Define your goals
Pilates vs Yoga. This is a debate many people have. To best answer this question you should evaluate your goals and what you want to achieve.
Pilates places more focus on strength and toning and is better for physical rehabilitation.
Yoga has a focus on spirituality and a relaxing approach for doing its poses and movements.
Evaluate the different focuses of both practices.
Pilates vs Yoga, or better here they are similar in a lot of ways. They both include movements and poses intended to increase strength, flexibility, and the mind body connection. Ultimately, yoga is a practice focused on your mind and how you feel. Strength and flexibility are achieved by holding poses for extended time. Pilates is a practice focused on toning your body and bettering your posture. Alignment will improve and constant movement increases our cardio strength. Vitality of your mind and lifted spirits are packed into the end result. In Yoga you begin your practice standing upright and you finish on your back, relaxed with your eyes closed. Pilates starts you out lying down, eyes closed, breathing deeply and focusing inward, practicing body awareness. With constant movement, a focus on precision in your workout, you will finish in a standing / vertical position. You will feel very alert in body and mind.
Weigh the differences between how breath is used in yoga and Pilates.
The breathing techniques applied, when we keep Pilates vs yoga in mind, differ quite a bit.
- With Pilates the breath is used more as a technique of providing the muscles with the energy they need to exercise effectively. We concentrate on the breathing technique throughout our workout.This will help us to manage the quantity of oxygen coming into the body and travelling to the muscles which in turn gives muscle relaxation.
- In yoga, the breathing exercises help you to achieve relaxation. Throughout yoga routines it is important to continuously concentrate on how the breath is being employed. The breath is being send to areas that may be tight or are holding stress. It can help to relax these specific muscle groups in the body.
Decide how important increasing strength is to you.
Pilates vs yoga applied to increasing your strength. With a focus on relaxing muscles which are tense/ tight and improving strengthening of the deeper and often neglected muscles of the body Pilates is right on the goal.. Pilates includes the use of resistance machines, like the pilates reformer, in addition to mat exercises, making it much more similar to weight training. But at the same time Pilates is never like weight training. Every muscle from the crown of your head to your toes will be engaged when performing a single exercise. Uniformly the body strength increases, while keeping the alignment of the body always at first priority.
Yoga and Pilates both contain several exercises that are suitable for toning the abdominal muscles. However, Pilates exercises are a lot more intense and results may be achieved much quicker than they might be if practicing yoga. Performing Pilates workouts regularly will result in a flatter and firmer stomach.
Evaluate the differences in mental benefits between yoga and pilates.
Understand that yoga will focus on your mind more. Exercise has been proven helpful for individuals who are suffering from depression or anxiety. Yoga might be the most effective exercise to combat the illness because it focuses on the mind and spirit as well as the body.
Quiet reflection and meditation are a large part of yoga practice. Many people start yoga with reducing stress as their main goal.
With Pilates the mind will get redirected from a problem. By the inward focus we can achieve a quiet mind set. We are working in precision, counting exercises, remembering the movement order we end up with a rejuvenated and fresh mind.
