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I don't think it matters what Joe wanted the work to be. (Even for him.) What matters is that Joe's work reveals what matters.
You can go off and make pilates anything you want.
Remember, it' s survival training. The definition, the promise, the sequence.
I know where I stand. The rest doesn't matter. Others will say, "Yes, but, look over here, pay attention to this." And I say, no thank you. No need. I know where I'm coming from and where I want to get to and that's enough for me.
look at what the man was passionate about and you'll find meaning.
The Spider comes from a session I had with a rock climber who maintained his breath did not influence his strength. He was, of course, built like the material he loved to climb--built like a rock.
That night I kept seeing him in my mind's eye, like a spider, clinging to the rock. and this was the advent of tandem reformer exercises--like the spider. the image below only shows one reformer because that's all I have in my studio, but usually it is done with another reformer in parallel, feet positioned like hands. Inhale out, exhale home.
Just leg pull front, and leg pull on the mat, and control push up front and control push up on the reformer, spider front and spider extend the equipment's ability to find fluorescence.
Spider front
Spider
Which would you pick as the best image:
which two images seem identical?
Inhale push the pedal; exhale return the pedal.
(careful of the shoulders!)
"Rotating motion is a form of acceleration, because at every moment a point on the rim is undergoing a change in direction, which means that its velocity (a combination of speed and direction) is undergoing a change. Because non-Euclidean geometry would be necessary to describe this type of acceleration, according to the equivalence principle, it would be needed for gravitation as well." Page 192 of the Einstein biography. thinking is like a pin ball, bouncing from here to there. consciousness comes from thinking about one thing. because thought progresses through time, to hold one thought in mind requires that you rotate around it. so rotation is a key aspect to consciousness. when you understand how you must rotate around a subject to hold it in mind, you have the foundation to not only to think, but to listen, and not only to listen to your thinking, but you listen to your sensation. the more you are in a rotational dynamic, the more present you are, because every moment is a change in direction. (and that has something to do with gravity? how cool is that, given that we do pilates to be uniformly engaged in a uniform gravity field.)
the spirit of pilates, is the mind's eye (as in geist, like poltergeist--it's a german philosophical thing.)
it is HOW you do pilates. Principles are not enough. Principles do not give the clarity of an idea that has a single solitary focus. Principles do not give you the focus of WHAT you are after.
The HOW to do pilates comes from knowing the target. The target is the complete coordination of body, mind and spirit, a state of being in the moment, that you reach for when doing pilates.
alignment is the key that unlocks the door to fluorescence (the complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit.
it all fits together so well, I get tired of explaining it. the good news is that others have heard what I've said and they get it. they get it. and that makes me chuckle and breathe a sigh of ease. because the clarity of the idea is now past me. in others. they see it for what it is--transcendant.
RESEARCH:
Do all the research you want. When you know it works, you know it works, and more research is just more confirmation of what you already know.
"Contrology is the complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit." JP If you don't include "spirit" in your research it isn't complete. It doesn't address the essence of pilates. The closest scientific research can get to validating pilates is at the quantum physics level, where the "observer" is acknowledged. Pilates is about a state of being in the moment. That state has to include spirit, the observer, the listener. For intellectuals to lay claim to making standards for pilates that stays within the boarders of only thinking misses the whole point of the essence of pilates.
PURIST VS. MODIFIED PILATES:
This is currently being expressed as a tormenting conflict between "Contemporary" pilates and "Classical" pilates.
What the PMA believes Pilates "should" do, has little to do with Pilates and everything to do with securing their aristocratic control over something that needs none. Only a fool needs an expert to explain the obvious. (or surrender their power through fear and intimidation) don't you get tired of hearing that this phone conversation is being recorded for your benefit? I mean come on, how gullible can you be?
When you understand the idea of pilates everything becomes clear. What you do or don't do with a client isn't a battle between classicists clinging to ridged tradition, or contemporists assuming they can change things at will for reasons that have more to do with what they know about than understanding what the method is about.
The conflict between classic and contemporary fade away when you understand the underlying idea of pilates.
