Practice for Pilates and Craniosacral Therapy

Joseph Pilates was a fighter. As a sickly child, suffering from asthma, rachitis and rheumatism, he changed his life’s disposition through his strong will and an openness to learning various physical and mental training ideologies. Reaching 87 years vastly as a healthy and inspiring man, he lived his vision that physical and spiritual fulfillment are the foundations of a happy life.

He was a Pioneer. As early as 1914, whilst developing his training method, he introduced the concept of core stability, showing that this was the key to improving posture and energy-efficient movement patterns.
He also revolutionised the current rehabilitative practice of keeping the injured immobilised after surgery. At this time he worked as a nurse in a detention center for the prisoners of war. Innovatively building dynamic training equipment out of hospital beds and their springs, (origins of the Pilates Reformer and Trapeze Table) he enabled the injured to promptly begin exercise routines non-or only partially weight bearing. This brought about an immense improvement in the patients´ metabolism, blood circulation and psycho-emotional positivism, thus hastening their recovery.

Today, his concept is the standard practice in rehabilitation measures. Specially high performance athletes and dancers draw huge benefit through this. It facilitates their re-integration into their regular training routines and performances or competitions.Pilates is also highly effective in Injury and Ill-Health prevention programs. Muscular imbalances due to structural limitations, unfavourable posture, faulty movement patterns or one-sided repetitive movements at work or in daily life which cause pain or degeneration can be corrected.

Pilates optimizes body awareness, coordination and balance. By conscious breathing and concentration while practicing Pilates is also ideal for stress management.

The Craniosacral Osteopathy

The Craniosacral Therapy is a holistic system of treatment, a gentle but intense Manual Therapy, which trusts in the human body’s inherent wisdom and capacities to find balance. It stems from Dr. Andrew Taylor Stills´ (1828-1917) system of osteopathic medicine.

Dr. William Garner Sutherland (1873- 1954) extended Dr. Still´s system naming his own as Cranial Osteopathy. He was against the current belief within the medical community that the 22 bones of the skull were fused together from adolescence and where henceforth incapable of movement. Experimenting on himself, he concluded that the cranial and sacral bones moved in correlation to each other by way of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that connected them. Dr. John Upledger (1932-2012), doctor of Osteopathy and professor of biomechanics further developed research into the Craniosacral System. In research work done for the Michigan State University from 1975-1983, he confirmed Dr. Sutherlands´ findings. Moreover he described a rhythmical, tide-like movement between these bony structures through the cerebrospinal fluid. He confirms the presence of what Dr. Sutherland calls “the Breath of Life” (Primary respiratory System), a pulsating force paramount to the respiratory system as the driving force of human potency. He concluded that disorders in the central nervous system could be treated by correcting restrictions in this craniosacral system. His techniques focussed on the connective tissues, the fluid and energy, which resonated with quantum physics. Finally, he understood that negative emotions can be stored in cellular tissue memory and cause ill-health. Though gentle and using minimum touch to no manipulation, this somato-emotional technique can effectively release negative blockages to allow for renewed flow of energy.