John Howard Steel - Caged Lion: Joseph Pilates and His Legacy

John Steels vivid firsthand account of his unlikely friendshipand his life-changing workout routineswith the legendary Joseph Pilates reads like a ballet fairy tale. But its all true. Steel recounts with verve (and admirable modesty) his own crucial role in assuring that the exercises Pilates used to heal famous dancers and ordinary New Yorkers alike would bloom into the worldwide wellness movement that millions know today.

Todd S. Purdum, author of Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammersteins Broadway Revolution

John Howard Steel from his unique perspective tells us about Joseph Pilates through the remembered lens of student, friend, and quasi family member of this brilliant, single-minded, destructively stubborn yet enigmatic creative force. John shares the barriers and legal hurdles that Pilates has overcome, many with Johns unintentional leadership. John explains Pilatess enduring popularity from his fifty-seven years of being there. I highly recommend Caged Lion. It is an exciting, well-written, eye-opening story. As with a Pilates session, you will enjoy every minute of it and feel better for having read it.

Jim Henderson, former chairman and CEO of Cummins, Inc, and Johns classmate at Culver and Princeton

I binge-read in one sitting this engrossing biography of Joseph and Clara Pilates and the Pilates phenomenon written by a man who was not only a Pilates student for many years but also their friend. John Howard Steel is a great writer with a fascinating tale to tell!

Anne Marie OConnor, executive editor of Pilates Style magazine

John has such a great writing voice. He doesnt waste words, is clear, funny, and able to efficiently paint vivid images with colorful vocabulary. Im so happy how good this is and thankful it wasnt six hundred pages long. I believe it stands out from other Pilates books, because John is a wonderful storyteller. He knows how to tell a compelling story. Even his hypotheses and interpretations about Pilates are fascinating, humble, and insightful.

Jeff Mizushima, writer, editor, producer

A huge debt of gratitude is owed John Howard Steel, not only for his contribution to the Pilates method at a time when it wasnt clear if it would survive after Mr. Pilates death, but also for his delightful, insightful writing. Steel looks inside the complicated yet focused mind of Joseph Pilates and the behind-the-scenes life in his studio to provide the reader a deeper understanding of the man and his lifes work. Thank you.

Kevin A. Bowen, founder of The Pilates Method Alliance and The Pilates Initiative; director, Core Dynamics Pilates, Santa Fe

What an informative and fun read! Everybody will get something from this book: Pilates teachers and students and everyone who likes a good book. John Steel gives life to Joseph Pilates in ways that will only deepen your appreciation for or understanding of the method and the handful of people who saved it from sure extinction. This story is rich with suspense, intrigue, humor, and information about Joseph Pilates that youve never heard before. Some will find long-held notions completely upended in one sentence. Steels writing style is clear, full of nuance and wit. I thoroughly enjoyed every page.

Kristi Cooper, founder of Pilates Anytime

Caged Lion is a fascinating story about the inside history of Pilates. John Howard Steel takes the reader on an extraordinary journey from first meeting Joseph Pilates in New York City to the global phenomenon that is modern-day Pilates. With a seat, were able to experience the ins and outs, ups and downs of moving Pilates from a mom-and-pop enterprise into what it is today. As someone who started a fitness studio and someone who enjoys a good book, I loved this story of focus, passion, grit, and enterprise. Not to be missed.

Elizabeth Cutler, cofounder and former CEO of SoulCycle

Caged Lion is a story of two men: Joseph Pilates, who created a brilliant method of exercise, and the author John Howard Steel, who as Josephs proxy, carried Josephs vision and passion into what Pilates is today. Steel, from his unique perspective and deep personal connection, sets out a fascinating story of passion and perseverance. Caged Lion reads like a novel... a very, very good novel!

Shari Berkowitz, MS, The Vertical Workshops Pilates Teacher Blog

Copyright 2020 John Howard Steel
All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Last Leaf Press, Santa Barbara, CA

Edited and designed by Girl Friday Productions
www.girlfridayproductions.com

Photo editing: Lauren Steel
Cover design: Anna Curtis
Cover image: Courtesy of International Pilates University Fitness4you

ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-7334307-2-2
ISBN (paperback): 978-1-7334307-0-8
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-7334307-1-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020907493

Nothing happens until something moves.

Albert Einstein

Author, bronze of Joe, and Clara and Joe Pilates, 1965.

Preface

It was November 2007, and I was invited to be the keynote speaker before hundreds of teachers, studio owners, and other practitioners of Pilates at an early Pilates Method Alliance conference in Orlando, Florida. Joseph Pilates had been dead for forty years. During that time his exercise routine, which he had called Contrology, had adopted the name Pilates and, after several rescues from near oblivion, was at last thriving. Over that long span of years I often thought of him, always with affection. I was still doing Pilates in a studio, with an instructor, once or twice each week. Hardly a session went by that my teacher didnt ask, How would Joe Pilates have wanted you to do the exercise? I loved the question. Sometimes, unasked, I volunteered: This is the way Joe made everyone do it. My many and varied instructors, in France, England, New York, Colorado, and California, were a bit awed by, and quite proud of, teaching someone who had been originally taught by Joseph Pilates. And I remained moderately astounded that after the bizarre history of Pilates and the many years between then and now, and a vastly changed technological world, the movements of the exercise routine, the structure of the equipment, and the soul of Pilates were essentially as Joe had left them.

I had been out of the Pilates studio and business world, except as a client, since 1984, when the studio that I ran with Romana Kryzanowska in New York was sold to Aris Isotoner. I had become reinvolved in the 1990s when a new threat to Pilates arosea claim of private ownership of the name Pilates by an entrepreneurial physical therapist supported by Romana. A hotly contested lawsuit ensued. That was resolved in 2000, and I again dropped below the radar and resumed the private role of student. I still loved taking lessons but had no interest in management.