About Joseph Pilates The Pilates Method was created more than eighty years ago by Joseph Pilates, who was born in 1880 in a small town near Düsseldorf, Germany. As a frail and sickly child plagued with rickets and asthma, Pilates was extremely motivated to strengthen his body and overcome his physical obstacles. At a very young age he devoted his life to the study of movement, eventually becoming an avid gymnast, boxer, skier, and diver. His determination to master his physical limitations led to the development of a series of exercises that would eventually become known as the Pilates Method. As a young man, Pilates moved to England to pursue his athletic career, but with the outbreak of World War I, he was interned along with other German nationals at a "camp" for enemy aliens. He taught his fellow interns wrestling and self-defense, boasting that they would emerge stronger than they were before being interned. Pilates was transferred to another camp on The Isle of Man. There he became something of a nurse, working with internees who suffered from wartime diseases and other ailments developed as a result of their incarceration. He began developing equipment to rehabilitate the bedridden, rigging exercise apparatus over hospital beds to be used by those unable to walk or exercise in the traditional manner. In 1918, a terrible epidemic of influenza swept the world, killing millions of people, tens of thousands in England. None of Pilates' followers succumbed even though the camps were the hardest hit. At the end of the war he briefly returned to Germany, where he introduced his training methods to the dance world. Called "Contrology" because of the emphasis placed on precise movements and the mind-body connection, Pilates' method quickly grew in popularity. The exercises' integration of control, concentration, centering, fluidity, precision, and breathing proved to be the means to a more efficient way of moving. Dancers embraced his teachings, understanding that these six basic principles were fundamental to achieving technical proficiency in their art. In 1926 Pilates brought his techniques to New York City. Along with his wife, Clara, he opened a gym and began teaching an exclusive group of dancers and performers. Among his followers were two of the greatest pioneers of the dance world, Martha Graham and George Balanchine, who encouraged their own students to adopt his techniques. As more people began practicing Pilates' methods, word of his unique approach to fitness spread beyond the dance world. In 1945 he authored Return to Life through Contrology, which emphasized the accessibility of the exercises and introduced his philosophy to a broader audience. By the 1950s he had a diverse following that ranged from physical therapists to housewives, athletes to soldiers. Pilates died in 1967 at the age of 87. Clara continued to teach and run their studio until her death ten years later, in 1977. At that time Romana Kryzanowska took over the business, dedicating her life to teaching Pilates' methods as he himself devised them.