Imagine an exercise program that actually elongates your spine, makes you appear taller, leaner and longer, graces you with a strut that exudes confidence and sex appeal. Imagine an exercise program that actually leaves you feeling invigorated after your workouts, instead of drained and depleted. Imagine a workout that improves not only your physical self, but also your mental focus, mental acuity and the quality of your life.

Imagine, actually looking forward to exercising? Well, imagine no more.

What if I told you that achieving and/or acquiring a healthy, sexy, long, streamlined physique wouldn't require you to quit your day job and kill yourself with endless hours of exercise at the gym or getting drastic cosmetic surgery.

The method of Pilates was once a best kept secret of the dance community and the rich and famous, but that is history. Pilates is all the rage these days and it seems you can't flip through a magazine or turn on TV without hearing someone crediting the Pilates method of body conditioning and its exercises with their well-toned, long, lean and sleek physique.

Which celebrities does Pilates? Here are a few names you might be familiar with: Madonna, Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Sting, the San Francisco 49ers, Danny Glover, Patrick Swayze, Kim Catrall, and the list goes on.

Pilates increases metabolism, promotes respiratory and circulatory function and improves bone density and muscle tone. Like yoga and martial arts, it can help you to "get centered" and bring a sense of calm and clarity. Unlike many other forms of exercise, however, Pilates has the added bonus of balancing and correcting muscular asymmetries, correcting posture, poise and even restoring health and wellness by giving you the ability to breathe more fully and deeply.

Pilates will streamline your silhouette, but its main focus is to restore balance and wellness to all aspects of the self -- physically, mentally and spiritually.

Joseph Pilates based his program on six principals: breath, concentration, control, precision, rhythm/flow and, last but not least, centering the body. Balance and Coordination are greatly improved along with ease of movement, strength and increased flexibility. Pilates does all this because the exercises are designed to simultaneously develop and work your muscular flexibility and your strength instead of one being independent of the other.

The exercises help you to awaken the athlete within you. With all that said, what makes Pilates so pertinent to the way you live your life? Pilates is all about breathing, living and moving more fully. Our lifestyles have become increasingly sedentary, yet our bodies were not designed for this sedentary lifestyle. We were built and designed for action.