Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What should I wear to class?

A: Wear something comfortable--something you might wear to a yoga class. 

Q: Should I wear shoes of some sort or maybe socks?

A: No shoes. It’s best to work barefoot but you can wear socks if you’re more comfortable that way.

Q: Do I need to warm-up before class?

A: No.

Q: Do I need to feel that I’m a “coordinated” person in order to come to these classes?

A: No

Q: Don’t strong athletic people or dancers have an advantage here?

A: Not necessarily. Everyone can benefit from changing certain of his or her movement

habits--from releasing things being gripped or held in order to access areas that seem inaccessible. Everyone can benefit from learning to move more organically, harmoniously and from finding true--dynamic--core support.

Q: Do I need to be young to participate effectively?

A: No. Even though dancers--young experienced movers--have been drawn to the work from Joseph Pilates earliest years in NY, he did not develop this study in order to serve that sector of the community. He intended it for everyone.

Q: How would you describe the work as you perceived it at The Pilates Center in Boulder? What’s it like and what’s it not like?

A:

    What it is: 

•a rich exploration of fundamental movement “tasks” in their most efficient form

•an energy that finds a shape

•an approach to “obvious” movement (bending the leg, rolling the body up off the mat) that is new, unfamiliar--counterintuitive

•a great workout

•a transformation of one's movement patterns or habits

•a full body experience for each exercise, including for something as “simple” as rolling the head up off the mat

•challenging but fun and thought provoking

•a poetic rethinking of movement

•creative

•a discovery of organic movement from the core that far surpasses "holding in the abs"--indeed, that does not involve "holding"

•a discovery of "dynamic stabilization" (instead of gripping in order to stabilize)

•a discovery of the fundamental movement skills "hidden" in the exercises

What it is NOT:

•something resembling a gym class

•a repetition of athletic movements using your usual movement habits (“Lift that barge! Tote that bale!”)

•a series of “localized” exercises: first the arms, then the legs, then the abs, etc.

•boring

•mindless movement

•formulaic

•tightening, gripping, bracing, swinging limbs, hanging in the body, bearing down in one place in order to move in another

•"holding in your stomach" and then trying to move

•going through the motions--copying an external form