Which one is better? What are the differences and which one is for you?
When I first started doing exercise purely for my well-being in my early twenties I was drawn to Pilates. I loved the strength, repetition and "toning aspect".
I gravitated more to yoga quite quickly because I love the holistic approach, the whole body & mind experience and generally how it made me feel!
I am still really interested in Pilates and often incorporate Pilates type exercises into my practice and yoga classes I teach but I feel that I'm slightly out of touch so to decided to talk to an expert!
In an attempt to get a clearer understanding of the difference between Pilates and yoga, I met up with the lovely Jehan from JY Physiotherapy to discuss. Jehan teaches APPI Pilates, a physio led type of Pilates.
Here are some of my key takeaways from our discussion:
- There are both different types of Pilates and different types of Yoga so we have to think about what exactly we are comparing
- Pilates movements originate from Yoga and while some of them are pretty much the same they are taught differently
- As I see it Pilates seems to have smaller, more controlled movements that target specific muscle groups whereas Yoga is more about the overall body experience and integration
- Both Pilates and Yoga have a mindfulness aspect but there is a bigger focus on meditation, breathing and the mind in Yoga.
- In Yoga, the physical part meaning the exercise is just 1 of the 8 limbs of yoga which comes back to point 1 and 4!
- Breathing is important in both types of exercise but in yoga we also just breathing exercises on their own (pranayama)
I think it's important to try both and then make an informed decision. Try at least 3 sessions to really get a true picture of if you enjoy it or not!
I will definitely take a few Pilates sessions with Jehan as I think that you can very easily incorporate both in your daily practice and they very much complement each other!
Check out the video below to find out more about our approaches to Yoga and Pilates, the importance of a good teacher and some example movements!
