Movement in any form is good with qualified teachers

As a general, in the Pilates and Yoga industries, there is an undercurrent of unnecessary rivalry between teachers of the disciplines. I hear comparisons mainly from teachers that have had a bad experience of one discipline, an injury, a bad teacher, etc, or from those that have views based on hearsay.

This may stem from:

1. Fear or lack of genuine experience of a discipline with a qualified practitioner?
2. Half-baked information and, following stereotypical thinking?
3. A want to be something different and seemingly better?
4. An artificially self-created threat to what they teach or competition?
5. Is it something subconscious thinking i.e. something that emanates from the west is always superior to something emanating from the east?

As a practitioner of both disciplines, I beg to differ with the opinions that divide. I teach and experience both disciplines as a teacher and as a client. I have seen and experienced the benefits that both disciplines have on clients.

Yoga has been around since AD 400, Pilates started around world war 1 and Joseph Pilates, who started Pilates, studied various forms of movement including Yoga. There are very many similarities between the disciplines but there are also differences in the intention of the movements in each discipline. Choosing one over the other one limits experiences for the mind as well as the body. And yes the mind and body co-exist, as we all know.

At its core Yoga is a combination of movement, breathing, and meditation. Pilates is movement and Pilates breathing. Both disciplines like any other movement practice have evolved and both have their dedicated and not so dedicated followers.

Every being in this world has a different mind and a body. Each practice will differ based on one’s own experience, teaching, learning, and how it ultimately affects our own bodies, minds, and day-to-day living. However, this alone does not and should not discount another movement practice.

In my humble opinion, any movement is better than no movement. Combining disciplines is recommended, as long as it is taught by well-qualified practitioners that can adapt and apply a discipline to a client's movement & psychological needs. Both disciplines in their original forms are equally beneficial to the body.

If anyone wants to judge and compare Yoga against Pilates, as with anything, then start from a clean slate and armed with informed qualified knowledge.

So why cannot Yoga and Pilates work together in harmony?

Make your own teaching & own practice of a discipline safe. Go to well-qualified practitioners, attend classes where there is room to be safe and where you are not just a number.

Make your teaching relevant for your client first and foremost. As teachers we can help our clients objectively by putting our own opinions aside, it is not which is better and which is not. Learn from your client and become that well-experienced teacher that you can become and are very capable of, rather than waste energy on thoughts that are just that thoughts, not reality.

Anything in life approached with a growth mindset and an open mind will benefit you and your clients.

Move and move well.

#movement #yoga #pilates #health #body #mind

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