The nature of the work:

The inspiring program at The Pilates Center prepared Sally Leabhart to teach all levels of the classical repertoire on all of the equipment. By Joseph Pilates’ design, the exercises on each piece of equipment inform those on the others while offering powerful feedback essential to learning the matwork. An exercise is not an end in itself or a series of shapes one copies in order to have a "workout"―though work out, one does! Instead, the exercises provide a means of acquiring, little by little, specific and unfamiliar skills. One progresses not by practicing outward shapes, but through the discovery and exploration of the "inner work." Proficiency in the classical work builds gradually through alternating sessions on Reformer and Mat while weaving in exercises on the “optionals”: Chair, Trapeze table, High Barrel, etc. Progressing through the levels, one learns a new kinesthetic organization leading to more harmonious alignment, strength, greater range of motion, through what Joseph Pilates called “uniform development.”

For further information about the Pilates method as well as biographical information on Joseph Pilates, please visit the website of The Pilates Center in Boulder.