8 Good Reasons Why Yogi’s Should Do Pilates

So you have been practising yoga for more than a year. Your flexibility and strength has improved, and you have learned how to be still and calm. Your hard work has paid off and you feel great!

Yoga has worked nearly every system in your body and you’ve developed increased flexibility in postures. There is however, sometimes a danger of over flexing muscles practising yoga. So a focus on core stability is paramount to keep you injury free.

Pilates works brilliantly with those deep and difficult muscles and help you maintain a stable and safe core.

Here are 8 ways Pilates helps Yogi’s:

• More focus is given to strengthening core muscles in Pilates. This improves your ability to balance, do inversions and hold core postures like navasana.
• It helps keep your knees strong. Yoga tends to focus most on the back and front of the legs. The side lying series in Pilates works the muscles on the outside and inside of your thighs. These muscles are crucial in keeping your knees stable. Yoga can be tough on the knees if you push yourself too far. Pilates will give you more protection and keep from this happening.
• The shoulder girdle is opened in yoga. Arm balances and standing poses will strengthen many of the muscles. However the rotator cuff is a little more complicated. Unless you specifically set your shoulder blades in the correct position when doing yoga and in your every day posture, the upper muscles in the back tend to take over. This can lead to weakness in the shoulders more intrinsic muscles. Pilates will work to strengthen these and avoid future shoulder pain.
• More focus is given to strengthening your back in Pilates. Yoga helps with flexibility and there are a few asana’s that help strengthen your back. However, forms of yoga with lots of forward bends can weaken your back over time if strengthening is not done to counteract this.
• Pilates will educate your body to keep good posture and a neutral spine. We see many a bum sticking out in yoga poses and really it is not helping your lower back. It is normally due to abdominal weakness and tightness in the front of the thighs. Pilates will train your body to keep good alignment at all times.
• Pilates will help the alignment of your head in relation to your upper body. Alignment is very precise in Pilates. If you naturally let your head loll about, or jut it forwards too much, Pilates will help correct this.
• For ashtanga and vinyasa students, Pilates gives you amazing core strength helping with jumping through and back from down dog.
• It will help you stay injury free for your yoga practice.

Beginners Pilates starts Monday October 10th

If you’re ready to start Pilates, we have a four week beginners courses starting Monday 10th October. It’s time to take the next step!