BENGALURU: We need to be supple like a cat,” says Amy Taylor Alpers, a second-generation Pilates teacher and co-founder of The Pilates Centre in Colorado, who was recently in Bengaluru to share her expertise on the fitness technique. Relatively new in India, Pilates – for the uninitiated– is a type of exercise that emphasises the development of strength, flexibility, and endurance through a series of controlled movements.
Alpers places a strong emphasis on the value of correct alignment and conscious movement. “Instead of the artificial discipline that results from 21st century living like sitting on chairs and working on computers and always being on our own, Pilates restores you to sort of being a primal human. It’s total body fitness with the goal of uniformly developing you,” says Alpers.
In addition to an introductory workshop, she also taught and conducted workshops and lessons at Pilates for Wellbeing on Lavelle Road. The event coincided with the launch of India’s first Classical Pilates Teacher Training Academy by Kavita Prakash, the only licensed teacher trainer for the Pilates Centre in Asia.
With over 35 years of experience, Alpers got into the teaching of Pilates quite by chance. A dancer who studied at The Julliard School, she then performed in New Jersey with The Garden State Ballet and graduated from New York University with a BA in dance and an MFA in dance history. She was severely injured while dancing which made her rethink her course.
She turned to Pilates to help her heal after getting hurt and discovered that it also gave her a new love. “My sister and I received our Pilates instruction directly from Romana Kryzanowska, who served as Joseph Pilates’ main protégé and continued his work as authentically as possible following the latter’s death in 1967,” says Alpers, who then established her own Pilates centre in Boulder, Colorado, USA along with her sister. “I couldn’t have imagined that as a Pilates instructor, I would travel to so many countries,” she says.
According to a recent fitness report, Pilates has seen a 38 per cent increase in popularity as people look to incorporate it into their fitness routines. Often compared to yoga, we ask her the difference between the two.
“It’s actually much more of a western fitness technique that uses equipment, but it shares yoga’s profound body awareness and mental attention, and some of Pilates’ movements are extremely comparable. Pilates is great for reducing stress, improving full body health, developing stronger muscles, toning, and making one more flexible,” she says.