The Six Principles of Pilates

Did you know that Joseph Pilates never spoke about the six principles of Pilates? He also taught very few people how to teach Pilates themselves. For something so structured, this is pretty surprising. After all, Pilates is a whole system that was thoughtfully designed to work together. While we certainly credit Joseph with designing this system, it’s actually his successors who condensed his theories into principles and started to pass the knowledge on through teacher apprenticeships and training. These six principles have helped generations of teachers to learn the Pilates Method as it originally was intended.  

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

A Bit of History

Joseph Pilates’ studios in New York were an open-gym style. The apparatuses were there, with pictures of exercises on the walls to prompt the students. After an introduction to the studio and exercises, students would come to learn and practice Pilates independently. At the same time,  Joe or his assistants would observe them, stepping in with tips and adjustments as needed.

When Joe passed, his students wanted to keep his original studio up and running. After plenty of negotiations, Romana took on the New York studio. Another of Joe’s assistants, Ron Fletcher, eventually opened a studio on the opposite coast in L.A. Others continued to teach Pilates in Joseph’s style. Finally, it was Romana’s students, Philip Friedman and Gail Eisen, who condensed his theories into the six principles of Pilates. The principles were first published in 1980 in The Pilates Method of Physical and Mental Conditioning.  

The Principles of Pilates

The six principles of Pilates are: 

1. Breathing 
2. Concentration 
3. Control
4. Centering
5. Precision 
6. Flowing Movement

These principles are meant to all work together during your Pilates practice, but they most certainly won’t all come together for you at first! In the beginning, you’ll have lots to learn and remember, like the different exercises, the order of them, and how to use the various apparatuses. You’ll probably feel like you’re doing a bunch of individual exercises, but with time you’ll come to see the true nature of Pilates.

Finding Awareness

A repetitive practice, Pilates is designed to move from one exercise to the next; and one exercise will help you get to the next. You’ll eventually come to see how the same movements are repeated over and over again, with slight changes or resistance to challenge you in different ways. 

Through the pre-Pilates and foundational exercises, you will learn to find awareness of how your body works together. Often, new students will complain that their neck hurts or feels strained. There are lots of exercises in Pilates that involve curling up through the upper spine off the mat. To prevent neck pain, you need to find this curl by using your abs more than the neck, and not leading the movement with the head. 

There is also the complaint of not being able to hold the legs out long, and that the hip flexors or back hurt. That’s where we bring in the pre-Pilates exercises to teach new students how to lift their legs by lengthening, and how to use their glutes, low abs, and hip flexors to move their legs up. These might seem like super simple exercises, but they can also be done with more awareness over time. 

Last year I started doing foundational exercises in every one of my workouts and I started to reteach them to clients as well. Wouldn’t you know it – all of our Pilates got better! I’m still impressed by how much control students have and what they can do when we try an advanced exercise. They are drawing on the skills they gained from the foundations of Pilates. 

Bringing in the Principles of Pilates

As you learn how the body moves together and get familiar with the Pilates exercises, the principles of Pilates become more evident, too. For example, you’ll find more control in your movements, move more smoothly from one position to the next, and learn how to coordinate your breath. For the next six weeks, I’ll cover each of the principles and how they contribute to the Pilates method. First up, breathing!