The Six Principles first appeared

in The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning by Philip Friedman and Gail Eisen, two students of Romana Kryzanowska. Originally published in 1980 (more than a decade after Joe Pilates died, yo.). It “was the first book of its kind – bringing Pilates out of the elite studios and into the lives of millions of Americans.”

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jogging and running had exploded in the late 1970s. By 1980 a fitness craze was sweeping the country and an obsession with health, beauty and youthfulness was having profound effects on American culture. Students Gail and Philip met with Romana seeking specific ways to differentiate the Pilates Method from other forms of exercise that people were doing. What made Pilates special?

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Certainly the 6 principles they created are inherent in the Pilates system. But another more important principle is missing.

Let’s call it the 7th Principle of Pilates: Move!

Who knows, maybe when Joe dropped his stone tablet just like Moses other precious gems were lost as well such as “Thou Shalt Not Bang the Carriage,” “Quiet the Clips,” and “What you don’t like, you do twice.”

Try it for yourself. Simply follow the 7th Principle of Pilates. Move! You will have no choice but to do all those other 6 automatically or perish.

You will remember the exercises and focus on what you are doing (concentration), you will move in a safe and effective fashion (control), you’ll be toast without your stomach (centering), you will maintain your form (precision) and you will most certainly breathe (Yup) as you MOVE (flowing movement)! All this involves trust of course. Trust in the work. Trust that it is getting the job done without you micromanaging and getting all up in its grill. Let the body lead you without your mind working overtime, or over-indulging in the breathing, perhaps…you know who you are.

Trust. Let go. Let go and Let Joe…awww…

The 7th Principle of Pilates: MOVE!

https://pilatesology.com/....../the-7th-principle-of....../

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Andrea Maida

A native of Pittsburgh, Andrea began her study of the Pilates method in 2000. She holds two comprehensive certifications from Romana’s Pilates in New York and Excel Movement Studios in Washington, DC. Andrea continues to study with numerous world-class instructors including Romana Kryzanowska, Jay Grimes, Sari Mejia-Santo, Junghee Kallander, Cynthia Lochard, and Kathryn Ross-Nash whenever possible. Andrea was privileged to be in the inaugural class of The Work at Vintage Pilates under the direction of Jay Grimes, 1st Generation Master Teacher and student of Joseph Pilates.

https://pilatesology.com/....../the-7th-principle-of....../

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The Six Principles first appeared in The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning by Philip Friedman and Gail Eisen, two students of Romana Kryzanowska. Originally published in 1980

1. Concentration

2. Control

3. centering

4. Flowing Movement

5. Precision

6. Breathing

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CONCENTRATION

"Study carefully and do slowly the foundation work," Joe wrote once, in his characteristic Pilatean diction. "Follow di- rections exactly, with respect to every detail given."

You have to concentrate on what you're doing. All the time. And you must concentrate on your entire body. .......

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CONTROL

Nothing about the Pilates Method is haphazard. The reason you need to concentrate so thoroughly is so you can be in con- trol of every aspect of every movement. Not just the large mo tions of your limbs, but the positions of your fingers and head and toes, the degree of arch or flatness of your back, the reta- tion of your wrists, the turning in or out of your legs............

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CENTERING

Our first requirement in concentrating on our bodies and gaining full control of them is a starting place: somewhere to begin building our own bodily foundation.

Consider the part of your body that forms a continuous band, front and back, between the bottom of your rib cage and the line across your hipbones. We call this your "center." (This is not the same as the "center" of Yoga or other Eastern disciplines. It is a physical, not a mystical center.)

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Something Different

Unlike most exercise programs, the Pilates Method follows carefully laid-out principles based on a well-constructed philo sophical and theoretical foundation (one without mysticism or appeals to unseen forces, divine or otherwise). It is not merely a collection of exercises, it is truly a method, carefully devel- oped and refined over a period of more than sixty years of use and observation.

For the Pilates Method to work properly for you, you have to be familiar with its basic principles from the beginning, be- tence: fore you start to do the movements.

Most important, the method relies on CONCEN TRATION, To do the movements properly, you must pay at- tention to what you are doing. No part of your body is unim portant; no motion can be ignored.

The other watchwords (which will be explained in Chapter Three)

are :

CONTROL

CENTERING

PRECISION

FLOWING MOVEMENT

BREATHING

Given the half-dozen basic principles embodied in these words, the Pilates Method can be summarized in a single sentence :

A few well-designed movements, properly performed in a balanced sequence, are worth hours of doing sloppy calithenics or forced contortions.

It sounds simple, and in some important ways it is simple, but the changes it can work, not just in your body but in your life, are only a little bit short of miraculous.

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FLOWING MOVEMENT

THE PILATES METHOD OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CONDITIONING

In describing the essence of a Pilates movement, Romana Kryzanowska frequently speaks of "flowing motion outward from a strong center."

Nothing should be stiff or jerky. Nothing should be too rapid or too slow. Smoothness and evenly flowing movement go hand in hand with control.

PRECISION

Precision is another vital partner of control.

"Concentrate on right movements each time you exercise," Joe Pilates said, "else you will do them improperly and lose their value."

Haphazard movement can be useful for certain kinds of muscle building: there is nothing precise in the popular image of "pumping iron." But concentrating on precision of motion and precision of placement creates a kind of bodily fine tuning that carries over into everyday life as grace and economy of moverpent.

BREATHING

Breathing is the last on our list so that it will be one of the first in your mind.

Pilates believed in getting the blood pumping so that a could awaken all the cells in your body and carry away the wastes that are related to fatigue. For the blood to do its won properly, it has to be charged with oxygen and purged of waste gases, and that means proper breathing.

Full and thorough inhalation and exhalation are part of every Pilates exercise. Joe saw forced exhalation as the key to full inhalation. "Squeeze out the lungs as you would ring wet towel dry," he used to say, "Soon the entire body charged with fresh oxygen from toes to fingertips, just as the head of steam in a boiler rushes to every radiator in the house."

Here, too, we're concerned with concentration and control and precision. Breathing should be properly coordinated with movement.

Each exercise is accompanied by breathing instructions. In addition, there are a few general principles that will help when you're doing something that doesn't come with breath- ing instructions attached.

"Breathe in on the point of effort," Romana Kryzanowska advises, "and out on the return or relaxation." This is a ne that is sometimes modified by the form of the activity: If you're doing something that squeezes your body tight, use the motion to squeeze air out of your lungs and inhale when you straighten up.

And always remember the words of Uncle Joe: "Even you follow no other instructions, learn to breathe correctly."