In Our Pilates Era 💪🏾📈

Welcome back to Thrivency’s weekly newsletter. I hope you’re well! 👋🏽

ICYMI: I sent out a special edition, subscribers-only wellness event lineup for Juneteenth weekend a couple days ago, including 26 events happening across six major cities. Take a look before you step out this weekend to see all the ways you can sneak in some mindful moments amongst the festivities! ✨✊🏾

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. I’ve got a new edition of our Origins of Wellness series, and today we’re covering a trend that’s moved beyond temporary popularity. It’s reached the level of mainstream adoption in the fitness industry that makes it impossible to not pass a studio on the street or scroll your feed without seeing it. It’s more than fitting that we finally dive into the origins of Pilates.

Pilates

Areas of origin: Joseph Hubertus Pilates originated early forms of modern-day Pilates movements while he was held in an internment camp in England during World War I for being considered a German “enemy alien.”

Date of origin: While Pilates himself was developing the method during the 1910s, it didn’t reach the U.S. until him and his wife emigrated here in 1926 and opened their first fitness studio in New York.

Original use: According to Pilates.com, Joseph Pilates began experimenting with various movements to help bed-ridden internees remain active while being held in England. Many attested to how the unique method of using bed springs to create resistance was effective.

As he began teaching this method in the U.S., the practice caught fire amongst the New York City dance community. By the mid-20th century, several of Pilates’ former students went on to train hundreds of young dancers who were navigating injuries or wanting to “limber up.” The early system, referred to as “contrology,” focused on coordinating body, mind, and spirit through very specific movements and use of various traditional apparatuses, like the reformer.

And now a quick pause in this history lesson for a little bit of…mess 😏. Do y’all remember back in September 2025 when popular Pilates instructor and content creator @PilatesBodyRaven went viral for all the wrong reasons?? Her comments about exclusivity and luxury within the Pilates space rubbed many people the wrong way and jumpstarted my initial fascination with the origins of this practice. I even wrote an op-ed back then about it.

But the TL:DR of it all is that the practice of Pilates actually has pretty inclusive roots here in the U.S. In fact, Kathy Grant and Lolita San Miguel, a Black and Latina woman, studied under Joseph Pilates and were awarded degrees by the State University of New York to teach Pilates just before his death in 1967. They’re considered the first “officially certified” Pilates practitioners, who went on to popularize the practice in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Modern-day Pilates: Maybe to the dismay of Pilates purists, this practice has evolved significantly from the traditional method. Many classes today have evolved to include modified movements, new formats like heated classes, and inspired other popular exercise methods like Lagree.

But I think what made Pilates so popular post-pandemic is still true to the core principles of the method: in times of turmoil and uncertainty, people are looking for a practice that helps them tap in to the mind-body connection.

That’s it for this edition of Origins of Wellness! Let me know, are you in your Pilates era?

While you ponder, make sure to cast your vote for the next topic of Origins of Wellness.

Thanks for reading and happy Juneteenth! See you back here next week for our next Community Voices Q&A

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