Pilates or Yoga: Which Practice is Right for You?
Ready to start working on your fitness and wellbeing, but not sure where to begin? Don’t worry, we’re here to help.
Pilates and yoga are two disciplines that are highly beneficial to your overall wellbeing, and a great place to start your journey. Although both practices consist of low-impact exercises and share some common movements, the technique and results of each one are completely different.
How so? Let’s find out…
What is the difference?
Pilates is a type of exercise that focuses on small, controlled movements to help build strength and target the smaller muscle groups in the body. It’s great for improving posture, injury rehab and building core strength. There are different styles of pilates, the most common being Matwork and Reformer. Mat Pilates can be performed with zero or little equipment, whereas Reformer Pilates uses a machine, which incorporates more balance work + resistance training.
Yoga is a practice that was created to improve your physical health, mental health + overall well-being. This is why each practice includes a combination of movement, breathwork and meditation. Yoga helps reduce stress, increase flexibility + mobility, improves sleep quality and aids in pain management (for example back pain, arthritis, sciatica). There are many different styles of yoga, from restorative sessions to powerful flows, so depending on what you need, there’s a yoga class out there for you.
Let’s delve a little deeper, to find out which one suits you best…
Focus Areas:
Pilates: Focuses on core strength, stability, and slow, controlled movements.
Yoga: Enhances flexibility, balance, and mental relaxation through different poses and breathing techniques.
Intensity:
Pilates: Typically involves a series of low-impact exercises that can be adjusted for intensity. If it is your first time, we recommend starting with 5 mat pilates classes before jumping into a reformer class, which is more intense.
Yoga: Ranges from gentle stretching to dynamic flows, depending on the style you choose. Going in order of gentle to strong - Yin, Hatha/Vinyasa, Ashtanga
Mindfulness:
Pilates: While it involves breathwork, concentration and control, it’s more focused on physical conditioning.
Yoga: Integrates mindfulness, meditation and breathwork to help to improve self-awareness, mental and physical health.
Which One is Right for You?
If your aim is to build core strength: Start with pilates, it is a great way to tone up, target the deep abdominal muscles, and improve your posture.
Want to de-stress and find balance? Choose yoga, it will help you calm your racing mind, reconnect with your inner self, relax and feel rejuvenated.
For flexibility and overall fitness: Mix it up and try both pilates and yoga. This will give you the ability to build strength, flexibility, and become more mindful.
Healing from pain or an injury? While both practices can be beneficial here, we recommend speaking to a trained professional to understand which one is best suited for you.
We hope this helps clear things up, and guides you to choose a yoga or pilates session that you will love! We usually recommend a mix of both, as the two practices complement each other very well, but there’s no rush - take your time and see what feels right for you.
Ekaya Team
