Pilates and Yoga — Looking At Their Differences

This short talk looks at how Pilates and yoga can beautifully complement each other and support us in feeling better in our bodies, although they come from different traditions. We explore how Joseph Pilates developed his method through movement, observation, and physical training and how this shapes the classical Pilates practice we know today.

Transcript

Pilates and yoga are often mentioned together and it totally makes sense why. Both help us to become stronger, More flexible and to connect with our breath. But pilates and yoga are not exactly the same. They come from very different traditions. So yoga has its roots in eastern tradition and has a way much broader philosophical tradition. Pilates was designed, Was developed by Joseph Pilates in Europe. Joseph Pilates was German and he had his background in boxing and in gymnastics. And because of the background of Joseph Pilates in his boxing career, So he started out developing the Pilates method when he was still actively boxing. And because of that, In the traditional system, We have quite a lot of exercises in pilates that really, Really strengthen the neck. For example, That's why we also have the neck stretcher, Where we put this loop around our head and we open this spring, It's a very heavy spring actually, With our head, With our neck. So in the early beginnings, Joseph Pilates was really developing the method in a way how to make movement better in the individual body. And as he developed his method, He started working with different bodies from different backgrounds. So later in his life, He started to work a lot with dancers who needed that same stability, Like a boxer or a gymnast, So the same connectivity to the center, But they need way much more lengthening and opening and stretching in the body. So Joseph Pilates, Over his entire lifetime, Developed his method to help people move better, No matter from what background you come. And over his lifetime, He developed that system to help literally everybody move better and by that hopefully feel better. So I think it's fair to say it's not a question what is better, Pilates or yoga. They are just different and they offer different things for us as practitioners. And many people find that both pilates and yoga actually complement each other beautifully.