Mr. Pilates was born into a large working class family in Mönchengladbach (near Düsseldorf), Germany in less-than-ideal living conditions. Some of his siblings did not survive childhood. Joseph’s mother died at the young age of 40.

He began his working life uninspired, as a brewer’s assistant. He married a woman he seemed to love, and had two children. Unfortunately, one of his children passed away and shortly after, so did his wife. In 1914 after these devastating events, and at 31 years of age, Joe left one child behind and moved to England. He experienced 10 months as a free man, before WWI broke out and he was arrested as an enemy alien. He was held as a prisoner of war for over 4 years spending most of his time at Knockaloe, an Internment Camp on the Isle of Man.

During this time Mr. Pilates focused on staying physically, mentally and spiritually fit. He exercised and got others to exercise. He refereed boxing matches. He shared his routines with other inmates who credited their physical health, mental well-being and survival to Mr. Pilates.

Once released, Joe made his way back to Germany. Being in captivity for four years allowed Joe to discover his true calling and with his newfound freedom, he was determined to go after it. Documentation from his return to Germany shows him stating his profession as “Heilkundiger” which is translated as “expert in the science of natural healing.” He had no degree, but aspired to be an expert in the cure and improvement of people. In 1919 he fell in love, married again, settled down (temporarily) and focused on physical culture. He established a place for boxers to train. There is evidence of Joe meeting legendary movement specialist, Rudolf Laban, and receiving accolades from the likes of the military police in Hamburg and a professor of orthopaedic surgery at Hamburg University.

During this time Joe became actively involved in the boxing world. And it is through that world that he encountered Nat Fleisher, a figurehead in the boxing community, and founder of The Ring Magazine. Mr. Fleisher helped Joe through the process of relocating to America. By 1924, 8 years after Knockaloe, Joe had filed patents for his equipment in Germany. In 1926, he again left family behind and set off for the United States. He was 43 years old.

On the ship from Germany, Joseph Pilates met Clara Zeuner, a nurse, who later became his wife and life-long professional partner. The two opened a studio at 939 8th Avenue in New York City and from the 1940's until Joe’s death in 1967 his work, which he termed "Contrology" seeped into the environs of those seeking a better body and improved health. Joe and Clara worked with boxers, dancers, doctors, opera singers, urban professionals, actors and socialites. Those who trained with Joe saw him as a genius of the body.

Mr. Pilates was often seen as an eccentric, known to bark orders at his students in his bathing suit, sometimes showing his clients how to shower properly in real time and obsessively fashioning pieces of equipment for his pupils to take home. He also enjoyed the guilty pleasures of life, often with a cigar in one hand, a bourbon in the other and an eye on the beautiful ladies, which got him into trouble at times.

In the 1940’s he spent many summers working with professional dancers at Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires. He took respite in nature at his vacation home there and allowed dancers and locals to use his home workout “bungalow.” You can find a piece of Joe’s original Berkshire home at BodyTonic along with photos of his property.

Joe and his equipment sparked the curiosity of a multitude of magazines including Life, Sports Illustrated, Dance Magazine and many, many others. He photographed and filmed his work constantly and sought copyrights and patents to his work. From his clientele. he was revered as a a prolific creator and healer, possessing an enviable, youthful vigor and physique.

Many of Joe’s contemporaries built equipment of a similar fashion, made of springs and pulleys, wood and metal, but two elements helped perpetuate the Pilates method after his death; Joe’s equipment was better, and there was an order to the exercises. Joe created posters and mailings to help his pupils work out autonomously. He documented his exercises and mind/body philosophy through writing, photographs and moving images. He wrote two books, “Your Health” and his seminal work, “Return to Life Through Contrology” (1945), which is part manifesto and part exercise manual. It is in this book that he is quoted as saying, “Contrology is complete coordination of mind, body and spirit.” He was certainly ahead of his time. Even today, almost 80 years later, the body/mind/spirit ethos, at least in the west is still nascent.

Joseph Hubertus Pilates died at the age of 83 in a New York Hospital of emphysema without a will or much money but with a strong group of avid practitioners that kept Clara and the Pilates studio going. Clara continued teaching until she left the studio in the hands of Romana Kryzanowska, along with a handful of other teachers to perpetuate the Pilates method and the brick and mortar studio with the hope of training new teachers to carry on his work.

There are lineages of Pilates that descend from the students of Joe and Clara. We affectionately refer to Joe’s pupils who became teachers as “the Pilates Elders.” They include Carola Trier, Kathleen Stanford Grant, Anna Wooley Schaffer, Naja Corey, Jay Grimes, Jerome Andrews, Ron Fletcher, Mary Bowen, Lolita San Miguel, and my teacher, Romana Kryzanowska.

At BodyTonic, we feel a responsibility toward this lineage. It is a great honor to share the Pilates method with the world.