Six Ideas that Mindful Movement helps control, release, and relieve Stress.
Pilates is more than just a workout. Any person who’s been doing it for a couple of months knows that Pilates doesn’t only sculpt your body but also clears your mind and gives you energy and inner serenity.
Pilates is special, and it does flatten tummies, ease joint pains and discomforts, rehabilitates you after surgeries, and improves your athletic performance. But the most amazing part of your Pilates experience is when we start seeing our own changes in our bodies our minds, emotions and our everyday lives. So as you begin your journey, you will begin to understand and experience that the combination of movement, breath focus and mind focus becomes meditative in nature thus bringing a soothing calming effect. So let’s begin the journey.
1. Pilates relieves stress tension in our body.
You have probably heard about the “fight-or-flight” response to situations. When confronted with a stressful situation (real, like almost getting hit by another car, stage fright (fear in performances or public speaking) our body releases a wave of stress hormones to prime our body to fight or flee.
In a stressful situation, our body is ready to move at its peak performance but in today’s fast pace world scenarios we can’t just get out of traffic jams that quick we can’t pick a fight because you know someone will youtube you and the list continues. Physical activity is supposed to metabolize the buildup of stress hormones but instead, we try to keep everything inside and continue to be functional in life.
The Result? Stress hormones settle in our body causing hypertension, muscle spasms, and pain.
Pilates releases tension built up in the muscles through its series of exercises that stretch and strengthen our body, leaving us mentally and physically more satisfied with the overall sense that “you have helped yourself.”
Examples: the exercise on the mat called the “hundred” immediately gets our blood pumping through our body by vigorously pumping the arms at the same time you’re pulling your abdominals in deeper and breathing deeply all at the same time. This will already aid in metabolizing stress hormones built up in your muscles. Loosening these tight muscles and the fascia surrounding our body tissues begin to alleviate the stress built up ( lactic acid) in this area plus the production of the “ feel-good hormones” (dopamine) that gives our minds a sense of feel-good or relief.
A body free from nervous tension and fatigue is the ideal shelter provided by nature for housing a well-balanced mind, body connection fully capable of successfully meeting all the complex problems of modern living. Joseph Pilates
2. Pilates lets you control your emotions.
Our emotions and breathing are closely connected. A recent study by Pierre Phillpot ( as cited by Psychology Today) showed that different emotional states are associated with distinct breathing patterns. Think of how your breathing changes when you face something frightening as opposed to something pleasant. There is no major breakthrough in this finding just common sense.
However, the interesting part of the study was that different breathing patterns evoke certain emotions. You can basically breathe yourself into calmness or anxiety.
Above all, learn to breathe correctly. ~ Joseph Pilates
Breath is one of the six fundamental Pilates principles. Learning to control your breath is probably the biggest benefit of Pilates since many of us are “lazy -breathers”. The techniques that you learn in a Pilates class can also be used in different life situations to calm your mind or get through a stressful situation.
3. Mindful Movement helps release emotional tension.
Any mind/body professional can tell a lot about your personality by simply looking at your posture and observing your movement. Over time we store our emotions and anxieties in our bodies. We clench our Jaws when we want to yell, slouch when we feel inferior or shy, and tighten our hips to suppress emotions of sadness and fear.
Pilates practice lets you release your muscles and gain control of the deep core muscles and gain control of the deep core muscles that tend to be closely connected to our emotional baggage. When you release muscles that hold your emotional tension you also let go of the emotional baggage that you’ve been carrying around for knows how long.
4. Pilates helps tame your stress.
In this area of research, our “Yoga Journals” have been our best studies. Pilates and Yoga share similarities in that they are “ mind-body “ exercises.
In this category, I will be addressing Pilates but using research built on findings through Yoga. It is imperative to drive stress in and out of the body and mind daily. Even more important, is keeping stress from building up in your mind causing sustained anxiety and tension. If you don’t address the cause of stress (the way you perceive situations and respond to them) you won’t be able to have lasting stress relief.
5. Calm mind and emotions with Pilates
Benefits of mindfulness meditation for your mind and body.
Summary:
- relieves anxiety and depression
- helps treat insomnia
- sharpens the mind
- uncovers creative thinking
- relieves stress
- helps with chronic pain management
- reduces negative emotions
- helps fight addictions and instill positive habits
- lowers blood pressure and improves cardiovascular health.
Pilates lets you reap all the benefits of mediation without actually sitting still and feeling like you are wasting your time.
You can gain mindfulness benefits only if you are comfortable with what you are doing. Some enjoy the peacefulness of a traditional meditation while others get better results from a mindful movement that cleanses the mind while exercising the body.
6. Pilates teaches you to be yourself
Our world is constantly pressuring us to conform. We push our boundaries to meet a deadline, be a better parent or look an act according to modern-day standards.
Pilates teaches us to respect our bodies and be content with them. Pilates practice is focused on working within your range of motion and building up your strength and flexibility gradually. Interestingly enough, once we become confident in what we are doing we find strength and motivation to move to the next level. However, our progress is not propelled by comparing ourselves to someone else but rather by setting our personal standards and priorities that are meaningful to us.
When we learn to respect our bodies this way we also learn to do the same with everything else in our lives. We start living according to our priorities and desires, instead of keeping up with the Joneses.
Learn more:
Go to balancenstrength.com for more instruction in classical Pilates. Taking our lives to the next level.
