What Is The Goal Of Pilates?

What is the purpose of doing Pilates? You may already have your own answer to this question, but there's lots of ways to answer it and lots of different lenses to look through. Tune in to hear about Joseph Pilates' goal of doing Pilates as well as how different schools of thought in Pilates approach the purpose of Pilates.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to Pilates Students' Manual, a podcast helping you get the most out of your Pilates classes. I'm Olivia, and I'll be your host. Join the conversation and share your thoughts on Instagram at @pilatesstudentsmanual. You can support the podcast by visiting buymeacoffee. com /OliviaPodcasts.

[00:00:29] Let's learn something new.

[00:00:47] Hello, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. Thank you so much for your patience as I took that brief hiatus in January and February. In case you aren't also listening over on Pilates Teachers' Manual, I [00:01:00] do have some exciting news to share and that's that I've accepted the position of a lead instructor at Club Pilates in Chicago. And I'll be working with Pilates teachers across several of those Club Pilates. 

[00:01:13] I'm excited about the position for many reasons, but one of them is that I get to amplify all of the goodness of Pilates beyond simply teaching more classes. And just like the work I do on the podcast, it gets to reach even more people than me working with everyone one on one.

[00:01:31] So I don't have any plans to stop recording the podcast. So there will always be new episodes of Pilates Teachers' Manual and Pilates Students' Manual coming out. Um, but I do have some other fun stuff going on that I wanted to let you know about. So thanks for that. 

[00:01:47] Today we'll be touching on a subject that is a bit bigger picture and that is what is the goal of Pilates.

[00:01:55] Now, I've explored this subject before on the podcast through various lenses, how your teacher can help [00:02:00] you meet your goals, the benefits of Pilates, you know, meeting physical activity guidelines and so forth. But in today's episode, we're looking at this even larger. What is the goal of Pilates itself?

[00:02:13] Now we can look at this through the perspective of Joseph Pilates. And in case you're new to this podcast at all, Joseph Pilates is the man who created the Pilates system. He called it Contrology while he was alive, which literally translates to the study of control of the body. If you're interested, he did write a book called Return to Life through Contrology, which was published in 1945.

[00:02:35] And it has a discussion of his thoughts about exercise movement and health, in addition to the description of how to perform the Pilates mat exercises by him, it's a quick read and it's absolutely the foundation of Pilates. So do pick it up. It's on Amazon. It's all over the place. If you want to dive a little deeper into it.

[00:02:58] Joe, or JP, as I [00:03:00] also like to call him sometimes, suggests that the goal of his system is right there in the title of his book, that he is helping us return to life. Most of our jobs. And of course, when he was writing this book in the forties, you know, industrial revolution and people working kind of mindless, physical, repetitive tasks or office jobs that so many of us are so divorced from our body.

[00:03:24] That doing Pilates is a way to return to life, to reinvigorate, to get back in touch with our body, get stronger, more flexible, more coordinated, all of that. He goes beyond even that to say that his goal for Pilates is total rejuvenation of the mind, body, and spirit, which is pretty ambitious for a system of exercise, I'd say.

[00:03:48] Now, you might have heard that and thought to yourself, you know what? Total rejuvenation of mind, body, and spirit is actually not what I thought I was doing when I was doing Pilates. And that's totally fine. It wasn't on my list of things when [00:04:00] I started doing Pilates either. Um, because you can definitely have your own goals to get stronger or more flexible, something very broad to do something specific, like go on a ski trip or climb a volcano or pick up your child from the ground without your back hurting.

[00:04:18] Those are all equally valid reasons for doing Pilates. And if that's what brought you to your Pilates class or your Pilates studio, that is just fine. 

[00:04:27] There are two big schools of thought in Pilates, which I've explored on the podcast, both classical and contemporary schools of thought. Now I'm telling you right up front that I'm not going to say that one school of thoughts goal for Pilates is better than the other or more right than the other.

[00:04:46] So if you're looking for an answer that says, Oh yeah, this is it. Like you're not going to find that here, but I do think we can explore what each of those schools of thoughts have to say about what the overarching goal of Pilates is. [00:05:00] 

[00:05:00] Classical Pilates is a style of Pilates that is very interested in doing Pilates the way that previous teachers have taught it, whether it's Joe or one of the elders who Joe taught someone like Romana or Eve Gentry or Kathy Stanford Grant, but it's very concerned with this lineage and being authentic to the way Pilates has been taught previously and kind of passing down that information.

[00:05:28] I do have an episode on Pilates elders as well as a episode about classical and contemporary Pilates if you're interested in diving a bit more into that. But the emphasis here in the classical world is that you're teaching Pilates the way that it has been taught. You're teaching on the equipment that is very similar or the same as the equipment that was used by Joe or by his students.

[00:05:52] And because Joseph Pilates died in 1967, because many of the Pilates elders have also died, the [00:06:00] emphasis is on this historical preservation and doing Pilates the same way, but it is important to keep in mind that most of the elders, most of the people who learned Pilates from Joe and then passed Pilates on to the next generation of teachers and students, that they were professional dancers.

[00:06:17] And whenever we teach something, whether we're teaching Pilates or we're teaching art or we're teaching English, we're always going to bring our own personal lens to what we're doing. There is no truly neutral way to teach anything. And that goes for Pilates as well. So classical teachers with their influence in dance and performance may say that the goal of Pilates is doing Pilates perfectly.

