Joseph Pilates Wanted His Exercise System Taught in Schools
“Contrology goes beyond mere physical exercise and taps the inner springs of health, teaching man to perform all human functions correctly.”
I have had many clients over the years say, “Everyone needs to learn this! I wish I had found it sooner. They should teach it in schools!”
And I love telling them that is exactly what Joseph Pilates’ vision was.
According to the Pilates Transparency Project, at least three Presidential Libraries have correspondences from Joseph Pilates.
Joseph Pilates’ letters to President Kennedy were clear and pointed.
On letterhead that read, “Teaching the “art and science of Contrology (Balance of body and mind), he wrote, “Only by the attainment of perfect balance of body and mind through Contrology can one appreciate what really constitutes normal health.”
“For over 58 years, I have conducted progressive experiments along scientific and practical lines on my own body and those of my pupils.”
He says the results are organized in 12 units, and that the basic floor work in Return To Life forms part one.
The full “12 units constitute a brief but comprehensive system of physical culture, an art and science, which, if taught in schools, would diminish the need for corrective institutions of all kinds, physical, mental, and penal.”
He writes the “physical training methods employed in schools today fail to achieve their avowed purpose.”
“Contrology, on the other hand, goes beyond mere physical exercise and taps the inner springs of health, teaching man to perform all human functions correctly. It welcomes the most critical scrutiny of sincere investigators searching for the secrets of health.”
“Contrology today will build our youth for tomorrow, thus contributing to man’s supremacy on earth and ultimately to universal peace.”
After the Kennedy administration failed to organize a meeting, Joseph Pilates wrote a second letter that said, “There is a great deal being said about the decadence and decline in America paralleling the decline of the Roman Empire. However, they do not say what will save America. CONTROLOGY WILL SAVE AMERICA. For the sake of America, I urge you to investigate COTROLOGY.
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston / Pilates Transparency Project
Courtesy John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston / Pilates Transparency Project