Joseph Pilates Quotes

Contrology is designed to give you suppleness, natural grace, and skill that will be unmistakably reflected in the way you walk, in the way you play, and in the way you work.

To achieve the highest accomplishments within the scope of our capabilities in all walks of life we must constantly strive to acquire strong, healthy bodies and develop our minds to the limits of our ability.

Civilization impairs physical fitness.

Contrology (Pilates) is complete coordination of body, mind, and spirit. Through Contrology you first purposefully acquire complete control of your own body and then through proper repetition of its exercises you gradually and progressively acquire that natural rhythm and coordination associated with all your subconscious activities.

Contrology is not a fatiguing system of dull, boring, abhorred exercises repeated daily "ad-nausem".

Good posture can be successfully acquired only when the entire mechanism of the body is under perfect control.

We retire too early and we die too young, our prime of life should be in the 70's and old age should not come until we are almost 100.

Every moment of our life can be the beginning of great things.

Moreover, such a body freed from nervous tension and over-fatigue is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well-balanced mind that is always fully capable of successfully meeting all of the complex problems of modern living.

Daily, from sunrise to sunset, the radio, newspapers and magazines broadcast to the world how to maintain health, how to regain health... the conflicting information, expressive of the different opinions of these various health authorities, has proved to be nothing less than confusion.

A man is as old as his spine is flexible!

Ideally, our muscles should obey our will. Reasonably, our will should not be dominated by the reflex actions of our muscles.

When all your muscles are properly developed, you will, as a matter of course, perform your work with minimum effort and maximum pleasure.

The Pilates Method of Body Conditioning is gaining the mastery of your mind over the complete control of your body.

Lazy breathing converts the lungs, literally and figuratively speaking, into a cemetery for the deposition of diseased, dying and dead germs as well as supplying an ideal haven for the multiplication of other harmful germs.

Above all, learn how to breathe correctly.

Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.

You are only as young as your spine is flexible.

Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. In order to achieve happiness, it is imperative to gain mastery of your body. If at the age of 30 you are stiff and out of shape, you are old. If at 60 you are supple and strong then you are young.

Contrology develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, invigorates the mind, and elevates the spirit.

Contrology is not a system of haphazard exercises designed to produce only bulging muscles. ... Nor does Contrology err either by over-developed a few muscles at the expense of all others with resulting loss of grace and suppleness, or a sacrifice of the heart or lungs. Rather, it was conceived to limber and stretch muscles and ligaments so that your body will be as supple as that of a cat and not muscular like that of the body of a brewery-truck horse, or the muscle-bound body of the professional weight lifter you so much admire at the circus.

Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily, and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.

The Pilates Method teaches you to be in control of your body and not at its mercy.

It’s the mind itself which shapes the body.

A man is as young as his spinal column.

Because of poor posture, practically 95% of our population suffers from varying degrees of spinal curvature, not to mention more serious ailments. Good posture can be successfully acquired only when the entire mechanism of the body is under perfect control.

It is the mind that shapes the body

Breathing is the first act of life and the last. Our very life depends on it. Since we cannot live without breathing it is tragically deplorable to contemplate the millions and millions who have never mastered the art of correct breathing.

It is the mind itself which builds the body.

You must squeeze every atom of impure air from lungs until they are almost as free of air as a vacuum.

Before any real benefit can be derived from physical exercises, one must first learn how to breath properly. Our very life depends on it.

The man who uses intelligence with respect to his diet, his sleeping habits and who exercises properly, is beyond any question of doubt taking the very best preventive medicines provided so freely and abundantly by nature

Pilates is gaining the mastery of your mind over the complete control over your body.

Patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate successful accomplishment of any worthwhile endeavor.

This is the equivalent of an “internal shower”. As the spring freshness born of the heavy rains and vast masses of melting snows on mountains in the hinterlands cause rivers to swell and rush turbulently onward to the sea, so too will your blood flow with renewed vigor as the direct result of your faithfully performing the Contrology exercises.

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

Not only is health a normal condition, but it is our duty not only to attain it but to maintain it.

Concentrate on the correct movements each time you exercise, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits of their value.

With body, mind, and spirit functioning perfectly as a coordinated whole, what else could reasonably be expected other than an active, alert, disciplined person?

The mind, when housed within a healthful body, possesses a glorious sense of power.

I'm fifty years ahead of my time.

Through the Pilates Method of Body Conditioning this unique trinity of a balanced body, mind and spirit can ever be attained. Self-confidence follows.

Self-confidenc e, poise, consciousness of possessing the power to accomplish our desires, with renewed lively interest in life are the natural results of the practice of Contrology [Pilates].

Never slouch as doing so compresses the lungs, overcrowds other vital organs, rounds the back, and throws you off balance.

It is better to be tired from physical exertion than to be fatigued by the 'poisons' generated by nervousness while lying awake.

The lungs cannot be completely deflated at first without considerable effort. With perseverance, however, the desired results can be accomplished and with increasing power, gradually and progressively develop the lungs to their maximum capacity.

Were man to devote as much time and energy to himself as he has devoted to that which man has produced, what astounding and unbelievable progress would be made; a progress eclipsing all he has so far successfully accomplished.

Concentrate on the correct movement each time you exercise, lest you do them improperly and thus lose all the vital benefits. Correctly executed and mastered to the point of subconscious reaction, these exercises will reflect grace and balance in your routine activities.