Yoga is something that I turn to when looking to destress or rejuvenate my mind and body; at the moment I’m loving morning and bedtime yoga routines I like to think of myself as a bit of a yogi, an amateur no less, I’ve been practising it on and off for a few years now and still enjoy it.
Normally I practise yoga in the privacy of my home with a YouTube video or DVD, where I can hide away and not feel embarrassed when I fall arse over tit doing one of the poses. However, I did venture out a few summers back and went to my first hot yoga classes that I had wanted to try for ages and really loved them. They went better than I thought they would even though my form was a little off on some of the poses it definitely gave me the confidence boost that going to yoga classes isn’t that bad and I would love to try them again soon.
Recently I’ve been introduced to postnatal Pilates by our mummy friends and absolutely love it. This is a whole new world to me as I’ve dabbled in a bit of Pilates before but never really took it seriously.
Sometimes I may be doing some of the moves whilst shaking a baby rattle, pulling funny faces at Aiden to put off any potential crying or doing some insane multitasking by breastfeeding him at the same time, but it’s OK as I don’t feel that I need to be in a particular zone to do Pilates. Whilst doing the movements I’ve noticed that there is no real spiritual connection like there is with yoga. There is still that sense of tranquillity and concentration, but it’s more about the mind and body rather than the soul as well.
The moves are much more regimented in Pilates concentrating on the core and aligning the spine, unlike yoga where to me it feels much more fluid as you move from one pose to the next. In Pilates you move from one exercise to the other, sometimes using bands, blocks and balls. From the different styles of yoga that I’ve tried, I’ve never used any extra equipment so the movement feels a lot more flowy to me.
In yoga, you tend to hold the positions for a lot longer, giving you time to work on your breath more and feel that spiritual connection. Pilates is very different as with each pose you tend to do lots of repetitions and pulsating rather than holding the pose for an amount of time, making it much more dynamic.
One thing that my Pilates teacher has picked up on is my poor posture post-pregnancy, which tends to make you stand with your pelvis forward creating an extra curve in the spine. I honestly wasn’t aware that I even did this and Pilates is helping me to pull everything back together and realign everything. I’m much more conscious of how I stand now and making sure that my back is well supported whilst breastfeeding as I often feel slumped over. I’ll keep you updated on my hopefully improving posture in future posts.
Have you tried yoga and Pilates? Which one did you prefer? How do they both compare?
How good is your posture? Do you find that you slump over a lot?
It’s great that you make time for this kind of thing, I struggle to do anything with two small people to look after!
It’s a struggle with childcare and everything, but I can take my baby along to this class which is brilliant.
I’ve never tried pilates, but I’ve started yoga as part of an extreme home fitness program I’ve been doing to shed the 2 stone I put on last year (I’ve lost 23.5 lbs already!) and I do love it. It’s got all sort of poses from beginner to advanced and it’s so nice to feel the strength and flexibility increase in my body each time I do it.
Congratulations on your weight loss, you’re doing an amazing job! 🙂
My Osteopath has recommended Pilates to strengthen my core muscles and back, although I have yet to start. I did practice yoga for a while a few years ago but I found it abit boring.
Pilates will work brilliantly for helping your back because the whole exercise regime is centred around your back and core.
I did mostly pilates (as a complement to running) for years but recently, after being injured, I decided to give yoga a go again. Yes, yoga is calming and restorative, but it’s also so strengthening. I’ve been doing daily yoga for the past 3 months and really wonder why I let it slip from my life before that. I no longer need the physio and am able to run again without any pain.
Fantastic news that your now free from pain and have seen great results with yoga. I love both forms of exercise for different reasons.
I have never tried pilates but I find yoga so relaxing!
Yoga is brilliant for relaxation. 🙂
I really like pilates. I think it is much more intense than yoga and I just find that I get more out of it. I must admit, I don’t do it as much as I would like.
I’m finding it much more intense too at the moment and really love it. Hot yoga was super intense for me though and I would love to do more of that.
I tried hot yoga about 2 years ago, and I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. I do enjoy doing yoga, but do it at home cause my balance is pretty poor haha. Pilates is something I’ve wanted to try. My posture is awful.
Pilates is really amazing! Ha! I love doing yoga videos at home too in case I make a fool of myself.
I do both and agree that yoga feels more spiritual whereas Pilates feels more “scientific”. I think there are benefits with both and a lot of the more general classes I’ve been to combine the two. I guess it depends what mood I’m in as to which I prefer doing! x
Definitely I think the time of day also impacts on which one I prefer to do as well.
We did a huge amount of pre and post pregnancy mums and bubs classes. After about 6 months I stopped but it really really made a difference to recovery. I feel as strong as ever now!
That’s great Hayley. 🙂 I love all of these mummy and baby classes that we go to.
I’ve always wondered what the difference was! I think Yoga sounds like its more for me xxx
I always thought that they were very similar but actually they are quite different.
This is very interesting. Im going to search for a Pilates class near by, I would love to work on my posture now.
Pilates is great for your posture and realigning your spine. 🙂
I love Pilates. I used to do the reformer Pilates (with the resistance machine) in a class and it was hard but brilliant. I really felt like it was a super workout fro my muscles, especially my core.
I also really enjoy yoga but know what you mean when you say it’s more spiritual. To some extent I dislike that aspect about yoga. I preferred Pilates with it’s almost “no nonsense” approach. But I can understand how yoga can help people relax and unwind as well as stretching out.
I definitely love both different forms of exercise, which originally I thought were very similar when in fact they are very different. I get what you mean about Pilates being no-nonsense, I find it really tough.
I keep wanting to try both.. But I never get around to it! My posture is terrible so I should probably start!
They’re well worth a try, I love them.
This is so great! thanks for sharing! The two may have some similarities, but they are really different too! 🙂
My thoughts exactly Cailee. 🙂
I’ve never tried yoga or pilates but would love to. I usually have lots of energy, so was told to try yoga to calm down and relax x
It will definitely relax you and get you in a zone of tranquility. I love it for that reason.
I love yoga more for the relaxation – especially as a new mom!
I can totally see your point with the relaxation and being a new mama. 🙂
I have tried both and I prefer yoga Pilate is one that I never really took liking to but yoga I love big time.
I enjoy yoga on a night before bed. I wish I had time to do it in a morning or that I was able to get up early enough in a morning to do it. I don’t like Pilates really.