Actress Katherine Ross and pilates pioneer Risa Sheppard
by Risa Sheppard
The date was 1975. Beverly Hills, Calif. Before cell phones, texting and email.
I had discovered a little known exercise studio above Aida Grey Salon on Rodeo and Wilshire named Ron Fletcher School of Body Contrology. He had brought out this new and strange system of exercise he learned in New York from a man name Joe Pilates. It attracted movie stars, producers, directors, agents, and all others who wanted to exercise among the famous.
It was there I met actress Katharine Ross. She was hot after The Graduate and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Beautiful, extremely nice, unpretentious, and one of the least flexible woman I have ever met! You see, Katharine has a condition called scoliosis (as I and many other woman share) Scoliosis is a genetic “curvature” of the spine of varying degrees. It can be painful, and if not cared for can even be debilitating. Pilates (as Body Contrology became to be known) is one, and in my opinion) the BEST way to keep the muscles strong to support the skeleton.
I have worked with Katharine throughout the ensuing years. First, at the Ron Fletcher studio, and later as we became good friends. . I continued to work with her at her home, or the home of her agent home in Malibu. Because Katharine was, and is, an avid horsewoman she was always in good physical shape. But she needed to retain flexibility in her spine, and work to prevent back pain stemming from her scoliosis. We needed to keep both sides of her torso as evenly distributed as possible. For when one suffers from scoliosis, because one side of the body is so unevenly distributed, the side that carries the most weight suffers the most pain. ( (isn’t that the way life is?)
“Pilates has saved my life,” says Katharine, still practicing after 35 some years. “I think I would be bed ridden if it weren’t for Risa and Pilates all these years.”
“You are as young as your spine is flexible” is an old yogi saying that I still maintain. For us “baby boomers”, a flexible spine, along with a flexible mind, is what keeps us young in body and mind.
“I totally agree,” says Katharine. As we get older, we must keep moving. But we must keep moving in the correct way. Yes our joints become stiff and we can lose
Cartilage in knees and hips. But through Pilates, and someone as knowledgeable as Risa to the ways we mature and adhere to life’s ebbs and flows, one can be assured of staying healthy and fit all our lives. “I do not believe that just because one ages, one should get old. It is a mindset. To think and move with grace, agility, and flexibility, both in mind, body and spirit, is the key to beautiful living. And, isn’t that what we all strive for? A beautiful life!
Check out Risa’s Pilates at www.SheppardMethod.com