What is a Pilates Lifestyle? - PILATESBODY by Kayla

A Pilates Lifestyle Is a Way of Life

It might come as no surprise, but exercise has become more than just exercise. Specifically, with Pilates. Pilates has evolved into more than just movement. This form of exercise has grown into a way for one to achieve a fully balanced lifestyle. A Pilates lifestyle is now very much a way of life.

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When Joseph Pilates initially created ‘Contrology’ (what Pilates was called during his lifetime), he saw it as much more than just an exercise method. He believed it was a life changing system of movement that had the power to change our physical and also our mental and spiritual wellbeing – Ultimately, leading us to richer, more abundant, and fuller lives. What I know for sure is that taking part in Pilates regularly affects our wellbeing immensely.

Pilates Is Not a Trend

Pilates is not a trend. The exercise is continually growing and becoming more popular for many reasons. It is a lifestyle and it doesn’t matter what shape you are in, who you are, or where you came from. It is about how we feel while doing Pilates and how we can take what we practice and apply it to our daily lives.

The method’s movements enhance our daily lives, tasks, and activities such as cleaning the floor, shoveling wet heavy snow, or playing with our children. While Pilates becomes ingrained in our thought process and muscle memory, it moves beyond the physical realm and essentially teaches us to effectively manage our entire being while creating a positive connection to our wellbeing. And that’s a life worth living!

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Pilates Goes Beyond the Physical

Pilates means more to people now than ever before. Part of the Pilates lifestyle is about creating trust and a sense of belonging. It is more than just going to the gym and going through the motions on your own having no personal connections. It’s an experience to go to a Pilates studio. You get to physically touch the professional equipment, receive custom fitness instruction from your certified instructor, and have them physically adjust your body into alignment.

While many people hear about Pilates through a friend, or are referred to the exercise by a doctor or physical therapist as treatment for an injury, most continue to return to the exercise week after week because it goes beyond the physical and taps into every aspect of our daily lives. Let’s take a look at some of the many benefits Pilates can introduce to your life through the Principles of Pilates.

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The Principles of a Pilates Lifestyle

The principles of Pilates go deeper than just the movements, too. They become more about ‘how’ the body moves, creating optimal alignment and safe movement patterns. We develop this trust within and beautiful knowledge of our bodies in both areas of strength and weakness. This knowledge and relationship ends up growing beyond a studio or Mat Pilates class.

Depending on your resources, there can be up to 10 principles that interchangeably make the Pilates exercise go beyond just the movement by creating a lifestyle. Principles within the physical realm of the work, such as balance, core strength, stability and alignment, are key focus points of the Pilates method. When looked at from a holistic approach, they make a lifestyle. I firmly believe in the quote, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

There is so much to discover in the world of Pilates, and I wholeheartedly believe that diving into these Pilates principles can help you FINALLY break free of the diet and exercise cycles that have kept you stale and unchanged for so long. I’m confident because Pilates has worked for me though pregnancy and postpartum, TWICE, and I have seen it work for my clients time and time again.

Let’s take a look at these principles and explore how they apply to the physical practice of developing not only a Pilates body, but how they can create daily positive changes to our lives as well.

Centering

I always set my clients up for centering in two different ways: “the physical”, and “the mental”.

In the practice of Pilates, there is no tuning out, only tuning in. It is like a moving meditation. You get to discover the feeling of being connected to your center and who you are at your core. This is “the mental” and what goes beyond the mat.

Keeping us safe in the practice of Pilates is “the physical” connection to our center. This is what builds the deep core strength of drawing the abs “in and up”, and keeping us injury-free with fluid, smooth movements.

Concentration

Concentration is harder than it sounds. There is so much noise around us and within us that keeps us distracted. We have to work hard to tune it all out.

Tapping into ourselves, being in the present moment, and conscious concentration is a true practice in itself. Try it for yourself – Can you just focus on your breath for 10 seconds, or did a new thought or “to-do” on your list pop into your head?

Concentrating on physical movement and tuning into just yourself for one full hour has so many benefits that carry over into our daily lives. This Pilates principle teaches us how to better concentrate on the important tasks at hand, and most importantly, how to just be fully present with our spouse or kids.

Control

I know I’m not the only one who feels their life gets completely out of control! Motherhood is hard, and I definitely struggle with not having full control over my kids and situations.

Developing complete body control with Pilates is empowering. Learning control teaches you what you’re mentally and physically capable of. It also teaches you boundaries, in the sense that you have to keep certain muscles engaged while letting other muscles relax in order to obtain optimal body alignment.

How balanced is your life as a whole? Are there certain areas of your life in which you can let go of control? Are there other areas you can button up and take more control of? Always remember, “You can only control what you can control.”

Breathing

Breath is amazing to me. It is the simple act of life. Without breath, there is no life. We also don’t even have to think about how, or when, to breathe, it just happens. While we can breathe without thinking about it, we can also control our breathing.

Joseph Pilates was asthmatic. Part of his teachings was that every exercise had a specific breath, and feeling full breaths is part of the method. When we pause and breathe intentionally, it shifts our whole perspective and feeling, and brings us right back to the first principle of “centering”.

Breathing is like free therapy. We can use our breath to calm our nervous system under stress. Teaching ourselves and our children how the simple act of breathing can help center us, make better decisions, and calm our body and mind.

Precision

Like in gymnastics, you strive and practice for perfection. But do you always achieve it? Rarely. And that’s the journey.

Pilates can be a hot mess, and so can life. It’s all a work in progress, and the attention required to move purposefully takes time. The attention required to perfect the movements’ details with precision (pointed toes, long lines, relaxed shoulders) comes with diligence.

In life, we probably have some things we have on hold “on the back burner”, and others that we are tending to, perfecting them to be bright and shiny. Be patient, it all evolves with time. Like life, you keep pushing to be better and to do better. This principle rings true in Pilates.

Flow

The principle of Flow is the idea that the body stays in continuous fluid motion. Transitions between movements are smooth, and there is very little wasted energy because the movements are performed with efficiency.

I like to look at flow from two different perspectives: the physical feelings of flow within the body, and in how our current day progresses. Flow within our body is often hindered by injuries or energy blockers. How we physically flow has a great impact on our daily output. If we aren’t injured or dealing with aches and pains, we generally feel and move fluidly. This is also where I firmly believe in other holistic approaches to caring for our bodies, such as acupuncture and massage.

Now, think about how you move throughout your day. How could you pace yourself to flow as if your day were a 1-hour Pilates session?

Pilates is a Lifestyle Choice

At first, yeah, maybe I chose Pilates because of how it made me feel physically. Afterall, I started it at age 22 because I couldn’t make it through my workday without debilitating back pain. Nearly a decade later, I do Pilates for so much more than the physical.

Pilates makes me feel stronger physically and mentally by improving body image and confidence. It was there for me during both of my pregnancies and postpartum periods by helping me move safely, recover and regain core strength, and by boosting self-confidence and wellbeing as a new mom. I take the principles of Pilates beyond just my workouts and apply them to how I live a well-balanced lifestyle. I parent with more patience and I stay centered as I work on instilling the importance of breath work and control into my kids.

There is a lot here. Take tidbits with you. Thank you for reading the connection of Pilates beyond the movement and how it is a lifestyle, teaching us to effectively manage our entire being while creating a positive connection to our wellbeing. And that’s a life worth living!

Your Friend & Pilates Expert,

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Kayla Brugger
Founder of PILATESBODY by Kayla
Founder of PILATESBODY On-Demand

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