Should I Do Yoga Or Pilates?

As a practicing chiropractor, I see many patients who regularly attend yoga or pilates classes. Both groups of patients seem to derive benefit from their classes yet the philosophy of both is quite different. One seems to have a physical base for instruction while the other seems to have a spiritual base as its origin.

Let us have a look at both of these excellent activities and see what we can find out.

Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates in Germany. Today there are many millions of practitioners. Pilates called his method Contrology (from control and Greek -logia),  because he believed his method uses the mind to control the muscles. The program focuses on the core postural muscles which help keep the body balanced and which are essential to providing support for the spine.

In particular, Pilates exercises teach awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aim to strengthen the deep torso muscles. Essentially it's an exercise style that involves training your muscles to improve posture and alignment. By focusing on your core strength, you enhance the little muscles in the body so you're better able to support the larger ligaments, tendons and joints.

When our muscles are weak they make compensations for each other which lead to instability and injury. Take your back for instance: if your posture is bad, your lower back and hips will then adjust themselves accordingly which means they're essentially out of place.

Pilates encourages you to think about how you perform everyday movements. It heightens your body awareness which in turn improves your overall agility, flexibility and strength. It helps you ensure your body is working at its optimal level all the time. There are three types of pilates, the most popular being the mat workout, where much time is spent on the floor using gravity and your own body weight to create resistance. There is also a pilates class that incorporate weights and one that uses special equipment. Joseph Pilates developed these machines which allow people to do the pilates moves using a pulley-system of resistance. Most places however only offer the mat workout.

Now let us look at Yoga. Yoga has been defined as follows:-
* Hindu discipline aimed at training the consciousness for a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility that is achieved through the three ...
* a system of exercises practiced as part of the Hindu discipline to promote control of the body and mind. Many people think that yoga is just stretching. But while stretching is certainly involved, yoga is really about creating balance in the body  through developing both strength and flexibility.

This is done through the performance of poses or postures, each of which has specific physical benefits. The poses can be done quickly in succession, creating heat in the body through movement (vinyasa-style yoga) or more slowly to increase stamina and perfect the alignment of the pose.

The poses are a constant, but the approach to them varies depending on the tradition in which the teacher has trained. Yoga is an ancient Indian body of knowledge that dates back more than 5000 years ago. The word "Yoga" came from the Sanskrit word "yuj" which means "to unite or integrate." Yoga then is about the union of a person's own consciousness and the universal consciousness.

Ancient Yogis had a belief that in order for man to be in harmony with himself and his environment, he has to integrate the body, the mind, and the spirit. For these three to be integrated, emotion, action, and intelligence must be in balance. The Yogis formulated a way to achieve and maintain this balance and it is done through exercise, breathing, and Meditation - the three main Yoga structures.

In Yoga, the body is treated with care and respect for it is the primary instrument in man's work and growth. Yoga Exercises improve circulation, stimulate the abdominal organs, and put pressure on the glandular system of the body, which can generally result to better health.

Breathing techniques were developed based on the concept that breath is the source of life. In Yoga, students gain breathing control as they slowly increase their breathing. By focusing on their breathing, they prepare their minds for the next step - Meditation. 

There is a general misconception that in Meditation, your mind has to go blank. It doesn't have to be so. In Meditation, students bring the activities of the mind into focus resulting in a 'quiet' mind. By designing physical poses and Breathing Techniques that develop awareness of our body, Yoga helps us focus and relieves us from our everyday stress.

Now that we have had a brief look at both Pilates and Yoga, we can see that the philosophy of these teachings overlaps and is congruent with the philosophy of chiropractic which states that there are three main causes of subluxation in the body.
These are nerve interference, influence of outside toxic substances and stress.

Ask your chiropractor to advise you as to which of the two activities would be best suited to your needs!