Have you ever witnessed a pilates session in which I
excitedly ran over to the bookshelf, pulled out a book, and turned the page to
a picture that illustrated what I was trying to say. Have you chuckled with me about Tom Myer’s article
entitled, “
Psoas, Psubstitutes.”
(I’m chuckling a little bit right now, what a fabulous title!) As a Pilates and movement instructor, I
am lucky that my love for books and words has been so very beneficial to my
teaching. Whether I am exploring
the right side of my brain with imagery and pictures, making analogies to the
functions of the human body, or stepping into logic, functional strength and
kinesiology, there are many books that have aided in my teaching. I have spent many lunchtimes at
Esselon café lost in a book, thinking about and loving movement. You’ve all heard me talk about my
favorite authors, my friends as I call them whether I’ve met them in person or
not.
In this next series of blogposts, I want to give a short
review of a few of my favorite resources.
In this post, I will write
about two books in which the authors worked during the era that Joseph Pilates developed
his method. This list is by no
means complete. This is my
lineage. These are my influences. These are the books that I explored
when I was learning how to teach movement. There are so many more out there and I can’t wait to become
influenced by other movement thoughts, after all the breadth of our knowledge
is always just beginning. I am often
surprised when people ask me about Pilates, and sometimes they don’t even know
that Joseph Pilates was a person.
They ask me “Who made up Pilates?”
And I say, “Joe Pilates.”
They say, “Come on, really?”
And well, I’m telling the truth.
Joseph Pilates developed Pilates!
He was one voice of many that were visionaries in the world of movement.
Mabel Todd and Irmgard
Bartenieff were two others that graced my education and experience.
Joseph Pilates developed his work in the early 20th
century at a time when the world saw many breaks from tradition in the arts,
the view of the human mind, and the field of health. People started seeing the body and the mind as intricate
partners and equals as opposed to separate entities of which the body was a
lesser. Movement was being
observed and given meaning. Dance
Artists were exploring real human emotion and thought as opposed to archetypal narratives. Joseph Pilates immigrated to the United
States in 1925 and amid this transformation of thought, he continued to develop his method,
which he called contrology. He
wrote about his work in his book Return To Life. In this Book Joseph
Pilates outlines his life’s work including exercises, and the way he viewed a
healthy lifestyle.
Another Pioneer, and a “friend” that holds a special place
in my heart is Irmgard Bartenieff.
She immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1936. Her book
Body Movement: Coping with the Environment was the book I carried everywhere when I was in
Certification Program at The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement
Studies. Irmgard brought the
theories of Rudolf Laban to the United States. She was a physio therapist and dance therapist, and her work
is what founded the Laban/Bartenieff Institute in New York City. I never met Irmgard, but in the stories
I’ve heard I think that she was the kind of movement teacher that would put you
in places where learning was the only option. She taught with movement. If a student had a question she would get them moving so
that the student could find the answer. All questions were answered with more inquiry. Irmgard Bartenieff developed the
Bartenieff Fundamentals™; a series of exercises and movement patterns that
encourage movement efficiency and connectivity. From Bartenieff’s work, I learned the heel-to sits bone
connection, the beauty of the spiral, the importance of the breath and
developmental movement. I learned
how to fly along a diagonal, roll like a child, and stand like a human
being. Through her eyes I
discovered the theories of Buckminster Fuller. I learned her work at a young age and I am forever grateful
for the eyes and observation skills that Laban Movement Analysis and the Bartenieff Fundamentals gave to
me.
Mabel Todd wrote
The Thinking Body in 1937 and it was
reprinted in 1968. Mabel Todd
brought the following to the moving professions; “It is as profoundly true that
we are as much affected in our thinking by our bodily attitudes as our bodily
attitudes are affected in the reflection of our mental and bodily states.” Have you ever come out of a Pilates
session feeling better than before? Or more simply, what do you experience
after a ten minute walk in the sunshine?
Movement is so important in our lives and Mabel Todd was a pioneer in
this understanding. Her work was one of the first to use
imagery to teach movement. For
instance, if someone said to lift your arms, you might have an idea of what
action to take, but if someone said lift your arms as if you are an eagle
spreading his wings, you might move differently. This image
brings a certain amount of expression to the movement. The movement becomes more than a simple
action explained by the biomechanics and kinesiology of the body. It becomes an expressive movement with
depth and meaning.
I read Mabel and Irmgard’s books long before I ever learned
Pilates, and it is through the lenses of the Bartenieff Fundamentals ™ and a
mind body connection that I learned the Pilates Method. Does this affect my teaching? Are we all a product of all our
influences? Absolutely…Stay tuned
for next week when I speak to the books that come out of the Laban/Bartenieff lineage!
Katrina Hawley C.M.A, R.S.M.E
P.S. If any of these books seem like the right read for you, then
follow this link to our Amazon page, where they are all easily accessible. You can also follow the link to all of
the small apparatus on the amazon site.
Have you ever wanted to send a foam roller to your friend or family member? This easy link makes it so very
possible!
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