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Hubertus Joseph Pilates – Biography

– Javier Perez Pont

This is the story of a physical culture genius who, overcoming all kinds of family, economic, political, social and cultural vicissitudes, created a revolutionary philosophy and practice on how we relate to ourselves, which he called Contrology and which, unfortunately, at least today, does not occupy its deserved place in history.

Thanks to his inexhaustible curiosity, perseverance and discipline Joseph obtained, as a final result, an unparalleled work of art and science. Fifty years after his death, Contrology remains, as revolutionary as it was, undoubtedly, in its German beginnings.

Hubertus Joseph intended, since his arrival in the United States, to create a legend and a myth about his own person. This was the dream of many at that time and still today. He arrived in America and settled on ^8th Avenue, number 939 and at this very moment he began to fantasize and mystify himself. This gave rise to the great difficulty in knowing the truth about his person and personality.

However, in the end, the truth becomes more interesting than the myth and reveals to us an exceptional human being in his work and only a “human” in his life’s journey. It is this “human” aspect that interests us here and allows us to understand: 1. why Contrology comprises the 84 years of Joe’s life; 2. the story of an exceptional human being.

Today we try to pay tribute to this man who throughout his life, however, enjoyed the recognition of his efforts and successes in a relatively important way, he did not live, however, to enjoy success as he desperately wished throughout his life. His great personal desire and frustration was: the official recognition of the value of Contrology as an indispensable basis for the education of the human being from the beginning, in infancy, in schools, in his later years.

This would allow the human race to reach a higher level in the evolutionary scale. Learning how to behave and understand what it means to “stand on one’s feet”. For us, learning this from childhood, as well as understanding the mechanisms of the human body and living the rest of our lives according to the concept of “dignity”.

And not only that, since Contrology was only a means to his ultimate goal, that is, the improvement of the human race physically, intellectually and spiritually. A whole political theory, not completely original, that involves his ideas and his work in Ancient Greece.

This objective, due, in large part, to a very strong character, was not achieved in life, in spite of his many attempts. However, we do not believe that his personality was the only factor responsible for the failure of his desires. Society was not and still is not prepared to receive his teachings as universal. Hubertus Joseph once said: “I am 50 years ahead of my time”, and here I remember the philosopher, also German, Josef Pieper who defined the concept of “modernity” according to which any moment in history is “not only what an era wants, but also what it needs”. I believe that Hubertus was too “modern”, however, the interests of the societies in which he lived did not coincide with his own, seeing them as something undesirable.

The biography of Hubertus Joseph Pilates is indispensable to those who are interested in getting to know Contrology in depth. Therefore, his biography, his character, his likes, preferences, political ideas, etc. are indissociable from his work. How would it be possible to dissociate a work of art from its creator? Could we talk about a composition by Beethoven, Schubert, Stravinsky, etc. without talking about their biographies, the historical periods in which they lived, the economic situation they suffered or enjoyed? How could one dissociate the work of an artist from his own life? How to prove that someone’s work is disassociated from the creator’s own psychology, from his beliefs, from his philosophy of life?

We can enjoy a composition by Bach without considering his biography, since the work transcends its creator, just as we can enjoy a classroom of Contrology without knowing anything about its creator. However, it is here that biography has its place. We should keep in mind that, from now on, that we know the life of Hubertus Joseph, his thoughts, anxieties, desires, etc., we will better understand the work in which we believe and defend.

I will speak here only about three points of the biography of Joe Pilates, without stopping me to current events. My interest is another, that of drawing conclusions.

My first conclusion, fundamental and absolutely necessary for me, is that we can and must investigate and clarify who our master really was and what his work represents in history. A difficult task, but new and necessary, because until now it has been covered by myths, both in what concerns his life and also, in part, in what concerns his work, Contrology.

We have reached a point where we can no longer dissociate the person from his or her actions. Paraphrasing Jacques Lacan: “what you do knows what you are”, and in the case of our teacher this phrase is even more evident.

We have two ways of access to understand Joe Pilates and both complement each other. The first way is through his work, Contrology, and in this sense we should respect and thank the legacy of Romana Kryzanowska, but we should also open the way to rigorous research of the legacy of Hubertus Joseph, both in terms of equipment and know-how. The results of this way would bring us closer to the person behind the work, the creator.

Let’s continue this way: Contrology is defined by Joseph Hubertus as a combination of art and science. He defines it in different ways, although very similar: “Contrology is the science and art of coordinated body-mind-spirit development through natural movements under strict control of the will”, and “science and art of coordinated body-mind-spirit development through mild but rigorously physical movements”.

