First of all, excellent question.
At a glance Pilates and yoga can appear pretty similar. In both instances you may conjure up an image of a room full of people on exercise mats, probably wearing leggings, in various positions waving limbs about limbs about, a teacher at the front reminding you to breathe in, breathe out, stretch this, move that.
Valid.
However if you've ever done Pilates or yoga (or both) to any extent you'll soon recognise that they are actually really different practices.
In the same way that other things might appear similar until you really get involved and realise the differences:
- Cheddar vs Wensleydale
- Netflix vs Live TV
- Jam vs Jelly
- Skiing vs Snowboarding
So, with that in mind, here are four key ways in which Pilates and Yoga are different:
1. Their Origins
Yoga is an ancient spiritual practice from India. Although in more modern times it has been morphed into somewhat more of a fitness class that you incorporate into your weekly wellbeing routine, its roots are far older and more profound than you might think.
What about Pilates? Notice first of all, the capital 'P' - my grammatical lovelies will know that might indicate a few things, in this case it's a name. Joe's name...Joesph Pilates that is, the founder and creator of this physical practice. He didn't name it after himself because originally he called it contrology, as in the art of control.
He was a German native, who created this new approach to exercise around 100(ish) years ago, opening his studio in New York in the 1920s. Can you imagine, oh man so bougie...
2. Their Intention
Yoga can almost be understood better as a religion or philosophy, with yogis adopting the principles of yoga as a way of life. The movement part of it, which is the bit we all think of, is actually just one of 8 or so different parts of yoga.
Even when we do just focus on the 'movement bit' or yoga, it is still intended to be an inward journey. The movements act as a tool for the practitioner to explore mindful meditation and spiritual awareness... And some funky looking' headstands obvs...
Now let's compare that to Pilates.
Joe Pilates was a sick child and as a result became deeply passionate about the body and movement. He dedicated his life to fitness and health. He studied anatomy, boxing, gymnastics, body-building, and even more abstract areas like Roman and Greek exercise regimes, tai chi, martial arts, zen meditation and animal movements.
From this wealth of knowledge, study and experimentation he applied his movement expertise in some pretty interesting ways:
- Working as a nurse when he was a prisoner of war (this is where he developed some of the Pilates apparatus, like the former)
- Teaching self defence to Scotland Yard
- Working with pioneers of the dance world like Martha Graham and Rudolf Laban (dance nerds are like whaaaa 😍 )
Anyway, I'm getting excited and going off on one, but essentially: Pilates, although incorporates a lot of mindful awareness, is essentially a far more modern physical training method, based in science and anatomy.
3. The Apparatus
Traditionally yoga is a practice that can be done anywhere, anytime by an individual. In more modern times we have developed various 'stuff' that supplement the movement practice such as blocks, mats, straps etc...but essentially yoga itself is practised with you and your body.
Pilates is different in that, as well as the matwork classes you may be familiar with - classical Pilates uses a series of large pieces of equipment or apparatus that you'll find used in Pilates studios....
If you're not familiar with them then I'll walk you through them in another blog, or give 'Pilates equipment' a quick Google. Often if someone has ever seen them before they tend to either think 'torture devices' or something you'd find in a kinky basement... 👀
The main ones are
-The Reformer
- The Cadillac (inc the trapeze)
- The Barrel
- The Chair
Plus a ton of smaller, fun options.
All of these are designed to further enhance the Pilates repertoire by offering variations, extra support or extra resistance.
4. Styles
In yoga, many different styles have developed.
You might find when looking for local classes that you're presented with option to choose from yin, iyengar (which my computer wanted to auto-correct to Avenger which would be hilarious) haha, vinyasa, kundalini, bikram. nidra, hot, aerial or tantric styles of classes...
Pilates is....Pilates. Of course over the years there have been variations and style adaptations. Some teachers stick loyally to the 'classical' series of 30-something exercises that Joe created. Others (like me) like to weave in ideas and techniques from dance, yoga, sports training etc. But essentially, it's all the same, honestly pretty simple, foundation of one system.
To Conclude
Ultimately, both Pilates and yoga are wonderful practices that can and should be experienced by everyone. They both enhance physical and mental wellbeing enormously.
Truly the best way to wrap your head around the difference between Pilates and yoga is to get stuck in and try a few difference classes.
I will soon be firing up the Kore virtual studio - where you'll be able to access free Pilates workouts on YouTube, as well as low-cost live classes delivered via zoom.
However you choose to move, just move and enjoy it!
Sarah x
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