Pilates 'elder' touts benefits of exercises
- May 24, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: May 26, 2024
Pilates 'elder' touts benefits of exercises
2004 June 29 Tuesday Star Banner
Mary Bowen, seen here teaching a class in Austin, Texas, is one of five living Pilates "elders" who trained with Joseph and Clara Pilates, originators of the fitness program.
AUSTIN, Texas With 45 years of training on her mats and springs, Mary Bowen still hasn't learned everything she wants to know about pilates.
That might sound strange, considering Bowen is one of five people alive today who trained extensively with Joseph Pilates, creator of a body-conditioning system that uses exercises and machines to strengthen muscles without straining them. Yet she insists, "I'm still learning how to better inhabit my body"
Adjusting the green rectangular glasses perched on her nose and rumpling her short red hair, she says, "It's not about bulk strength, it's about ease of movement. So much is learning to take the time not to rush, not to hurry"
At 74, she calls herself a pilates "elder" but also describes herself as a Jungian analyst. She wore a leopard print scarf around her neck during a recent visit to help celebrate Pilates Day and teach classes at The Pilates Center of Austin.
Mary Bowen, seen here teaching a class in Austin, Texas, is one of five living Pilates "elders" who trained with Joseph and Clara Pilates, originators of the fitness program.
I look around the studio, packed with mats and strange-looking wooden frames. I've never done pilates. I'm not even sure how it differs from yoga. Everything looks foreign. So I ask her to explain.
"Yoga is like the grandmother of body work," she says. "Many of the postures of pilates are similar. But there's applied strength and resistance, and an emphasis on flexibility and core strength.
Joseph Pilates, a former circus acrobat from Germany, was living in England when he was sent to London internment camp during World War I. While he was confined, he developed a series of exercises that could be done on mats in small spaces. He later worked in a hospital, where he created exercises that could be done by patients in hospital beds. Both forms of exercise along with an emphasis on deep breathing come together in what is now known as pilates
Many of the exercises are still done on mats; others are done on wooden "beds" equipped with springs and wires and called the Reformer. Other pilates machines have names like the Cadillac, the Wonder Chair and the Big Barrel.
Some look like medieval torture racks, The key to pilates machines is that they use springs, not weights, to provide resistance.
But pilates is more than physical exercise. It's a never-ending quest toward what Bowen calls the natural place. "It's a journey into yourself," she says. "I become more and more animal, but not less human."
It's about letting your mind and body flow, strengthening and calming your cell and not letting any of your muscles get tight.
Bowen trained with Joseph Pilates and his wife, Clara, from 1959 το 1966, when she was a young actress and comedian in New York City. Bowen says she sought out Pilates after reading a newspaper article about him. She suffered from lower back pain. Pilates was in his 70s at the time. He died in 1967 of emphysema.
"This man stood there, he looked like a human lion," she says of her lust impression of the exercise guru. "Bare chest and bathing trunks, a white mane of hair He was like a messiah of the body. He wanted people to alter their lives and get in touch with physicality"
"Pilates will wi teach you to be more animal in the best sense," she says. "More natural."
普拉提「長老」宣揚運動的好處
Mary Bowen 在德州奧斯汀教課，她是五位在世的普拉提「長輩」之一，曾與健身計劃的創始人 Joseph Pilates 和 Clara Pilates 一起訓練。
德州奧斯汀 Mary Bowen 在墊子和彈簧上接受了 45 年的訓練，但仍然沒有學到她想了解的有關普拉提的所有知識。
這聽起來可能很奇怪，因為 Bowen 是當今在世的五位接受過 Joseph Pilates 廣泛訓練的人之一，Joseph Pilates是身體調整系統的創造者，該系統使用練習和機器來增強肌肉而不拉傷肌肉。但她堅持說，“我仍在學習如何更好地適應我的身體”
她調整著鼻子上的綠色長方形眼鏡，弄亂了她的紅色短髮，說道：“這不是關於體積力量，而是關於移動的自如性。學會花時間不著急，不著急很重要。”
74 歲的她稱自己為普拉提“長者”，但也稱自己為榮格分析師。最近一次訪問期間，她在脖子上繫了一條豹紋圍巾，以幫助慶祝普拉提日並在奧斯汀普拉提中心教授課程。
Mary Bowen 在德州奧斯汀教課，她是五位在世的普拉提「長輩」之一，曾與健身計劃的創始人 Joseph Pilates 和 Clara Pilates 一起訓練。
我環顧工作室，裡面堆滿了墊子和奇形怪狀的木框。我從來沒有做過普拉提。我什至不確定它與瑜伽有什麼不同。一切看起來都很陌生。所以我請她解釋一下。
「瑜珈就像身體鍛鍊的祖母，」她說。 「普拉提的許多姿勢都很相似。但都有應用的力量和阻力，並且強調靈活性和核心力量。
Joseph Pilates 是一名來自德國的前馬戲團雜技演員，第一次世界大戰期間被送往倫敦拘留營時，他住在英國。可以在狹小空間的墊子上進行的練習。後來他在一家醫院工作，在那裡他創造了一個可以由醫院病床上的病人進行的練習。這兩種運動形式都強調深呼吸，現在稱為普拉提
許多練習仍然在墊子上進行；其他則在配有彈簧和金屬絲的木製「床」上進行，稱為Reformer (塑身機)。其他普拉提器材的名稱包括 Cadillac (鞦韆床 / 凱迪拉克)、Wunda Chair(神奇椅) 和 Big Barrel (大桶)。
有些看起來像中世紀的酷刑架，普拉提機器的關鍵是它們使用彈簧而不是重物來提供阻力。
但普拉提不僅僅是體育鍛煉。這是對 Bowen 所說的自然之地的永無止境的探索。 「這是一次深入自我的旅程，」她說。 “我變得越來越動物性，但並沒有變得越來越人性化。”
它是讓你的思想和身體流動，加強和平靜你的細胞，並且不要讓你的任何肌肉緊張。
Bowen 從 1959 年到 1966 年開始跟隨 Joseph Pilates 和他的妻子 Clara 進行訓練，當時她還是紐約市的一名年輕女演員和喜劇演員。Bowen說，她在讀了一篇關於他的報紙文章後開始學習普拉提。她患有腰痛。普拉提當時已經70多歲了。 1967 年，他因肺氣腫去世。
「這個男人站在那裡，他看起來就像一頭人類獅子，」她談到她對這位運動大師的情慾印象時說道。 “裸露的胸部和泳褲，一頭白色的鬃毛，他就像身體的救世主。他希望人們改變他們的生活並關注身體”
「普拉提將教你在最好的意義上變得更加動物，」她說。 “更自然。”
Mary Bowen
“Mary is the most senior Pilates Elder and Master Teacher who knew and studied with Joseph Pilates and Clara”
Mary Bowen 來自美國康乃狄克州、紐約市和麻薩諸塞州，代表我從事普拉提運動 58 年。 1959 年，我的普拉提生活開始了，每週兩次，與喬和克拉拉一起學習，持續了六年半！
other ...
我是 Mary Bowen，當今世界上普拉提最資深的長者，仍在積極教學……通常每週 6 天。 1930年出生的，今年1月18日我就活了92歲了！ 我從事普拉提運動已經 63 年了，我教普拉提也有 47 年了。兩者都在進行中！
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