[00:06:47] Just like a dancer preparing for a performance, doing the exercises to their greatest personal potential is the goal. Mastering the beginner exercises first, then the intermediate exercises [00:07:00] and the advanced exercises is the goal of doing Pilates. Just like climbing Mount Everest, the goal is to climb this Pilates Everest of mastering the system.

[00:07:13] Once again, I'm not saying that this is the right goal or the correct goal or the only goal or the true goal of Pilates, but this is one way that Pilates studios and Pilates teachers might approach Pilates. And if you were to take a class, the emphasis would be on mastering the exercises and performing them with the most precision and accuracy and coordination and control. 

[00:07:38] That might resonate with you. In which case that might be a type of studio or teacher that you might be interested in learning from if that is in alignment with your goals. 

[00:07:47] Coming up after the break, we'll talk about how contemporary teachers might view the goal of Pilates and why that's important to you as a Pilates student. That's coming up next.[00:08:00] 

[00:08:02] Hi there. Enjoying the podcast? Me too. Make sure you subscribe wherever you're listening so you get notified about new episodes. And visit Buymeacoffee.com/OliviaPodcasts to support the show. There you can make a one-time donation or become a member with a donation of as little as $5 a month.

[00:08:24] Members get some awesome perks, including a shout out in the next episode, a monthly newsletter, a monthly Zoom call with me, and more. You can also visit links.oliviabioni.com/affiliates and check out some sweet deals on products I use and love. Now back to the show.[00:09:00] 

[00:09:02] Contemporary Pilates is a branch of Pilates that broke off of the classical tree, so to speak, that doesn't adhere so firmly to the way Joe taught the exercises or the equipment that the exercises are done on, or even the order of the exercises. There's a lot more freedom in the contemporary pilates world to explore and try different things that aren't necessarily all the exercises as taught by Joseph Pilates or another elder and whatever lineage.

[00:09:36] It aims to marry the Pilates method with modern science and has changed the language used to teach. It's very anatomical. It's very precise. It has a big physical therapy kind of influence in it, almost a medical clinical way of looking at it. There are exercises that aren't traditional exercises that might show up in a contemporary [00:10:00] class and contemporary Pilates classes often use Pilates equipment to do other exercises.

[00:10:07] So it's the Pilates equipment, but the exercise might be a somewhat different. Contemporary teachers might say that the goal of Pilates is to use Pilates as a tool to improve other aspects of your life. So you do Pilates and then as a result. You can hike that volcano, or climb Everest, or get up and down off of the floor, or pick up your kid, whatever your goal is.

[00:10:34] You do Pilates to get better or be able to achieve this other goal. You also get better at doing Pilates, but the goal is not necessarily to get better at doing Pilates, but to maybe fix a problem, maybe improve something, but something else. And Pilates is like the vehicle for that. There's good news here because whether or not you think that is a valid goal, which you [00:11:00] may or you may not.

[00:11:01] This is a heads you win, tails you win situation, which is my absolute favorite type of situation because whether you're doing Pilates to get better at doing Pilates or get better at doing something else. You get both of those benefits through doing Pilates. If your goal is to get up and down off of the floor, you will be able to get up and down off of the floor a bit better when you practice Pilates, but you will also get better at doing Pilates.

[00:11:27] And even if your goal is to just get better at doing Pilates through doing Pilates, you will also get better at other things like getting up and down off the floor, like getting more strong, more flexible, all of these things. You get all of the benefits. Either way, I think it's important to think about what your goal for doing Pilates is, because that can help you find a teacher or a studio that is a good fit for you.

[00:11:52] And the most important thing is that you are motivated to do whatever form of [00:12:00] exercise you choose. This is a Pilates podcast, so we really look at it through that lens. But if it motivates you to really nail complex choreography for the sake of nailing complex choreography, that's totally fine. And if you find a teacher in studio that teaches that way, that's in alignment with your goals, then you'll be much more likely to keep doing it and keep getting all of those benefits of exercise.

[00:12:23] If you really want to, you know, do a handstand and getting that shoulder mobility and that shoulder strength to do it. You can also gain that through doing Pilates, and if you find a teacher in a studio that looks at Pilates that way, then you are more motivated to continue doing it. You'll be able to meet your goals.

[00:12:43] You'll also get better at Pilates while you do Pilates. You are the most important feature in the equation, and so it's up to you to both know what you're looking for, know what you want, and then let Pilates In whatever style, whatever studio, let it [00:13:00] be something that helps you reach that goal. There are many paths in the Pilates world, and that's already on a narrow path that is Pilates itself, but Pilates is good for you.

[00:13:11] I think it's the transitive property in math that if a equals B and B equals C, then a equals C. So if Pilates is exercise and it is, it's fancy exercise and exercise is good for your health, then Pilates is good for your health, you know, whether you're doing it for a reason that's more like Joe's reason, total rejuvenation of mind, body, and spirit, or whether you're doing it because you want to be able to hold a plank or do a pushup or some other goal. 

[00:13:45] Huge thank you to all my supporters on Buy Me a Coffee that March newsletter is going to be coming out soon. Can't wait to hang out and have a coffee chat with you. I hope you have a great couple of weeks and I'll talk to you again soon.[00:14:00] 

[00:14:08] Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of Pilates Students' Manual, a podcast helping you get the most out of your Pilates classes. Be sure to check out the podcast Instagram at @pilatesstudentsmanual and subscribe wherever you're listening. Interested in teaching Pilates too? Check out Pilates Teachers' Manual, available everywhere you listen to podcasts.

[00:14:32] I hope to see you next episode. Until next time.

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