Just Move Your Body

You’ve probably heard that Pilates can help you feel better in your body or get you out of pain. One of the reasons is that it helps you move your body in all the ways it was meant to! And the best thing about the Pilates system is that you don’t need to over think it. It’s designed to be done by every body, so everybody can get the most out of it. 

Pilates Isn’t Physiotherapy

Pilates can be a very healing type of exercise, but it isn’t physiotherapy and Pilates teachers cannot diagnose you. That is, unless they happen to be both a Pilates teacher and a physiotherapist. This is actually a thing! Usually these teachers have clinical Pilates training and use Pilates similarly to how they use other exercise modalities to help their patients.

Pilates Is a System

You might hear the terms classical, traditional, real, or original Pilates These all describe Pilates styles that are true to Joseph Pilates’ original teaching – the movement method he called contrology.The thing about Contrology (aka Pilates) is that it’s very repetitive. This is what makes it simple to learn and do. Joe created this system of movement over many years, trying new things, discarding others, and adding new ones until he felt it was perfect. He then created the apparatus to help people do his method, feel better, move better, and improve their posture. He figured out progressions that fit perfectly into the system. He really was a genius.

The more I study the method, the more the simplicity of it makes sense. It all just works together. 

How Pilates Works 

In Pilates, you move your body from your center in several ways: flexion, extension, side bending, rotation, tall back.You repeat the same movements (sometimes with different exercise names) but you’re working the same movement pattern and spine shape, with gravity pulling against you in different ways. 

There’s so much within the Pilates system that it’s easy to stay creative and move your body in all the ways it can and should move. You could practice Pilates for years and never do every single exercise that exists. There’s that much depth to it. 

All Movement is Good Movement

Going back to my main point, I believe that finding anything that involves movement and that you like to do is great! So many people do nothing at all. On the other hand, from personal experience and years as a Pilates teacher, I know that repetitive movements can cause imbalances and even pain in your body. This could be from your job, sitting at a desk, running, doing one sport exclusively. Think about how a golfer or baseball player always rotates their body in the same direction. It can’t be (and isn’t) good to ignore rotating in the opposite direction. This is when you want to be mindful of how you move. 

Pilates is a great way to learn awareness of how you move, whether you’re standing, sitting, or working through an exercise. It incorporates strengthening, stretching, and mobility within each and every exercise. You don’t do a lot of repetitions of any single exercise. Your movements are controlled and precise, but not necessarily slow. This is where we can go wrong. Slow movements or over thinking each movement can cause you to tense up or brace. This is where you want to find more flow and faster pace. Just move and you will figure out how to find more control.

Goldilock’s Rule

I like to say that Pilates follows Goldilock’s rule: don’t do too much, and don’t do too little. This goes for your breathing, your pace, the amount your grip the handles or push into the equipment, and so on. You want to find that sweet spot in the middle. Not to say that your Pilates will ever be perfect – mine certainly isn’t! But it will keep getting better. The more you practice, learn, and get guidance from a great Pilates teacher, the more you’ll keep making progress. 

It won’t be long before you start wondering why Pilates keeps getting harder the more you do it. If that’s happening, you’re doing it right!