Benjamin Degenardt was here in Stockholm early in June, and I was able to attend a workshop that he held at the beautiful and classical Pilates Scandinavia studio in Östermalm. It was a very rewarding experience and I thought I’d present a review of the day for Pilates Intel.
The day began with a talk about the history of Joe Pilates, which was presented by Benjamin in a laid back and non-deific manner. He explained that many of the exercises that now fit under the umbrella of Pilates were exercises that were typical of the time when Joe grew up – callisthenic exercises and movement drills that were commonly practiced in Germany and throughout much of Europe during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Joe Pilates sequenced these exercises together based on his beliefs and research he’d done on what would make a complete movement regimen.
These insights about the background of Contrology came back throughout the afternoon portion of the day, which was dedicated to breaking down the original Mat sequence that can be found in Joe Pilates’ book “Return to Life”.
The afternoon session started with Benjamin presenting a concept coined “authentic movement”. According to him, authentic movement starts by finding, and being true to, the body’s own natural reactions and reflexes, to any purposeful movement. As an example, the elaborate movement pattern throughout the entire body that is set off by the simple purpose of taking a step forward when walking. Such reflex behaviors do not need to be fully processed mentally, but can be trusted to support the purpose of any movement on its own. In relationship to the Pilates work, where we control movement often to the extent that we override our reflex behavior, the idea of letting the body’s reflexes become part of the practice and the individual’s learning curve would make space for a different exploration of the exercises. Benjamin then established several elements of movement as guideposts to help us with the exploration we were to embark on.
– awareness of the entire body in relationship to movement
– finding space and length in movement
– finding opposition in movement
– willpower, being fully immersed and committed to the practice
We returned to the physical reflexive responses and how they composed the framework of an exercise as we proceeded to go through the 34 original Mat exercises (actually, 35 with the inclusion of the Thigh Stretch), starting with the Hundred. We discussed how from the supine position, lengthening the legs away from the body brought about a natural lift of the legs, accompanied by an innate response of the midsection of the body to offset their weight. It was a different way of doing The Hundred compared to my own training, and I have to say that this approach did feel like a natural way to carry out this exercise.
As we explored the essence of each exercise, as well as the natural progression of the exercise sequence as a whole, we always looked back at the concept of the body’s authentic movement potential. The series nicely make sense this way, and there was a definite flow in the sequence.
The real value came from the fact that Benjamin never pushed anything as ‘the only way’. Instead he made it clear this was his understanding of the original way of doing the exercises based on his research, and why they were done this way. I was truly touched by Benjamin’s intelligent and sensitive manner to run the workshop. It was cohesive and complete. His enthusiasm and love for what he does was infectious. He openly allowed the discussion of alternative solutions while not afraid to make it clear what he found best – always with complete respect for others that might not, acknowledging that finding ‘the right way’ is an individual journey of discovery and experimentation. The best that one can do is: give a method, explain it well and concisely, and let the individual run with it on their own.
I can’t say I instantly agreed with everything we discussed that day, but I am thrilled to tell you that Benjamin’s openness continues beyond the workshop itself. He and I have already started what promises to be an insightful discussion on movement and Pilates – the subject of a future article here at Pilates Intel.
Summing it all up, the entire day was poetic in its cohesiveness and intelligence, reflective of Benjamin’s intellect and passion. If you get a chance to attend a workshop with Benjamin and his 360° Pilates program, I recommend you take the time – your work will have that much more integrity after you do.