Joseph Pilates: How A Man Changed the World

Joseph Pilates was a remarkable man who lived to build a legacy that still exists today. He has revolutionized the concept of body and well-being, placing more appreciation on health and a peaceful soul and mind.

Joseph, the son of a Greek and German couple, was born in Düsseldorf, Germany. His father was a gymnast champion and his mother a naturopath. Yet despite the intensive health background of his parents, Joseph grew up a frail child. He was constantly attacked by asthma, rickets, rheumatic fever, and other illnesses that sometimes brought him closer to death. Furthermore, he was always bullied by the neighborhood kids because of his family name, causing him so much sadness. But this did not stop him from dreaming. In the midst of his condition and with grief inside him, he still yearned for the day that he would become a healthy, robust man. They challenged him to look for ways to overcome his weaknesses and realize his dreams. He started researching and studying about bodybuilding, gymnastics, diving, skiing, and other forms of exercises. At home, he would perform them and take note of the different changes in his body. It’s not surprising, therefore, that at fourteen years old, he became a master to all these.

Sensing that his newfound strength can bring him to greater heights, Joseph, during 1912, packed his bags, said goodbyes to his dear loved ones, and sailed across several miles of ocean to live in England. There, he fend for himself by handling a lot of physical jobs, such as circus performer, boxer, and self-defense trainer to the detectives. He was living a peaceful life then until World War I broke out, and the strong Joseph Pilates, now considered as “enemy alien,” found himself incarcerated in a camp in Lancaster.

It is not an unknown story to all of us how much suffering prisoners endured in concentration camps. This dark period in history brought millions of death to people—old and young, men and women—and forever damaged the memory of the living. But Joseph wasn’t one of them. He didn’t die but continued to live the way he thought it should be lived. While interned, Joseph spent whatever time he had to further enhance his exercise techniques. This allowed him to forget the cruelties of reality and concentrate on the positive feeling his routines gave him. Moreover, he was able to share his gift to his other comrades by teaching them.

After he was finally freed and the war was over, Joseph went back to Germany to perfect his techniques. However, the German government wanted him to teach the German army, which was against Joseph’s principles and state of being at that time. He was longing to heal the wounds that inflict him physically and emotionally, not to encourage others to do harm. So he sailed the vast seas and sought refuge in New York, becoming an immigrant. It was at this voyage that he found the love of his life, Clara, a nurse.

Joseph believed that his heart was calling him to serve other people. Together with his wife, he opened his first Pilates studio along Eighth Avenue. He had one problem, though: he didn’t have any contacts. To solve this, he went to different dance classes and distributed cards. He also invited dancers he found in the streets. Soon his commitment and love of the craft, the effectiveness of his training, as well as the passion of teaching, gave him prominence; and it wasn’t long that his clientele include popular celebrities like George Balanchine, Martha Graham. He also learned to be innovative and creative by inventing his own exercise apparatus. His invention was used in hospitals for immobilized patients.

In 1967 that Joseph breathed his last. Gone was the man who believed in a sound mind inside a sound body. But his life and death brought forth hope to everyone, especially those who wished to live longer and happier.