Huh, what? You might've heard about March Madness - at least if you're into basketball or are in the U.S. - and what is March Matness, you wonder? Well, mat exercises of course!
The only exercise series published as a book by Joseph Pilates consists of 34 exercises on the mat (or rather The Mat as Joe would call it since, of course, he didn't use a yoga mat! Ever the inventor, he developed his own mat: Very thick and with handles...).
In 1945, Joseph Pilates - usually called Joe - published a thin little book called Return to Life through Contrology presumably in an attempt to bring Pilates, or as he called it Contrology, to the masses. In the book with instruction text and photos by George Hoyningen-Huene he documented how he intended his mat exercises to be performed. The photo is the title page from the book as published by the Pilates Method Alliance. If you want to get a copy of RTL, I recommend that version...
In 2013, Benjamin Degenhardt, a Pilates instructor and researcher, decided to return to those classical exercises - and started March MATness to celebrate the original sequence 🥳. (You can read lots more here: marchmatness.com/ and see loads of photos from past celebrations here: instagram.com/marchmatness/ )
And, of course, we'll participate this year! Well, at least I will and I invite you to join me 😊 Starting March 1st, I will post Joe's original instructions plus a link to a video (or two) with more detailed instructions and modifications. It's about one exercise per day (on a few days there'll be two since March doesn't have 34 days...) and the modifications make the exercises accessible. I'll also share a little about the history (or mystery) surrounding Pilates, the man, and Contrology drawing on, for example, the books by Eva Rincke (pilatesbiography.wordpress.... ) and John Howard Steel (johnhowardsteel.com/book ) books.
So, are you in? You still have about 28 days to decide 😉
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★ March MATness summary page: healthunlocked.com/strength... ★
Adriene’s yummy yoga mat spray recipe