Joseph Pilates was a very fragile child; he suffered from asthma and used to be very skinny. He, therefore, developed a system of exercises that were intended to strengthen the human mind and body. He truly believed that mental and physical health were interrelated.
Among his students were many ballet dancers (especially from the American Ballet School of New York because when he moved to the USA, he actually rented a studio in the same building as the school) and they went on to teach his methods and open studios. But unlike yoga, there is no official patent or exam to become a Pilates instructor.
OFFLINE IMPULSE PILATES
To avoid taking a class given by a bad instructor, head to Impulse Pilates in Carouge. You will be greeted by Joana and Steven who are both classical ballet dancers. Though Joana also taught modern, jazz, and tap dance classes (and Reiki and meditation, she’s a star. Just have a look at the mindbodyintuition.ch website). Steven on the other hand is also a contemporary dancer and a practitioner (with a legal degree and certification) of Shiatsu. Together, they teach Pilates, stretching, Shiatsu, and Reiki classes from Monday to Friday. You can be alone with them, or take a friend with you; you can attend a class of three people and up to 7 for collective classes. And Impulse Pilates is VERY flexible: Joana and Steven (given that the class isn’t full yet because, at the beginning of each semester, they tend to be sold out very fast) will adapt to your schedule and what you want to do in terms of exercise.
ONLINE IMPULSE PILATES
You can join online course of pilates with Joana or Steven or practice free videos of Impulse Pilates workout sessions are available on their YouTube channel, where they help u get your daily workouts done. 20 min. Workout videos per day: this way we can all manage to squeeze exercise into our daily routine, which comes highly recommended. If you’re new to Pilates, Joana & Steven note that “beginners must know that we always exhale through the effort. But, breathing while focusing on contracting the core muscles as well as moving a leg and/or an arm can seem overwhelming, so the most important is to try to keep a fluid movement and try not to hold your breath.”
A HEALTHY MIND IN A HEALTHY BODY
As Joana & Steven lead an exceptionally healthy lifestyle, we asked for their advice on how to stay healthy: maintaining a daily routine will help keep your anxiety low, and completing daily tasks will give you a feeling of achievement at the end of the day, which is positive for mental health. This basically means that it’s still important to go to sleep, wake up, and shower around the same time every day; although you may not be leaving the house. It’ll give you more motivation to carry out daily tasks, as opposed to feeling lazy or incompetent.