Pilates and Yoga: Can You Do Both?
by Holly Niles, RNCP, RHN, RYT,
APOGEE’s General Manager
Pilates or yoga? Yoga and Pilates? APOGEE offers both, and if you’ve been a devotee of one you might wonder: Why should I try the other? There’s good reason to: Yoga and Pilates complement each other perfectly. You’ll find that the strengths and skills you’ve built in one class will transfer well and support you in the other.
Yoga to Pilates…
If you practice yoga regularly, you have developed flexibility, balance and awareness. Yoga also builds sustainability—the ability to remain calm and present in a posture no matter how much doubt you’re experiencing. When you go to your first Pilates class, you’ll find you have excellent balance and can get right to work. Stiff muscles won’t encumber you; you’ll have the ability to access the deep muscles that Pilates calls on. Depending on the kind of yoga you’ve been practicing, you may or may not be familiar with how Pilates routines flow between exercises. But you will have the resources to sustain yourself throughout the workout: With your yogic awareness, you can identify the mental and physical resources you’ll need in Pilates.
Pilates to Yoga…
If you practice Pilates, the asanas or poses in a yoga class might be new, but you’ll be able to do them because of the strength you’ve built in Pilates. In yoga practice, core strength is a tremendous asset. While Pilates seems to be less meditative than yoga, the deep muscle work, rhythm and flow of Pilates does develop mind-body awareness that you can use during a meditative yoga class. In your Pilates class, you use your breath to sustain you during routines; in yoga, the breathing patterns might be different, but your breathing skills will apply. In yoga class, the teacher might talk about chakras, the energy centers on the spine. In Pilates, you work to create flexibility in the spine, creating connections to all of the organ systems—you have been training to access these energy centers in your body.
At the end of a yoga class, you lie down in corpse pose, or shavasana, to experience deep relaxation. At the end of Pilates you are standing, experiencing the well-being that comes from having moved your spine and connected to your highest self. Either one is a reward for an hour of physical and mental engagement. Enjoy the differences and explore the similarities between these two disciplines. Your body, mind and spirit will be better for it!
Tags: compare Pilates and yoga, compare yoga and Pilates, Holly Niles
