Pilates: The Art + Science of Balance
I’m always curious to know how people come to Pilates. The other day I was talking with a student who mentioned that she practices yoga for flexibility + Pilates for strength. An interesting comment; it implied that the one is good for one thing + the other is good for another, as if they were mutually exclusive. Personally speaking, I find yoga + Pilates to be wonderfully complementary, the practice of oneinforms the other. Some exercises may appear similar, but the approach or emphasis is different; understanding WHY we do something one way in yoga + another way in Pilates enriches your experience of movement as a whole.
But the comment got me thinking; WHY does Pilates have this public perception? Sure, some schools bang on about the core a whole lot, but to say that Pilates is primarily concerned with building strength doesn’t ring true to the original teachings of its founder. Joseph Pilates developed his method to promote BALANCE, + not just in the physical body, but in all aspects of life, with the overall goal being holistic wellness. In his original writings he advocates hard work, good hygiene, a healthy diet, plenty of sunshine, play + rest; a Balanced Life.
But back to the body... we need strength AND mobility:
‘Contrology (Pilates) develops the body uniformly... it is not a system of haphazard exercises designed to produce only bulging muscles...nor does (it) err either by the overdevelopment of a few muscles at the expense of all others with resulting loss of grace + suppleness, or the sacrifice of the heart or lungs. Rather, it was conceived to limber + stretch muscles + ligaments so that your body will be as supple as that of a cat + not muscular like that of the body of a brewery-truck horse, or the muscle-bound body of the professional weight lifter you so much admire at the circus.’
The genius of the modern approach to the Pilates system is that it is a self-contained, whole body movement experience; we start with small, isolated movements + build upon this - layer by layer - into full body integrative sequences. We stretch while we strengthen. We work with precision, control, elegance + efficiency. We clear our mind, we get our heart rate up, we challenge our balance + coordination...all while remembering to B R E A T H E ! Take the Pilates exercise ‘Bridge’, for example; we’re building strength in our hamstrings + glutes, while stretching our hip flexors; we’re promoting spine + rib mobility, + we’re coordinating it all with our breath. There’s no time to worry about what you’re doing after class or whether or not you remembered to put the bins out for collection because there’s so much to focus on in the exercise. Pilates allows you to be present + to connect deeply your body + mind.
So next time you’re wondering if you need to stretch or strengthen, the answer is, you need to do both!