Five years ago we probably called it 'pilots', an esoteric exercise system imported from the US. Now Pilates is bigger than yoga. But how many people really know how to practise it, asks Jennifer Keegan
We know Pilates is in. Its buzzwords seem to be on the lips of everyone with an interest in their physical health: core strength, lengthened muscle, alignment, breath. Many promises are made about this exercise system, which therefore runs the risk of failing to live up to expectations. And, in truth, in contrast to the ancient, tried-and-tested practice of yoga, it is a mere slip of a thing, at just 80 years old.
The method originated with Joseph Pilates, who was born in Dusseldorf in 1880. A frail and sickly young man, he turned to physical-fitness regimes to build up strength and muscle. He first explored body building and gymnastics, then started to combine them with more esoteric practices, such as yoga and Zen meditation. When he was interned during the first World War, he taught "controlology", as he called it back then, to prisoners, by customising the beds in the cells. In the 1920s he moved to New York and opened a studio, attracting professional dancers such as Martha Graham, who found that his exercises complemented their dance training.
Since then Pilates has come a long way. Abbe Harris set up Dublin Pilates Studio, in Ranelagh, with Lesley-Anne Ross in 2002. A former ballet teacher, Harris trained as a dancer in the UK, where the Pilates method was used to develop bodily awareness, core strength and movement performance. After she found that it greatly reduced tension and caused her back problems to melt away, she trained in and started teaching Pilates. "When I first came back here, people had barely heard of it," she says. "They were pronouncing it 'pilots'." Then, however, the method began to be mentioned by celebrities, which helped it move into the mainstream.
According to Milena Jaksic, fitness manager at the Riverview leisure complex in Dublin 4, Pilates is now outstripping yoga and other forms of alternative exercise in popularity. "Our members have heard it is the latest thing to do, and that's how trends in the gym start. They expect us to keep up with what is going on, and so when we see there is a market for something, we bring it in."
Riverview recently sectioned off a portion of the centre to create a 2,000sq m (21,500sq ft) Pilates studio. "It is attracting people who are fed up working too hard in the gym; some of the stuff they were doing may have been too high-impact or wasn't bringing flexibility to the body, and that was causing problems or injuries, whereas Pilates is low-impact, safe and yet still a good workout."
Working out is perhaps key when it comes to fitness centres; people who pay big fees to join them probably want to feel the burn for their money. "People don't come here to relax and chant around candles," says Jaksic. "Nearly all our Pilates teachers come from a fitness background, so we make the classes more dynamic, to keep people entertained. We try to give them what they want."
Harris is more interested in teaching people what she believes works. "It's more about tuning in than tuning out," she says. "I don't believe in the if-it-doesn't-hurt-it's-no-good school. It's about feeling good in your body . . . Sometimes in a class I'll focus only on breath work or do a slow start, and there are people who will literally twitch with impatience. Some people are happier on a treadmill, burning it."
The gap between purists and people who want a keep-fit method is nothing new. Since the 1920s New York has been the home of Pilates, and several schools exist there, from the purist approach that rigorously follows Joseph Pilates's methods to more progressive interpretations.
Dori Trent, who worked in a Pilates studio in New York as a teacher and physiotherapist specialising in performance art, says: "The purists can be inflexible, yet, at the same time, you can't let it get sloppy. The core of it needs to remain the same. But it had to be modified, to suit more ordinary folk, once it started going mainstream.
"Thankfully, things have changed to be more respectful of the natural curves of the spine, so that the system now respects the body without being so forceful. In New York, for example, I taught dancers who were very body-aware, and it was easy to teach them. Then I'd suddenly be landed with a roadie who ate Mars bars, so then you have to take a different approach.
"There is a simple, step-by-step approach, but sometimes people are being pushed into advanced postures when they haven't even grasped the basics . . . Your average person, just coming in off the street for the first time, needs to be made aware of their body and their centre, and just this can take weeks if they've never done anything like this before. If this approach is followed it can be wonderful. If it isn't, then it is just Jane Fonda."
Like anything, Pilates can be misrepresented or misunderstood, and people can get on to a wrong footing. "If people are even sore after a Pilates session, then they have been badly taught or have misunderstood the instructions," says Harris. "I had one woman who had misunderstood that the drawing in of the abdomen was to be done during class time only, and she was walking around all day holding in her stomach and barely able to breathe."
Another problem is that some Pilates teachers have been poorly trained. You can buy a teaching certificate on the internet for $50, or little more than €40. "There are people out there doing hokey-pokey teacher-training courses and then going out and setting themselves up as Pilates instructors," says Trent.
The ideal class should have no more than 12 students, so the teacher can keep an eye on everyone. Some teachers, including Harris, tailor one-on-one classes to the individual. Harris also uses the Alexander and Feldenkrais methods to inform and advance her understanding of the body within a Pilates framework."I am looking for flow and a sense of smooth aesthetics, which is what I think most teachers should be looking for," she says. Other teachers fuse Pilates with yoga or martial arts; as long as they know what they are doing, the almost endless possibilities can be enriching.
If you have learned Pilates from a good teacher, it will carry over into all your activities, from how you walk to how you drink tea. It will change how you use your body every day, so that if you go back to the gym you'll use the equipment in a different way.
"I come from a society where everyone is always in the gym," says Dori Trent, "and I see that happening here, too. But globally, in the future, I see people moving away from the gym thing, choosing exercise that fits in more with the individual and with their lifestyle and personality."
• You can contact Abbe Harris at 01-4982688 (www. dublinpilatesstudio.com) and Dori Trent at 087-7748356
TIPS WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A TEACHER
• Do some research: ask around and talk to other Pilates students. Check the web for additional information. Check that the teacher has good credentials and knows his or her stuff.
• If you have a particular need or injury, talk to teachers about their willingness to work with you on it - they may even have a background that will be useful in this. Choose an approach and level of class that suits your physical ability and temperament.
• Above all, use your instinct: do you feel good in and after the class? Do you feel comfortable with the teacher's approach, and does the teacher seem genuinely knowledgable about Pilates and interested in teaching you about it?