126 127 under pressure under pressure Perhaps not only the heart, but also the body has its reasons, of which reason cannot know. THE BODY IS TRUSTFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS: ANTIGYM «IN this precise moment” writes Thérèse Bertherat “in the exact place where you find yourself is a house with your name. You are the sole owner, however you lost its keys a long time ago. Locked outside, you only know its façade. You do not live there. This house, sheltering your most hidden memories, is your body». Expanding the temporal and philosophical horizons of Blaise Pascal, mentioned in the introductory quote, from the XVII-century’s to the 1970’s France, here is the Antigym’s principle, a technique originating from the studies of the kinesiotherapist Thérèse Bertherat and described in her book, Le corps a ses raisons6. A revolutionary volume for the world of biomechanics, first published in 1976 with Editions du Seuil and a best-seller in France, it was published in Italy two years later by Mondadori, which preferred to use the more didactic title Guarire con l’Antiginnastica [Healing with Antigym] to the more literal translation of Il corpo ha le sue ragioni [The body has its reasons]. 6 Thérèse Bertherat, Carol Bernstein, Le corps a ses raisons: auto-guérison et antigymnastique, Editions du Seuil, 1976. Antigym stems from the Greek ἀντι, against and celebrated 40 well-carried out years in 2016 thanks to the works of Marie Bertherat - the successor and custodian of her mother, who died in 2014 - who questions all of the conceptions [or misconceptions] relating to gym, and - paradox by paradox - it strives to improve it by overcoming it. The most ancient exercise routines with aesthetic and hygienic objectives were endorsed in 1698 BC by the Chinese emperor Hoang-Ti. Following this objective, on top of training young people for war, gymnastics was practiced by all people during Classical antiquity. Entertainment and ritualistic exhibitions were commonplace in China and India; however, it was the Greeks who conferred gymnastics a competitive dimension, introducing it into the Olympic Games. Coming back to the Greek language: the word gymnastics refers to the custom, starting from the fifth century BC in Greece, of practicing these exercises fully naked - from γυμναστική [τέχνη, pronounced gymnastiké techné], derived from γυμνός [pronounced gymnos]: naked. The etymological meaning was afterwards coated accordingly, just like all the motor-skill activities that composed it, in such a way that gymnastics would find its natural place in the Classical world’s aspiration of searching for harmony and physical beauty. It spread out across the Mediterranean with these features and with an educational function thanks to the Holy Roman Empire; nonetheless, gymnastics was completely overshadowed during the Dark Ages. The interest for gymnastics was sparked again by the love for Classicism during the Renaissance, endorsing the classic aphorism mens sana in corpore sano [a healthy mind in a healthy body]; however, it took on different shapes with time. #under pressure curated by Sandro Di Domenico
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