Joseph Pilates and the Influenza Epidemic
I thought you would all like a positive story to cheer you up at this challenging time! About 100 years ago when the first world war started, Joseph Pilates was working in the UK. As he was German he was interned in a hospital on the Isle of Man. There he stayed for the duration of the war and during that time he really honed his technique.
He used the hospital beds & the springs, to make his prototype machines that are still used today. Remarkably, even though the engineering has improved over time, his design has not really changed very much at all. During that time he trained and taught the population of the hospital, in his exercise method which he called Contrology.
At this period there was an influenza epidemic which killed more than 30 million people, but remarkably nobody died in the hospital. It was considered that Joseph Pilates Contrology method of keeping people fit and active kept everyone strong & resistant and stopped anyone dying. He was a great believer in physical health being a pre-requisite to good mental health and the invincibility of your whole being
"Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure." Joseph Pilates
What a truly remarkable man he was and now he has left his legacy for all of us Pilates teachers to continue spreading his message to the whole of the world.
This message is needed now more than ever and we need to keep strong, healthy and positive. It’s my pledge to you, to do my best, to find a way to continue to teach you all, to help support & motivate you, to maintain the best health we can to fight this virus!
As Pilates himself said the best alleviation for a troubled mind is exercise...
|
