Juliu Horvath on Pilates and the GYROTONIC® Method

Blog Content Interviews // December 16, 2024

Introduction

The origins of the Gyrotonic Method have often been misunderstood or mistakenly associated with Pilates. However, Juliu Horvath, the creator of the GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Methods, clarifies that these transformative movement systems were born from his personal experiences with Kundalini energy, not from Pilates. In this reflection, Juliu shares how his methods evolved organically from his own life experiences, far removed from any influence of Pilates.

This post contains Juliu Horvath’s words as transcribed from an interview with Juliu and Gyrotonic HQ Media Team’s Cina Canada. Be sure to see the video of this interview below. Trainers, the full interview is available to you for viewing at any time in the Gyrotonic Trainer Learning Library (you’ll need to be logged into your account). We hope you enjoy it!

Kundalini Energy: The True Source of the Gyrotonic Method

To put the two side-by-side [The Gyrotonic Method and Pilates] is not possible, there is no comparison, whatsoever. Plus, the Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis Methods came out of my Kundalini experiences. People who don’t know what that is, it is an energetic phenomenon that the body goes through and certain movements manifest themselves according to what is going on in your psyche and health.

Depending on how you grow together with this energy system in yourself… that is how the system came to fruition. So, it was a personal experience, it is not coming from any kind of mental manufacturing. Yes, I added my experience from dancing, from swimming, from gymnastics, that’s natural because that is my background. But the actual bulk of the system is coming from Kundalini experiences, from life experiences.

Juliu Horvath, Founder and Creator of the GYROTONIC® and GYROKINESIS® Methods, shares about the origins of the methods and the distinction between pilates and the GYROTONIC® Method

Juliu performing in St. Thomas

The Birth of a New Movement System in St. Thomas

I had never even seen pilates before that. I knew it existed somewhere because we had a friend, I actually befriended Romana (Romana Kryzanowska, often referred to as the true protégé of Joseph Pilates), but I never even went to the studio to see it. I had been teaching her daughter to dance better. And because Suzanne Farrell (Suzanne Farrell is an American ballerina and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.) was connected to the family, we’d been connected but I never had seen the studio.

I came back with this knowledge from St. Thomas where I developed the entire movement sequences and methodology (now known as the Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis Method). There is nothing in St. Thomas but bugs and frogs and water and nature. That’s where it all happened, watching the sky. The sky opened up and things fell on me.