The difference between Yoga and Pilates and avoiding injury

Yesterday I listened to a discussion around people getting injured from Yoga on the radio, and it got me thinking to share my own views.

Any form of exercise runs the risk of injury, yet with the proper teacher, this can be reduced to a minimum. I’ve noticed things change over the years, my original Yoga teacher training included fish and headstands, which I rarely seen taught and rarely teach myself now.

I still do these when working 1-1 with people, what matters is knowing how my clients listen, and what strength they can access in their bodies. The body will always “cheat” and find the easiest way, which, during a session, I avoid. I guide people to use the core muscles, to deepen and strengthen them.

Once they are used to “accessing these muscles”, (the body soon remembers), then we navigate more challenging Yoga and Pilates exercises. This varies client to client, and on what backgrounds they have, for example those who may have been dancers, or done martial arts connect quicker.

People often come with “aches, pains and injuries”, with imbalances. When working 1-1 on the Pilates equipment, I focus on alignment, strengthening the weaker side and stretching the tighter one. During my Classical Pilates training in New York, first the 12 day intensive, then 200 hours learning to teach basics (assessment), 200 hours teaching intermediate / advanced (assessment), then the last 200 hours working with injuries and modifications (plus written exam & teaching a full session hour by the master Romana). Then, and only then, was I qualified. First Generation Classically trained.

Any group “reformer” classes cannot observe these details. If you learn a movement using the wrong muscles, then you just strengthen the wrong ones! With me it’s core, core, core and more core. This supports the whole body, spine and movement, with all the interconnected muscles. So, it’s a choice where you practice. Is it good that people are going to group class doing Pilates? Any movement and strengthening has to be good for you, yet if you wish to get the best results, the way Joseph Pilates intended, it needs to be 1-1, or 2-1 if experienced.

How do they differ? Yoga is about you listening to your own body, adding the other principles of breathe, relaxation, spiritual connection, and reducing the physical & emotional stress. Pilates is about every movement coming core, and opening out the lower back. Some postures look the same, yet depending on the muscles you are using, they are “chalk and cheese”.

I love both, for different reasons, my lower back has a congenital issue, which only Pilates seem’s to fix, yet my mind and spirit love the balance of Yoga (and I’m sure I use my core in some of the positions), so I feel the need for both.

When I helped rehab my husband after his accident and hip surgery, he couldn’t get into most standard Yoga positions, yet he could do most of the Pilates (modified, whilst lying on a mattress). Joseph worked for a Dr, then as an orderly in the first World War and tested his theories on bed bound bodies!!! As they recovered, it was only one area to strengthen, as they maintained all other strength from the core. It also supports the whole immune system, as when the Spanish Flu came around, none of the patients he had worked with died! I rest my case!!