5 Benefits Pilates Gives You & Why You Should Start Practicing

Today, we’re joined by Pilates Instructor Daisy Horton to tell you all about the unexpected benefits of Pilates, and why it’s so great to start while you’re trying to conceive.

Daisy is classically trained in Mat-based Pilates and draws on the original method to create flows that will leave you feeling energized, strong, and in control of your body and mind. Her holistic approach incorporates mindfulness, meditation, and breathwork techniques to help bring you to a state of calm so that you can move with ease.

Take it away, Daisy!

So what is Pilates?

Pilates has boomed in popularity in recent years, and the benefits really are endless – but what is it? Pilates is a form of low-impact exercise that works to strengthen your muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility. The mind-body exercise was developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named.

Some of the more well-known advantages include improved mobility, better spine health, injury prevention and recovery, and deep core strength. People are also seeing the value of opting for more mindful forms of exercise as there is more awareness of the importance of looking after our overall health, rather than focusing solely on aesthetic goals. Perhaps what makes Pilates stand out is how accessible it is. It is a fantastic option for all ages and abilities, as long as you begin safe practice and start slowly, especially during pregnancy.

“You will feel better in ten sessions, look better in twenty sessions, and have a completely new body in thirty sessions”

~Joseph Pilates

But what really makes Pilates so special?

5 benefits of Pilates in your TTC journey

#1: Pilates improves respiratory function

The breath is a vital element of the Pilates method and one of the 6 pilates principles - alongside concentration, centering, precision, flowing movement, and control. It is the foundation of all the exercises and essential to perform them correctly. In pilates, we adopt a conscious breathing technique known as lateral thoracic breathing, also referred to as lateral or intercostal breathing. This technique encourages you to breathe into the back and sides of the ribcage, allowing you to maintain engagement of the deep abdominal muscles throughout an exercise.

Give lateral thoracic breathing a go now:

Place the palms of your hands on either side of your lower ribs
Take an inhale through the nose, breathing deeply into the back and sides of your ribs, and then exhale all the air out through the mouth
Repeat this 3 more times, focusing on expanding the ribcage and noticing how your palms rise and fall as the air comes in and out

A helpful visualization is to imagine your lungs are an accordion. As you inhale, the accordion expands, and then as you exhale, it grows smaller. This is the opposite of diaphragmatic breathing (often used in yoga but can also be part of the relaxation phase of a Pilates class), where you drop the breath into the lower belly.

Lateral breathing not only helps to mobilize the muscles between the ribs, creating more space to expand the lungs to their full potential, but also strengthens them along with the other respiratory muscles, such as the abdominals and the diaphragm. As we begin to breathe better, our posture improves, and the spine can lengthen and move more freely. It also enables us to oxygenate the blood and perform the exercises more effectively. Joseph Pilates describes his method as ‘the equivalent of an internal shower. As a heavy rainstorm freshens the water of a sluggish or stagnant stream, so does the Pilates method purify the bloodstream’.

#2: Pilates strengthens the mind-body connection

Pilates is a fantastic way to build body awareness and strengthen the mind-body connection. The practice encourages you to tune in to what is happening within your body by connecting to the more internal muscles, such as the pelvic floor and the deep abdominal muscles. This requires total concentration and control.

The lateral thoracic breathing technique we have just seen is an excellent example of this because it teaches you to become aware of and manipulate the breath, moving from unconscious or normal breathing to conscious control. On top of this, lateral breathing is used to accompany movement, so there is always another layer of focus. Now, this might sound like a lot to juggle at once, but that’s a good thing because it forces you to be completely present. All other distractions melt away, and the exercise becomes a moving meditation. It is a ‘complete coordination of the body, mind, and spirit’.

Bringing this mindful element to exercise is a great way to reduce stress and anxiety because it reduces activity in the amygdala, the part of your brain that helps define and regulate emotions. It can help to calm and regulate the nervous system and reduce the stress hormone cortisol in your body which has a wide range of benefits, such as reducing pain and improving the quality of your sleep.

