s capabilities and untapped resources. Pilates changes bodies. It makes them fitter, stronger and more attractive. It slims the muscles and makes them longer; it develops sleekness rather than bulk. Pilates turns the abdomen and lower back into a firm, central support for a newly supple and graceful body.

Born near Dusseldorf, Germany in 1880, Joseph Pilates (d. 1968) suffered from asthma, rickets and rheumatic fever as a child.  His determination and drive to overcome those ailments led to his study of Eastern and Western forms of exercise, including yoga and ancient Greek and Roman regimens.

By the time he was fourteen, Pilates had worked so hard at bodybuilding that he was able to pose for anatomical charts and had become a diver, skier and gymnast. When World War I broke out, he was an intern for a year in Lancaster, England, along with other German nationals.  While in the camp, he taught his fellow internees the physical fitness program he had developed, and boasted that they would emerge stronger than they were before imprisonment. Those who followed his program resisted the influenza epidemic that swept the nation and killed thousands.

He also encountered people who were disabled as a result of wartime injuries, diseases, and incarceration, and began devising machines using the springs from old hospital beds to help in their rehabilitation. These machines were the prototypes of the equipment used in Pilates studios today.
Pilates believed that the “attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind, fully capable of naturally and efficiently performing daily tasks with spontaneous zest and ease” should be the objective for people of all ages and fitness levels.

Pilates’ six principles: concentration, control, centering, breath, flow and precision enable the practitioner to learn to move with maximum efficiency while minimizing stress on the body. You are able to access new levels in your body and create a deeper, more complete feeling of fitness, energy and vitality that remains with you days after your workout.

Pilates exercises make people more aware of their bodies. It helps to improve alignment and breathing and increases efficiency of movement. The focus is on the center of the body—the “powerhouse,” or the “corset muscles,” also known as the stabilizing core muscles of the torso, which support the spine. The rectus abdominus, the central abdominal muscle, running from sternum to pubic bone works in tandem with the transverse abdominus, the deepest of the abdominal muscles, wrapping around the trunk horizontally, acting like a “corset” when engaged. Other muscles that are important in providing good stability in the trunk, are the erector spinae, that run on either side of the spine, the quadratus lumborum and multifidus muscles in the low back, and the intrinsic muscles of the pelvic floor.
The active collaboration of these major muscle groups creates a solid cylinder around the central spine, helping to prevent “shearing” or eroding forces from being applied to the vertebrae, ligaments and discs that evolve as a result of repetitive trauma, habitual patterns of movement that are unconscious and unproductive for the body-mind.

Pilates has tremendous application for injury prevention because it prepares the body for balanced, efficient, and graceful movement in all spheres and ranges of motion, addressing the weaker under-conditioned muscles while giving the overworked, more dominant muscles a break. Pilates has addressed the needs of dancers and super-athletes for decades, but you don’t have to be a dancer or athlete to do Pilates.The beauty of the technique is that you can do it according to your own fitness level and as you gain strength, the challenge increases. Pilates exercises are gentle, progressive, and performed slowly with good postural alignment at all times; challenging enough for the super-fit, yes, but also gentle enough for pregnant women and the elderly.

Pilates is also an exceptional cross-training tool. Golfers, tennis players, skiers, swimmers and runners all benefit. Whatever your chosen sport, or if you are simply interested in overall health and fitness, when the focus of your workout is learning to initiate all of your movement patterns from your core, not only will you use your body as an integrated whole, working the deeper muscles together and improving your coordination and balance, but you will reeducate yourself to focus on the present moment and the mind-body connection.

My favorite Pilates exercises are those that I learned first as a young dancer and they are also the very exercises that I feature in my DVDs … They are the original, classical mat workout developed by Joseph Pilates, a series of exercises that focus on the abdominal center, the muscles of the torso, as well as breathing patterns for each exercise, teaching you how to direct energy to those targeted areas while relaxing the rest of the body. You will learn what Pilates called “Economy of movement.” Because you do the fewest number of repetitions with the greatest precision and control, you get the most out of your efforts.Below is a list of the incredible benefits Pilates offers:

• Stimulates the body’s lymphatic system, one of the body’s primary systems for toxin removal; oxygenated blood is forced into the farthest reaches of the body, flushing out toxins in what Pilates called an “internal shower.”
• Increases the circulation of blood bringing highly oxygenated cells to the muscle bodies and the brain, strengthening the heart and lungs
• Increases lung capacity, relieves asthma and other lung conditions and encourages complete diaphragmatic breathing enhancing a full exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and hence increased energy and mental acuity
• Encourages proper alignment and overall posture, creating ample/adequate space for the internal organs, allowing for their optimal functioning
• Helps to preserve and even increase bone density, preventing osteoporosis and relieves arthritis: rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.
• Increases stamina, muscular strength and definition in the arms, shoulders, back, buttocks, legs and hips and builds endurance to facilitate the execution of daily tasks
• Sculpts the body, creating long, lean, beautifully toned and well-proportioned muscles
• Increases range of motion and spinal flexibility for easier movement in trunk and limbs, leading to a sense of freedom and ease in the body;
• Dramatically corrects scoliosis and strengthens the muscles of the abdominals and back to relieve chronic back pain syndromes
• Increases abdominal strength and encourages a greater awareness of the emotional center (around the area of the solar plexus and stomach)
• Stimulates an endorphin release and calms the central nervous system, which instills a sense of tranquility, peace of mind and overall sense of well-being

