Mary Bowen | Pilates Video


	WHO IS MARY BOWEN Mary Bowen; a Jungian psychoanalyst since 1970 has, since 1975, also been a teacher of the Pilates Method. She began her study in 1959 with Joe and Clara Pilates and their assistant Hanna at their 8th Avenue studio in New York City. Twice a week for six years she traveled by train from New Haven, Conn. to NYC to take these lessons. "I was a young actress/comedienne with a bad back problem and was lucky indeed to find Joe and Clara and the method. It changed my life. Pilates was like a hidden treasure at that time. I read an article about Joe in the World Telegram and Sun newspaper. There he stood with his big barrel of a bare chest and a mane of white hair. He stated that he based his method on the baby and the cat. I had never had a baby and never had a cat (I was 29) yet his words struck a chord in me. I located the studio and that was the beginning of a life root. I continued to train, after Joe's death in 1967, until the present:7 years with Bob Seed, 7 years with Romana Krysanowska, 7 years with Bruce King and Jean Claude West concurrently, and ongoing since 1995 with Christine Wright. One remains a student oneself no matter how long one has been teaching the Pilates Method. This ensures that the work continually deepens and remains fresh." Mary offers a unique blend of Pilates and psyche. People often come to her for this combination of wanting to work with the whole self, not only the physical. "Joe and Clara taught us to work with the whole body in each exercise. I have broadened it to the whole body plus the psyche - the whole person. Many years of Pilates and Jungian analytical psychology are distilled in me so that either or both inform my teaching of Pilates. Both disciplines offer an opportunity for a deep inner journey. It is up to the client to choose. There is no pressure to do the deeper work.I can supervise, continue the training of newer teachers and clients, teach beginners from the Pilates framework or I can invite the whole person into the work, both the conscious and the unconscious, if that is an individual client's choice." Mary travels between three states each week: Killingworth Ct., New York City and Northampton Mass. practicing psychoanalysis in each state and Pilates in two of them, Ct. and Mass. Mary has three homes, ten cats and one dog (all travel with her in the car each week between Ct. and Mass.), a small hand built boat for summer sailing and a wonderful husband, Alec Martin, who built her two studios and maintains anything and everything. Mary Bowen is an esteemed Elder of the Pilates community, one of five Pilates teachers still teaching who studied with Joe and Clara themselves. She is an active member of the Pilates Method Alliance. As an Elder she presents yearly at the annual PMA conference. Mary states "Each year the PMA conference grows larger and offers a marvelous opportunity for genuine fellowship and learning plus exposure to the latest in equipment." Mary is also being invited nationally and internationally to present her combination of Pilates and psyche: - May 8 & 9, 2004 presenter for the Pilates Foundation of the UK, London, England. - The Pilates Center of Austin, Texas each June for 3-4 day workshops. It is humbling, an honor and a pleasure to be asked to share what I know with enthusiastic and gifted teachers and clients in the US and other countries. It's like a Joe and Clara dream come true. For Mary's 2005 workshops and additional past workshops see "Workshops" on the menu.

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