The Bodyhood Pilates method

Bodyhood Pilates (BH Pilates) represents an expanded understanding and application of the Pilates Method that had been created more than 75 years ago by Joseph H. Pilates. He was was a pioneer who combined training systems from the East and West: for example yoga, physiotherapy and gymnastics.

Bodyhood Pilates educator Charleston “Samu Rai” Marquis (CSRM ) has been using the Pilates Method for more than 19 years. He also studied kinesiology and the systems developed by Moshe Feldenkrais and Matthias Alexander. The result is Bodyhood Pilates, a revisionist approach to understanding the Pilates Method that goes beyond dictum, theory, known and accepted philosophy.

Innovative efficient approach

In fact it is a well-balance holistic approach to physical training that improves muscle control, flexibility, coordination, muscle strength, breathing and presence by firstly balancing the body’s structural apparatus through the organization and activation of the two main control centres of the body: 'Deep muscle corset system' (DMCS) and the muscles of the shoulder girdle. And Secondly, reducing the neurophysiological mind-body gap by cultivating ‘in the moment awareness’; the key to movement integrity. The outcome is a healthy, lean, strong, and flexible body combined with a watchful, creative and focused mind.

Bodyhood Pilates is about discovering, observing and re-creating and enjoying your onw body. This innovative, efficient approach enables you to perceive the depth and comprehensiveness of the Pilates Method quickly and with ease. Less strenuous effort will bring more satisfying results because body and mind are being conditioned at the same time.

Re-discover the Pilates method in an unprecedented and original way. BH Pilates opens windows and doors in order to shed light on a holistic approach that reveals unforeseen dimensions and advanced possibilities.

Bodyhood Pilates Principles

The Bodyhood Pilates principles rests on eight principles which are represented in each single exercise:

• Control
• Relaxation
• Concentration
• Alignment
• Centering
• Breathing
• Coordination
• Flowing movements

Benefits

One of the important aspects of this training method is the fact that it rather adapts to the practitioner than the other way around. For this reason Bodyhood Pilates is of interest for all types of people with the most varied types of backgrounds. Beginning with the ordinary fitness fan, the following types of people will find it useful:

• Anybody who suffers from body problems due to one-sided activities in daily routine
• People who have limited movement possibility due to long working hours
• Anybody with chronic back pain
• Anybody who suffers from stress induced symptoms
• Women who strive for SFS (form, shape, firmness)
• Men who try to achieve a well built/muscular body and physical presence
• Elderly people who want to strengthen their muscles and want to regain energy
• Patients as a follow up to physiotherapy
• Women, during and after gravidity, who want to prepare themselves for parturition and then want to regain their former figure after child birth
• Athletes and Dancers who often are afflicted by old injuries, often the result of ill-balanced use of their muscles
• Artist like singers, actors and musicians for whom good posture is of paramount importance
• People with deficient sexual urge/drive

One Body Massage

One Body Massage - is a hands-on body-technique that has also been developed by CSRM. It mainly serves as an aid for clients who suffer from particular bodily or psychic tension and therefore cannot relax sufficiently while undergoing Pilates training. Gentle pressure exerted by the hands can loosen these tensions and blockages with the focus on the organization and/or the reorganization of the body.

History

The basic concept for this method was conceived when CSRM opened the first Pilates Studio in Vienna. It has been his desire to find a name for it that is self-explanatory, brief and easy to remember. Not an easy task at all! While he was experimenting with new types of breathing techniques, all of a sudden the name Bodyhood arose in his mind.

"In the nineties we were among the first Pilates Studios in the German speaking countries. At that time this particular body training program was hardly known to anyone. The general public and the health professional didn’t quite know what to make out of these 'strange looking machines'. Our pioneering work 10 years ago was not only a singular challenge, but also the basis for the profound practice of the method that is unique for our studio"...CSRM

Not only is Bodyhood Studio the first Pilates Studio in Austria, but it is also the first specialised Pilates Studio addressing both outer and inner body problems, the symptom as well as the cause such as, Pelvic floor and lower back problem, and neuro-muscular movement imbalance and psycho-physical blockages.

What does Bodyhood stand for?

Bodyhood means, (1) To inhabit your body fully, (2) To be rooted deep within yourself and (3) to feel your body from within. Bodyhood describes the condition felt deeply in the body characterized by self-awareness, self-knowledge and self-empowerment. In this condition you fully inhabit your body. You become self orientated, instead of Guru orientated. On the basis of his own experience CSRM has developed a technique that enables his clients to experience Bodyhood in a simple and playful manner and to be able to reach this condition through their own efforts in a relatively short time. In his own words: »In the state of Bodyhood you feel good, look good and think good.«

Feel good - an inner sensation of wholeness, well-being and balance

Look good - you acquire charisma and exert positive influence on others by your presence and posture

Think good - to know and accept yourself; to have a positive opinion of yourself, free from negative criticism

The objectives of Bodyhood

It is our declared intention that you, our clients, actually achieve this condition of "feel good, look good, think good". The system of Bodyhood is intended to lead you to health, success and happiness - it rests on three cornerstones, which are:

Observe yourself :: Know yourself :: Have fun!

We are confident that we can demonstrate to you within 10 seconds that your body can do things that you never thought possible. At the same time we know that some people may take weeks, months or years until they have learned to accept that this is actually so.