Lolita San Miguel Insight

by: AndreaDow
Total views: 1041
Word Count: 540

Friday, November 30th

Lolita San Miguel is one of the few living Pilates elders. What is a Pilates elder you ask? Pilates elders are those that have worked or studied directly with Joseph Pilates himself. I talked last week about Romana Kryzanowska, another living elder, and thought I would share some insight on San Miguel. Lolita recently interviewed with Robin Westen of PilatesStyle Magazine. Her role in the Pilates community, both past and present, is inspiring.

San Miguel began her career as a professional ballerina. She danced in both Puerto Rico and the United States and eventually went on to found and direct the famous Puerto Rican based dance company called Ballet Concierto. While a soloist in the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, she suffered a pretty severe knee injury. At the time she was living in New York City and the orthopedist she was working with recommended San Miguel work with Carola Trier to help recover from her injury. Trier is the only one of Pilates' students who opened her own studio with Mr. Pilates blessing. The rehabilitation training was so successful that San Miguel trained with Trier for five years and later decided to certify to teach. Trier worked with San Miguel for twenty hours a week for six months and is the only one to have received a certificate from Trier. It was at Trier's studio that San Miguel worked and trained with Kathy Grant. Both instructors felt they needed more knowledge before opening their own studio so they decided to seek out and work with Mr. Pilates himself. Joseph Pilates accepted San Miguel's request to certify both her and Trier to teach. The two worked with Joe for twenty hours a week for six months and became the only two to ever be officially certified by Joseph Pilates himself.

Lolita remembers that Joe was "smart, clever, and very , very quirky and funny. Every time he taught, he made me laugh." According to Lolita, both Joe and Clara worked very hard and were very humble people. Their studio was open from 6:30am- 7:30pm and the two slept in a little room right off the studio. When asked what the best age was to start Pilates, San Miguel replied as young as three years old! She claims that she has not missed doing Pilates a single day in her life. San Miguel is not sure what Joe Pilates would think of how his method has changed and she is concerned about the weekend certification programs that are too readily available.

San Miguel is very active in the Pilates community teaching workshops and inspiring others to teach. It is important to hear stories from the elders to remind us what Joe Pilates was trying to accomplish through his method of exercise. When asked the biggest benefit of doing Pilates, San Miguel says "most importantly, Pilates gives you a sense of well-being, unity and joy. When people are happier they are not looking to make wars." I think Mr. Pilates would be happy knowing that his work is still helping to make the world a better place. Let's think about peace across the planet this holiday season by sharing our love for Pilates!

Rating: 5.00