One of Joseph and Clara Pilates protégés, Ron Fletcher, passed away earlier this month.  His story is truly inspiring.  Many people talked about his continued strength and resilience throughout his 90 years of life due largely to his continued dedication to Pilates.  I admire his persistence and I pray I can still be dancing and doing Pilates at 90!  Being a dancer, like Ron, I have had my fair share of injuries, aches and pains.  Pilates has been a huge blessing in rehabbing after injuries, staying in shape and remaining aware and in tune with my body.  When I came across Ron’s bio recently I was also reminded of the history and brilliance Joseph Pilates created in the reformer.  See below how Ron recounts and gives credit to Joe for the ability to keep on moving and doing what he loves.

“I believe that I am the most fortunate person to be lengthened out and centered on the PILATES REFORMER by Joseph H. Pilates himself, almost 50 years ago, and I clearly recall how good it felt. I had danced on that knee, Novocain-injected, for so many performances that my whole body was “cockalooky” from protecting and compensating and it was difficult to find or feel my center. Joe, with his wise-blood instinct, his gift of body knowledge and his “magic machine” very soon helped me to rediscover that center, low in the pelvic area, “bolting” the pubic bone back to the tail bone. That Reformer is a brilliant piece of Pilates, enabling one to lie supine over a weak or injured part of the body and properly engage and exercise specific muscle groups against the tension of ingeniously placed springs and straps – unhampered by your own weight. It was a slow time at Pilates, so I fortunately was given a lot of time and attention, learning so many things from this brilliant, impatient, sometimes irascible tough old German who seemed ageless. The work was constantly evolving and (I’m so grateful) he used me often to try some piece he wanted to see on a body that was beginning to show the Pilates training.”
Ron Fletcher, from fletcherpilates.com