Yoga and Pilates: A Sensible Combination
May 12, 2009
Pilates may seem like the latest “new thing” in fitness, but the truth is that Pilates actually encompasses one small part of Yoga’s vast discipline.
Yoga emphasizes the union of body, mind and spirit through a combination of breathing exercises and physical movements that enhance meditation, a mental discipline. On the other hand, Pilates is much more physically centered, focusing on improved flexibility, strength and endurance, along with easing stress and treating certain body ailments.
Pilates is considered more of an exercise system that cultivates core muscles, thereby improving posture, body alignment and spinal stability. In contrast Yoga, while therapeutic physically, puts equal emphasis on mental and spiritual fitness.
Reducing anxiety and tension and achieving inner peace are as important in Yoga as are its physical poses. In fact, many practitioners believe that there is nothing like Yoga for integrating good techniques for exercise, breathing control, mental alertness, meditation and diet.
Pilates can help practitioners reach similar levels of physical fitness as Yoga. It has been found very effective for sculpting the body, making it tall and lean. Its emphasis on strengthening core muscles also improves flexibility and lengthens and strengthens support for the spine as well.
On the other hand, the physical benefits of Yoga aren’t just muscular. Yoga exercises, called asanas, are done in ways that stimulate internal organs with oxygen-rich blood as a result of synchronized breathing.
This concentration of life force also serves to improve organ function. Yoga’s twists and turns stimulate the internal organs to release toxins that contribute to aging and make the body vulnerable to disease and infection.
Thus, Yoga has been found to balance the endocrine system and improve the workings of respiratory, digestive and reproductive systems. Pilates effectively targets the core muscles, but Yoga works on the entire body.
So is Pilates or Yoga better? Ultimately the choice belongs to the practitioner. For some, the simplicity and ease of learning Pilates, along with its quicker results at physical sculpting and fitness, is the right choice. Others prefer to take a longer approach, embracing Yoga as not merely a fitness regimen but as an entire lifestyle.
Some even embrace both methods, using Pilates to achieve faster physical results and practicing Yoga for its mental and spiritual benefits.
Either way, anyone who works to achieve greater physical fitness will reap the blessings of stress relief and longer-lasting happiness.
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