The first time I saw “Dead Man” was by sheer accident. I was channel surfing as it came on.

The fact that it stars Johnny Depp in the title role, made it promising, and he’s very good in the film.

The first sequence shows him as a passenger on a train, arguably the best-dressed, or at least the most formal. As the journey continues, the passengers change from being family types to gritty frontiersmen, who take a second or two to raise the windows and shoot at stampeding buffalo.

Depp is headed toward Machine, the end of the line; a one-company town, where he has been offered a job at the foundry as an accountant. Upon arrival, he learns from a crusty toady and even from the gun wielding boss himself, played menacingly enough by Robert Michum, that he’s too late.

The post was given to someone else, a month before. It seems his invitation, at this point is two months old. (Depp had to bury his parents before leaving Cleveland, that’s all we’re told.)

Retiring to the saloon, where his small change will only buy him a pint of whiskey, Depp meets a local flower girl who sells paper creations; the implication being that nothing as delicate as real flowers can take root in muddy, grimy Machine.

She invites Depp back to her room; they’re discovered by her errant beau, whom she insults, and he plugs her with a bullet as she throws herself in front of Depp, either to save him or because she’s ready to move on.

Depp returns fire, felling her boyfriend, played by a twitchy Gabriel Byrne. Then, Depp notices that Byrne’s bullet passed through the girl and entered his slowly bleeding chest, where it is now lodged perilously near his heart.

Depp flees on Byrne’s pinto. Every lowlife in the west is lured into hunting for Depp based on a $500 reward offered by Mitchum. We’re told Byrne was Mitchum’s boy, and Mitchum is pissed about that loss, but perhaps even more incensed about losing his prized pinto

An unconscious Depp is found and nursed by a Native American who has people call him, Nobody.

Nobody treats Depp as if he’s already dead, speaking to him about the spirit world, and taking Depp deep into Native country to find a proper send-off into the world beyond.

The key question that the film raises for the martial artist is: “What kind of life do we live when we consider ourselves already dead?”

And, is it helpful to think of ourselves as dead, though we’re still breathing and eating and functioning in this world?

Arguably, to be a martial artist, you need to accept and to confront the inevitability of death, which can happen on the mat, through a simple mistake, or out on the street, at the hands of a foe.

Theoretically, when you know you’re dying, or think of yourself as already dead, you can let go of holding back.

Depp’s transformation is worth seeing, and this movie adds yet another interesting view of what the Wild West was about.

A look into the history of Pilates helps you understand the tremendous power that this form of exercise has to help strengthen and transform your body. Unlike yoga, which has a tradition that goes back thousands of years, one individual developed the Pilates Method at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In 1880 in Dusseldorf, Germany, a sickly baby named Joseph Pilates was born. As a young child he watched as his friends ran, jumped and played games -activities that he could not do because of his frail, weak body. That is when the Pilates Method really began. Pilates was determined to find a way to improve his health and physical strength and stamina. He set off on a lifelong quest for fitness and exercise. Pilates not only overcame his physical frailties - he mastered them. He became an accomplished yogi, boxer, gymnast, and skier.

During World War I, Pilates was interned in England where he worked as a nurse with injured war victims. Pilates was convinced that exercise could help rehabilitate their badly damaged bodies. Many of these patients were not able to move, but that did nothing to deter Pilates’ determination to help them gain strength and mobility. He rigged up their hospital beds with straps and springs and created a series of exercises to help move their joints through a greater range of motion. The exercises also helped his patients develop muscle strength, flexibility and endurance. Eventually, many of these people were able to get up and move around by themselves.

In 1923, Joseph Pilates and his wife moved to New York City where they opened up a studio and began working to rehabilitate injured dancers. Some of the most famous dancers that they worked with were George Balanchine and Martha Graham. Word of the dramatic results that came from using the Pilates method spread, and soon it became the exercise of choice for not only dancers, but also entertainment stars and professional athletes. For a long time, this unique form of exercise was limited to this elite community.

That has all changed. Now millions of people are familiar with the Pilates method of exercise. They have discovered for themselves that Pilates can help them gain the strength, flexibility, and balance of a professional dancer, without having to spend hours at the gym. They spend less time to achieve better results. No wonder it has become one of the hottest fitness trends to come along in years.

Now that you know the background of Pilates and why it was developed, you can realize how this powerful form of exercise can help you gain strength, flexibility, endurance, and the body of that you’ve always wanted.

Della Menechella is a yoga and fitness enthusiast who has been involved in fitness for over thirty years. Her website http://www.beauty-fitness-yoga-source.com/ is filled with practical information about how you can make yoga and fitness a positive part of your life. Visit the site and get your free meditation e-book.