#3: Pilates can help to process emotional trauma

Learning to reinhabit the body is an essential part of healing unresolved emotional wounds and past traumas. Dr Bessel Van Der Kolk, a leading psychiatrist and trauma specialist, discusses this in his book The Body Keeps the Score. He writes, ‘One of the clearest lessons in contemporary neuroscience is that our sense of ourselves is anchored in a vital connection with our bodies’. In trauma, we lose this connection, and we often no longer feel safe in our bodies, so we (very cleverly) adapt by disconnecting from sensation and, in doing so, our internal state. While this can sometimes be helpful as a protective response, it is not a sustainable way of being, and we want to re-establish our mind-body connection when we are ready to heal.

But what do we actually mean by the word 'trauma'? The term has arguably become a bit of a buzzword recently and can often be misused so let’s have a look at how trauma expert Mastin Kipp defines it:

“Trauma is any experience of threat, disconnection, isolation or immobilization that results in physical/ emotional injuries that dysregulate the optimal functioning of one's body, emotions, brain, spirit or health.”

Mastin Kipp

With this in mind, we can see how important it is to restore a feeling of safety in the body during recovery. Dr Van Der Kolk notes how mindful movement, including being able to anticipate when more uncomfortable sensations will be over, helps us to build a felt sense of resilience. Using embodied practices, such as Pilates and Yoga, in this way is known as 'bottom-up regulation', meaning body-to-brain regulation. The reason it works is that unprocessed trauma or unhealed emotional wounds can get stuck in the body, stored as 'somatic memory', and can manifest as prolonged stress, tension, pain, and anxiety. In fact, research shows that 80% of emotional data travels from the body to the brain compared to only 20% from the brain to the body. So a combination of talk therapy and physical therapy could be recommended. Of course, this is not something to figure out on your own, and if you are struggling, it is always best to seek help from a licensed therapist or mental health specialist.

#4: Pilates boosts the immune system

Pilates is a particularly effective form of exercise for boosting the immune system. The slow and controlled movements stimulate the lymphatic system which is responsible for eliminating toxins from cells. As you move through all planes of movement, twisting and stretching muscles, you are also helping the lymph vessels to drain excess fluid from the body’s tissues. This keeps the immune system healthy as toxins are efficiently removed and there is less inflammation in the body.

The mindful elements of Pilates also aid immunity as they encourage the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system to switch on, calming the stress response. By reducing stress in the body, inflammation also goes down and we are better able to fight off infection.

As a child, Joseph Pilates suffered from asthma, rickets, and rheumatic fever. His motivation and determination to overcome these ailments led him to become a competent athlete. He was a keen skier, diver, and gymnast. He practiced what he preached and exercised using his Pilates method right up until his death aged 83.

#5: Pilates improves brain function and memory

According to Dr Roger Sperry, neurobiologist and Nobel Laureate in Medicine, ‘90% of the stimulation and nutrition to the brain is generated by the movement of the spine’. This makes a lot of sense given that the brain and spinal cord make up the nervous system. They are interconnected, so the health of one will always affect the other. Those who have practiced Pilates before will know the post-session feeling and how clear the mind feels when the spine is happy. Looking after the spine's health is at the center of the Pilates method. Joseph believed that you are only as young as your spinal column and famously wrote that ‘If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you’re old. If it is flexible at 60, you’re young’.

We are now seeing more and more research connecting our brain health to our physical health. Exercises that require coordination, such as lifting and lowering your opposite arm with the opposite leg in the swimming exercise actually trains your brain and can improve your memory. One study published in 2015 in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society found that strength training just twice a week for a year improved executive functioning and memory that lasted for at least one additional year. The MRI scans also showed that women who engaged in balance and toning exercises had less brain atrophy, or “brain shrinkage”, which has been linked to problems with recalling information and thinking skills. Pilates could therefore be a great way to keep your brain healthy and functioning well.

It's safe to say that Pilates offers a lot more than a regular fitness class and you don't have to be at an advanced level to reap the rewards! Just 10 minutes a day can be enough to feel a huge difference in your overall health and well-being

Will you be trying Pilates? Let us know how it makes you feel in the comments!