What does it take to understand Pilates?
Jay Grimes (a long-time student and First Generation teacher of the Pilates method) says: “You can’t teach Pilates. You can only offer it to someone.”
Perhaps along the same lines, Pilates can’t really be “learned” or “known”. It can only be experienced. Embodied. Attempted. Improved. And repeated. Joseph Pilates himself said: “No man, no machine, can correct or create vitality, power, or health for you; everything comes from within, you have to unfold it.”
Of course, there are things that can be learned – the exercises, the spring settings, the concepts, etc. (that’s why we’re here!). But the best and perhaps only way to truly understand Pilates… is to practice Pilates.