On a spiritual level, the workout is concerned with the process itself. You will learn to focus on the present moment and the movement itself, rather than the outcome. This is a workout, a regime similar to yoga that promotes consciousness and facilitates evolution and self-transformation.

The subtle magic of Pilates is that the work grows as you do. You rise to higher and higher levels as your self-awareness and experience deepen. As you gain insight and as your actual physical strength increases, the work refines and redefines itself.

Pilates is a unique, refreshing approach that sees our physical activity as a way to restore total oneness with ourselves and create harmony with our body, mind and spirit; under this notion, exercise becomes the means to experiencing a personal potential greater than the physical skills themselves. Every movement emanates from the center, which is also our emotional core, and the exercises truly help to “center” you. When you learn the advantage of paying attention to the energy, flow and rhythms in your exercises and see how pushing or forcing is counterproductive, you begin to apply this notion to the rest of your life.When you center your attention in the moment and act in harmony with time, you experience inner peace and fulfillment. By staying in the present, you can do less, yet gain more; paradoxically, you create more personal power and energy enabling you to have a greater influence over the outcome.

My love of Pilates began long before its era of popularity and has served as a pillar of strength for me in all aspects of my professional athletic and artistic life, enlivening my spirit, conditioning my body, reinforcing my self-esteem and overall feeling of peace and well-being. The body I have created and the level of personal excellence I have achieved have come, however as the result of a special synthesis of more than just Pilates. Pilates was the foundation, but equally important were my practice of yoga, all of my years as a professional dancer and my study of Eastern healing techniques …

This is where the “beyond” comes in ….

ABOUT JENNIFER KRIES

Dancer, choreographer, yoga devotee, author and Pilates master teacher, Jennifer Kries is an unparalleled innovator in the realm of alternative health and fitness. First to bring Pilates to the masses, her award-winning videos and DVDs, The Method Series, Jennifer Kries’s Pilates Method and Fox/Fit TV’s, The Method Show, revolutionized the fitness community, paving the way for the current wave of enthusiasm for Pilates mind-body exercise. Jennifer first discovered its timeless principles at age 13 in a mat class at New York’s School of American Ballet given by Pilates disciple, Eve Gentry. She went on to study with three of Joseph Pilates original disciples, Eve Gentry,  Romana Kryzanowska and Ron Fletcher. She holds a certification through the original Pilates Studio with Romana Kryzanowska and is one of a privileged few 3rd generation Pilates Master Teachers in the country. She has practiced yoga since 1988 and has been teaching and inspiring thousands with her unique approach to yoga since 1995. Jennifer’s yoga style blends a heating flow or Yang Vinyasa practice, influenced by Hatha, Ashtanga, Iyengar and Kundalini styles with a Yin component, a practice of long held poses to enhance and harmonize the body’s the meridian and organ systems to create total balance and health in the body-mind. As much a dancer as a fitness phenomenon, she made her professional debut at sixteen in Balanchine’s “Serenade” with Edward Villella’s Eglevsky Ballet. She trained with The School of American Ballet and after becoming a member of Pennsylvania Ballet at sixteen, quickly rose to the rank of principle with the Waves Jazz Dance Company.   She has an eclectic number of choreography and teaching credits.

The synergy of her Pilates background, her intensive study of anatomy coupled with her own study of eastern philosophies and schools of movement such as Chi-Gong and Bone Marrow Nei Kung, led Jennifer to develop her Hot Body Cool Mind system.  Jennifer was A-listed by New York magazine three years running from 2001-2004 as New York’s Top Pilates Instructor and her work and fitness programming concepts have been introduced to a wide range of public and private fitness facilities in the United States and abroad. In 2005, she named Pilates Midwest in Petoskey, Michigan her official affiliate and Midwest education center where she holds teacher training programs and workshops attended by students from all over the world.

She is the founder of Hot Body Cool Mind—The Studio in Philadelphia, Artistic Director and Founder of Contemporary Dance Theatre New York and most recently, creator and producer of yet another ground-breaking four part DVD series, Hot Body Cool Mind: The Life Force Power Workout!

For more information about Jennifer Kries and the contents of her exciting new
DVD series, (Pilates, Yoga, Dance and Waking Energy) visit her website: www.JenniferKries.com.

Spaparazzi Spa BLOG is brought to you by GETAWAY SPAS and LIFE COACH RETREATS

A division of Diversified Woman Concepts