And we all understand it that way. However, even this definition should be investigated. First of all, the word science should be questioned, because Joseph was not a scientist, as it is conceived today, nor did he do university studies. However, and this is another of his great qualities, he behaved as such in the creation and development of Contrology.

This way is too extensive to continue analyzing it here. Its development can be read in my book The Biography.

Let us pass to another way of access to Hubertus Joseph and his Contrology: the reconstruction of the life of Joe Pilates to, by means of an opposite way to the previous one, understand and give sense to the work that he created. This is the reason that motivated us, from the beginning, to write this first biography of Joe Pilates. Our research tried to be as thorough as possible, but there are still gaps to be filled.

A researcher, thanks to the application of the scientific method, leaves aside subjectivity in favor of more objective results. However, there is the word Art within the definition of Contrology. Joe therefore goes beyond objectivity by allowing the five parts of the mind to interact with the objective part, to enrich it. This is why Contrology is extraordinary and unique.

In the word Art, in Hubertus Joseph’s definition, the application of these five parts of the mind becomes or should become obligatory for both the teacher and the practitioner.

This word Art also encompasses the entire humanistic philosophy of its creator. Otherwise, how would it be possible to understand such a revolutionary work if its creator were not also extraordinary?

Philosophy is the way of thinking, seeing, believing, acting and understanding oneself and the world. It is, therefore, essential to get to know this man so advanced for his time and not only with regard to Contrology but also to his morals and ethics. Joe takes up again the Renaissance Humanism inspired by Classical Greece.

Why is this important? Why is it important to understand his ethical values in order to understand Contrology? Simply because they are reflected in his work and, I believe, they transmit us a spirit and a way of working and understanding the human body impregnated with ethical values that we inherited, in our case, from Hubertus Joseph through Romana and his daughter Sari. And this is essential because for Joseph, Contrology was a philosophical system, a personality system, not just a physical discipline.

Morality is a set of social norms that is transmitted from generation to generation, which evolved over time and has strong differences in relation to the norms of other societies and times. Hubertus Joseph is also the heir of a certain morality, more modern and creative in relation to his own time.

However, Ethics is the subject we want to focus on, because it is a set of rules that a subject has analyzed and adopted for himself, as a guideline for his own conduct. Ethics arises as such in the intimate of a person, as a result of reflection. It is in this point of the second way that we would like to arrive to understand Hubertus Joseph and Contrology as a single thing.

Joe, besides breaking with the inherited morals of a place and an era, created a very interesting personal ethic. We do not have to copy it, but rather understand it and learn from it if we want to practice and teach his method.

I will continue along this path of Ethics to glimpse aspects of his personality. Therefore, I will deal with the connection, in a certain conscious way, but little erudite, of Hubertus Joseph and Contrology with Ancient Greece. It is clear that we will not forget that Joe’s first source is German gynastics, but it is in the Greek classics that he and many other German pedagogues, artists and therapists of his generation find inspiration.

I would, therefore, develop four virtues of Hubertus Joseph that are also four virtues of Contrology. These are those that, in Ancient Greece, formed the “excellence” of citizenship.

But what is virtue? Virtue is considered as a positive quality opposed to vice; virtue is identified with acting in accordance with reason, avoiding being led astray, thus allowing to make correct decisions. Virtue requires the exercise of reasoning, thus, virtue is knowledge and does not appear naturally, but is learned, as long as it is well taught.

The political excellence (“citizenship”) of the Greeks consisted in the cultivation of three specific virtues: Justice, Strength and Temperance. To these virtues Plato added a fourth, Prudence. These virtues form an important, useful and perfect citizen. Let’s see how they migrate from Hubertus Joseph to Contrology.

Let’s start with Temperança:

The Greeks called it Moderation or Equilibrium and it is synonymous with sobriety and continuity.

Temperance tells us about self-control. It is about the attitude of a rational man who is not willing neither to renounce the pleasures of life nor to allow himself to be carried away by them to extremes that harm his self-esteem.

Contrology is a method that when practiced provides pleasure or well-being in a controlled, moderate way. Everything leads to this virtue: the few repetitions of the sequences of movements, the emphasis on “less is more”, quality before quantity, the idea of gradual and rational progress according to the physical abilities and general conditions of the practitioner, the work of all the parts of the body without discrimination of one over the others, etc. This creates a method based on temperance, often mistakenly described as “light”, “little intense” or “soft” by those who use the name of the creator without understanding the essence of Contrology.

