SIX decades of Pilates kept a woman young until she was 80 – and had many other benefits along the way.
The fitness method helped Joan Breibart’s body recover after giving birth, leaving even the doctors at the maternity ward shocked by her recovery.
5
Breibart, 83, considers herself the woman who popularized Pilates in the 1990s.
In 1991, she opened the Institute for the Pilates Method, the world’s first Pilates certification organization.
Within a decade, thousands of Pilates teachers graduated from the institution and learned methods created by Joseph Pilates himself.
Today, she still owns and runs the same Pilates Institute, now called Physical Mind.
She also educates people about health and wellness after age 50 in her Body Talk Podcast.
“Pilates is not difficult. I say this as a customer for 60 years,” she told The US Sun.
Breibart always considered himself a “genetically strong” person and quickly began practicing Pilates in the 1960s.
She weighs 125 pounds and is five feet tall.
Before there were reformers and machines, there were basic movements and exercises that targeted muscles.
These same exercises helped her quickly overcome and heal after giving birth to her first son, Peter, in 1977.
Since she was 36 at the time, the medical team wrote in their records that she was having a geriatric pregnancy, a term used for women over 35.
YOUR WOMB SNAP-BACK SECRET
They wanted Breibart to have a cesarean section, but she told them to “get lost” and delivered the baby naturally.
He says, ‘Guys, look at this thing. Her uterus has fully returned.
Joana Breibart
When an intern came to check on her, she said he had a distinct expression on his face as he looked at her uterus.
“He comes back with a resident and the resident looks. Soon there’s a crowd there. So they call my doctor, Dr. Silverman, who was like a big shot on Park Avenue,” she explained.
5
“He says, ‘Guys, look at this. Her uterus is fully back.'”
Nnormallysaid Breibart, the uterus is pushed up to the belly button and takes at least seven to ten days to descend — but hers was back to normal the next day.
They were all curious as to why this happened.
“I said, ‘Oh, that’s just Pilates.’ And in ’97 no one knew what I was talking about,” she added.
BE YOUR OWN BOSS
After starting her institute in 1991, Breibart created the first class of group reformers, which she called “a total failure.”
“But now, of course, it’s a huge success,” she added.
The key to getting the most out of it, she said, is knowing that you – the one doing Pilates – are in charge.
“They have to understand that they are the bosses, not the teachers, not the influencers,” she said.
“They need to be able to take control of their body.”
BUSY BACKGROUND
At 83, Breibart said she is “always learning” and that is exactly what has contributed to keeping her young mentally and physically.
She remains active with Argentine tango dancing, tennis and golf, and still does Pilates regularly.
“The brain-body connection is so important,” she said.
“I have what tennis pros call good hands. So when I’m at the net, I can switch hands. How did that happen? Maybe it happened through Pilates.”
Your personal best is what you feel in the moment, what works for you in that moment.
Joana Breibart
Breibart said he tries to take “serious” classes every week where he “works on things” with an instructor.
There is no music playing and she is focusing on her breathing while the instructor places his hands “on top of her.”
“Your personal best is what you feel like in the moment, what works for you in that moment,” she said.
One of the best Pilates teachers she has worked with for over 30 years does not have the typical Pilates physique.
“She’s short. She’s big. She doesn’t look like she does Pilates or has a Pilates body. But remember, she has a lot of other things,” he added.
5
BODY FIGHTING PATTERNS
“Your body is different every day,” said the founder.
“I had a moment of truth in 1968. I was in the Pilates studio at Bengals.
“There were all these mirrors and two reformers. I was next to a woman I knew,” she explained.
I think what people need to understand is that there are a lot of things you do with your body, with your face, and you have to think about why you’re doing it.”
Joana Breibart
“She and I were exactly the same height, the same waist, and the same size, and everything was very similar. You’d think two peas in a pod, right?”
“I looked at her hips, I looked at mine, and I thought, ‘I’ll never have that line.’
“I will never, ever have what she has and what I wanted. I still want it, but I won’t have it. And I knew it.”
Joan delivered an important body-positive message about improving your reason for living a fit lifestyle.
“I think what people need to understand is that there are a lot of things you do with your body, with your face, and you have to think about why you’re doing it,” she said.
5
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
