The goal, for Joseph Pilates was pretty simple: happiness – for anyone willing to work for it. It’s in the very first sentence of his book, Return to Life: “Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.” His ideas reflect the great German philosophers he most certainly studied: Kant, Schiller, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche; that it is a natural imperative for man to strive to become his best, highest self; that men, who work or suffer to attain the qualities of strength, discipline, self-reliance and will are the pillars of a strong civilization. He presented his system of CONTROLOGY as a cure for the ills of modern life. Joseph Pilates was not just firming up flabby bellies. He was bulking up your moral fiber!

Centering, concentration, control, precision, proper breathing and flow pave the way for body, mind and spirit to unite in their common aims.  And the deeper aim of Pilates is to develop the uniquely human potentialities of imagination, inspiration, memory, intelligence and will.

“Self-confidence, 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.” Return to Life, p34