The methodology used by Contrologia imposes an order of execution, a precise choreography, a determined time, a precise rhythm, etc. without neglecting the role of the intensity that the student progresses. And it is the function of the teacher and the student to mold this progress in moderation. To achieve this, both the teacher will have to make use of this virtue to teach to understand the advantages of progressive evolution and the student to understand that the moderate course is the shortest and safest, thus avoiding any type of excess that interferes with progress. Who does not remember the famous phrase of our teacher that says that “moderation is the key to good health”?

O que nos faz lembrar das palavras gravadas no Templo de Delphi: “Nothing in excess”.

This is a virtue that Hubertus Joseph had to work hard on in his personal life. He was a man of strong character who, by means of self-discipline, moderated the excesses of which he so often complained in the newspapers. He was proud of his image as a great drinker, which he certainly was, however, all the interviews show that he drank, in fact, with great moderation and always with beer. This does not mean that he did not occasionally exceed the limits. He also said he was a chain smoker, a few people confirm this fact. He did smoke, but never inside his own home, and at a time when there was no restriction on smoking in public places, etc. He enjoyed cigarettes, but he also smoked cigars, but in general he did it in his moments of relaxation and in big occasions.

A very liberal man on the one hand, but quite conservative on the other. Known for his strong character, he did not go unnoticed, but almost no one remembers his excesses. He was the fruit of the German culture and education of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Publicly he complied with all the protocols, evidence of this was the golden rule of the School where good manners were never lost and socialization was minimal. Another example is the memory of his extreme punctuality and his little or no patience with those who were not sufficiently interesting to him.

For me, this virtue was a battle horse throughout his life: against and for himself. He expressed this in a brilliant phrase: “It is difficult to control but it is much harder to control oneself”.

Prossigamos com a Justiça:

A beautiful virtue that means that goods, rights and obligations should be distributed to each individual according to his merit. Therefore, each one should receive as much as he has given or equivalent. Is there anything else in tune with the basic thinking of Contrology? The so much you give will be how much you will receive, however, our method is much more generous than this, always giving more than you receive. Hubertus Joseph lived this virtue to the full and for this very reason he suggested, recommended, implored justice for himself, for being the creator of the method, and for Contrology, so that it could occupy a deserved place in the education of the human being and in History, because he was more than convinced that it was just and good. Thus, both deserved recognition. This was only fair, and this lack of recognition made him increasingly critical and acidic towards the governmental and state institutions of the United States.

Many times in his life, such as his first trip to Great Britain, his divorce from his second wife, his refusal to have and maintain a traditional family, his American adventure, etc., he had to make great and difficult decisions that, seen from a distance, may seem imprudent or selfish. He had to take great and difficult decisions that, seen from a distance, may seem imprudent or selfish, but a deeper reading indicates that they were decisions that transformed him into the person we know today. He applied justice to himself to become who he was and this only by using his genius. On the other hand, if he had lived a less complicated life, he would have been a frustrated and unhappy person.

Contrology makes no distinction of age, religious or ethical beliefs, race or sex. It gives everyone the opportunity to practice and to receive what is right for them. A practitioner of Contrology must assume obligations to himself and, at the same time, has the right to improve any aspect he wants. Contrology gives you that opportunity and pays each one for the investment made, always, because it is based on spontaneity, constructiveness and positivity.

According to Roman law, Justice is the constant and permanent will to give to each one his rights, which are: to live honestly, not to cause harm to anyone and to give to each one what belongs to him.

We see here again how Hubertus Joseph and Contrology practiced this virtue very much at the forefront of the society of his time. Today it is difficult to imagine, but when Hubertus arrived from Germany to settle definitively in the United States, in 1927, when he opened the doors of his famous Estúdio, he broke with many norms and customs of the American society of that time.

From the beginning, their Estúdio was a mixed club. Women, which was very strange, could train together with men. Without distinction. The most famous gyms at that time, such as Sigmund Klein’s Studio, Joe Bonomo, Professor Attila, Georges Bothner, Charles Atlas, Bob Hoffman and many others, served exclusively the male public.

According to the evidence I was able to verify, since the late 1930s, he had been accepting African-American clients. We are talking about something extreme, since the end of racial segregation in the country only came 30 years later. The same happened with all types of people, he accepted clients regardless of religion, sexual orientation, social class. From the millionaires to those who could not pay for the classrooms. All in the same room.

Now it is Prudência‘s time:

When I define this virtue, I have the impression that I am really talking about Contrology: it is the care, moderation, caution, precaution or wisdom that one has when doing something to avoid inconveniences, damages and difficulties.

