Rael Isacowitz, founder and president of BASI Pilates.
This past Saturday I decided to do something different and so, in the spirit of summer and getting back into shape and inspired again, I signed up for a 2 hour marathon mat class! It was presented by the super inspiring Rael Isacowitz.
Rael was born in South Africa and was educated in Israel and England. He is the founder and president of BASI Pilates. Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading Pilates authorities, he has spent over 30 years studying, teaching and developing the Pilates Method. He is the author of ‘Pilates’, which is my favourite book in my collection. It is well written and the most comprehensive book available to the public. It is a contemporary approach to the work of Joseph Pilates. I like to think of Rael as the modern day Joseph Pilates! Click on the image below to purchase your own copy on Kalahari.com.
The only Pilates book you need!
About 50 people arrived in Camps Bay, Cape Town to experience a two hour class taught by a master! It started off nice and calm as we warmed up our bodies and prepared our minds. As the class progressed, we transitioned from one exercise to the next, gradually increasing the level of intensity till about half way into it where we were all dripping with sweat and kept having to be reminded to ‘dig deep’. It was not for sissies!
What an experience and an absolute treat though! Even through the beads of sweat, I kept finding myself smiling with absolute delight. It’s not often one gets to experience a 2 hour long class taught by an artist. I say this because it felt like a 2 hour dance/Pilates class – a choreographed Pilates class. Even his way of counting was lyrical with the use of sounds for a majority of the time as opposed to plain old counts.
There was not really an emphasis on teaching us new exercises but more of an emphasis on us moving for 2 hours through the exercises and being brought back to what is essentially one of the principles of Pilates – flow. We often neglect this principle and it felt really good to be reminded of it with a bang! Rael did the whole class with us and would have continued for another hour quite easily if we let him it seemed! His passion is that great that Pilates seems to be his way of communication!
An absolute treat for a beautiful Saturday afternoon!
Di
xxx
