What is Uniform Development and How do we Achieve it?

Joseph Pilates was very clear when he described the intent of his method. “Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body …” (Return to Life) “We must devote ourselves … to the uniform development of our bodies as a whole…” he states again definitively. He refers to this concept over and over in his book. Have you ever truly thought about what he actually meant when he said this? What does uniform development mean to you? To your Pilates peers? To your clients? The path and the outcome to uniform development may not be the same for each of us. Uniform development, or lack of it, has an effect on whole body health. When you teach, are you focused on this outcome? How does the Pilates method achieve whole body organization? What does “uniform development of our bodies as a who include?

We will explore this concept, and discuss these questions, in our Winter Workshop
Series.

Save the Dates – January 22nd , January 29th , February 5th , and February 12th.
Four different teacher’s perspectives, diving deeply into the meaning of Joseph Pilates’
definition of physical fitness. 2-hour workshops on successive Sunday mornings. 9:00
a.m. – 11:00 a.m. MST.

$100 for individual workshops

$375 for all four Sundays

Contact kelli@thepilatescenter.com or pace@thepilatescenter.com. All workshops will
be recorded and attendees will have access to the videos for 30 days through iTPC.

February 5, 2022 Kaile Ziemba
Understanding Imbalances Enroute to Uniform Development
As Pilates teachers we spend a lot of time assessing both posture and functional movement in
the human body.  We typically focus on cueing and correcting the form of the Pilates
choreography versus the client’s movement imbalances.  Without meaning to, this can lead to
the choreography being the goal of the Pilates method, rather than the achievement of uniform
development.  Doing the choreography “better” might seem like the point however, the true,
fundamental underlying intention as teachers should actually be to help the client understand
their unique movement habits or patterns.  There is a constant tug of war between using Pilates
choreography to bring a human body closer to uniform development, and a person's
imbalances delaying the progress of the Pilates method making lasting changes.  Helping a
client better understand their own body as it moves can be the bridge to more long lasting
changes and ultimately, achieving uniform development.

One extremely valuable way to learn about a client's unique movement habits is to utilize more
of the Pilates exercises that target one side of the body.  The Low Chair offers a lot of these
asymmetrical one arm or one leg exercises.  In this workshop we will look at a body doing
challenging Mat and Reformer exercises to discover the client's movement strengths and
deficits.  These deficits often lead to a lack of movement or over stabilizing in the body.  We can
then use some of the asymmetrical exercises on the low chair to guide the client's
understanding of their movement choices.  We will better see how a person needs to

coordinate their whole body to do these asymmetrical exercises.  When this client then goes
back to the Mat or Reformer we will see a more wholly coordinated movement pattern
resulting in the client being able to perform challenging choreography with more ease and
uniform development.  Performing the choreography better will be the result of whole body
health vs the goal.