Let us remember the name of the method: Contrologia, literally the Science of Control. He could also have called his method “Prudenciologia”, that is, the Science of Prudence. But he went further, let’s just remember that Control is one of the Six Fundamental Principles of Contrology. I will not add anything more on this point, because it needs no further explanation.

And what is Hubertus Joseph’s relationship with this virtue? Prudence was another battle horse in his life. Socially, he acted with great prudence, but his strong character, as well as his clear and straightforward personality made him gain, in a short time, enemies. With me and his third wife, Clara, this virtue seemed to be established; both were very free, accepted each other’s independence, respected and admired each other.

Joe sought to protect Contrology so vigorously that he spent thousands of dollars, even before he settled in the United States, on patents and the intellectual protection of his books until well into the 1950s. It was his obsession to protect his work for posterity and, in spite of patenting and defending his exclusivity all his life, the history after his death gave a turn in all that prudence that characterized our master in relation to his Contrology.

Finally to Força:

This was undoubtedly Hubertus Joseph’s strongest virtue in all aspects. We could summarize his entire biography only with this virtue. Strength is a virtue that is based on character and not on calculation or preparation.

The Greeks called her Valentia and affirmed that she was favored by bodily education and by the exercises of self-control over the will to power.

In short, this virtue speaks of our ability to withstand effort, adversity and pain and would be synonymous with firmness, endurance, vigor, energy, integrity, precision.

Would it be necessary to talk about the relationship between strength and control? Or would these qualities: vitality, vigor and integrity be an intrinsic part of the method? And equally applicable to the practitioner of the same? Aren’t these words used by the practitioners themselves to describe their opinions after practicing Contrology for a certain period of time?

Hubertus Joseph’s biography shows many aspects of his life and personality in which the word Strength, in all its senses, aligns perfectly with his life. To begin with, we have a child originally from a large family with few resources but with an unlimited determination to expand his knowledge. Still very young, she had to leave the family home in order to earn her living and think about her future. Something unthinkable today.

With only one eye, as he will lose the other at the age of 5, he decides to dedicate his life to corporal education without taking into consideration his deficiency. On the contrary. Determined and with an uncommon strength, after the death of his first wife, he decides to take up again, abandoning the profession of brewer to which he had dedicated himself for 14 years. He moves to Great Britain to recover from zero, without mastering the English language.

He was immediately imprisoned by the police because of the war and because of the historical discrimination against people of German origin. He spent five years in different detention camps. Later, he used this misfortune to learn and survive.

Extradited back to a Germany defeated and destroyed by the war, he meets his second wife, builds another family and decides to dedicate himself fully to what, in a few years, he will call Contrology.

He abandoned everything to go to Hamburg to concentrate and prepare his leap to glory, traveling later to New York.

Thus, we could continue to tell stories about the deeds of Joseph Hubertus Pilates, his official name from 1929, which demonstrate courage, decisiveness and determination based on an inner, ethical and spiritual strength. Without doubt, he knew what he wanted, what he had in his hands, who he was and what his mission was. And she ran after it, without concessions, without discouragement in the face of adversity.

We find him in 1964, at the age of 81, inaugurating the second Pilates Foundation of his life; in 1965, trying to change the location of the original Studio, opening a second branch, at the same time that he was struggling with his own friends who helped him to create the Foundation.

It was only one year before his death, at 83 years of age, that we see him discouraging, working minimally in his very costly Studio. But he never gave up.

The ultimate purpose of virtue is to reach happiness and, with certainty, Hubertus Joseph was not happy. He subordinated his happiness to the triumph of Contrology. Buddhists say that happiness is a decision to be made, and he decided not to make this decision because his method was so intrinsic to his person and life that it was impossible to dissociate them. His radical conviction, his pride in relation to his work and himself and his vision of the future prevented him from renouncing the success he deserved in life. And this simply did not happen. Quoting again Josef Pieper: “to be just is simply to have a debt and repay it”, which makes me believe that this was the mission of Hubertus Joseph Pilates when he defined himself as Prometheus, who saw himself delivering a work to humanity, Contrology, this was his duty. This was given to us and we are in charge of placing Joe Pilates and Contrology in the true place that is due to them in History.

Javier Pérez Pont

Nice Conference, 2012

TRADUCCION:
Profa. Dra. Katia Aily F. de Camargo
Chefe do Departamento de Línguas e Literaturas Estrangeiras Modernas – DLLEM
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte – Natal – RN – Brasil