Mr. Pilates didn't originally call his exercise after himself. That didn't happen until after he was in the United States. He actually called it The Art of Contrology — not exactly a name that Hollywood would flock to, huh? His program — consisting of twisting, stretching, pulling, pushing, and rolling movements both on the floor and on various machines — may well have been one of the first true mind-body methods born in the Western World. The entire concept is based on using the mind to control the body and master the muscles. Some exercises may look familiar if you have worked out in the past, but are executed with a different sense of control. Hence, "Contrology."