Pilates, also known as Contrology, is a process of integrating knowledge and action between the brain and the body. It can also be understood as a correct and scientific user manual for the human body.
What exactly does Pilates practice involve? How does it achieve the desired effect through training? Today, Xiaofei will clarify these questions for everyone!
1. Breathing
In principle, we inhale when preparing for an action and exhale when performing an action. This is especially important when coordinating body perception and cooperation. Pilates breathing is an extremely crucial step in Pilates exercise, aiming to help with the movement and muscle activation of each practice and improve the safety of exercise. The method used is inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, which is the chest breathing we mentioned during practice.
First step: Close your mouth tightly and try to take a deep breath through your nose. Do you feel that you instantly hold your head high and straighten your chest? Then feel the tightening of your lower abdomen! Isn’t it great? This is the feeling we should have when practicing Pilates.
Second step: Slowly exhale all the air through your mouth and feel the tightening of your ribs and waist and abdomen. One inhalation and one exhalation complete a closed loop of a Pilates breathing action.
2. Concentration
In every part of each movement during Pilates practice, we need to calm down and quietly feel the changes in our body. Let the sensations guide your practice. When you can achieve the integration of body and mind in every movement, you have begun to master this practice routine. If there is no concentration in Pilates practice, the movements will be distorted and the practice effect cannot be achieved.
Only when we consciously influence the movement can we change and correct the recruitment of muscles and the correct alignment of bones. Listen to the sensations of the body and feel the details and subtleties of each movement. Only through concentration can we connect the body and consciousness. As Joseph Pilates, the founder of Pilates, often said, ‘Five perfect repetitions are better than twenty sloppy repetitions.
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3. Control
Many times, we actually don’t truly have the dominance of our own body. But during the Pilates practice process, it can help us better control our own body. Because Pilates is an overall movement, ‘control’ means that during the entire movement practice, our brain and nervous system can recruit appropriate muscles, maintain correct movements, movement chain alignment, and appropriate strength. Every Pilates exercise movement requires the use of consciousness to control movement and strength, combine movement with the body to make it smooth and coordinated, combine consciousness and body to make it more efficient, and even combine body, mind, and intention to advocate a harmonious and balanced lifestyle.
Core stability is crucial in Pilates, akin to having an axis that provides radius, speed, center of gravity, and direction, thus establishing order. It can be said: ‘Pilates exercises without core control are not true Pilates practice.’ Consciously contracting the core muscles of the body and maintaining a stable, strong core is the foundation of all movements. In Pilates practice, all movements originate from the ‘core,’ which is why Pilates training is often described as ‘developing strong, stable, and flexible core movements.’
Precision is inseparable from practice, from understanding the correct human movement chain, skeletal alignment, focusing on the details of movements to effectively demonstrating complete movements. The key to good posture also lies in understanding and perfectly presenting the correct skeletal alignment and feeling of one’s own body. Precision is the perfect crystallization of the elements of breathing, focus, control, and core with practice! Concentrating the spirit and making precise, subtle adjustments will give your mind and body a completely different feeling.
Fluidity is not only reflected in the practice of individual movements but also requires smooth transitions between movements. All Pilates movements require coherence and rhythm. Fluidity makes movements soft, beautiful, and functional, while also reducing joint stress. The more limited the range of joint movement, the more rigid and restricted the movement becomes. Conversely, the freer the range of joint movement, the greater the joint mobility. Pilates movements can move joints within a full, normal, and comfortable range of motion, increasing where needed and restricting where necessary, making our bodies and movement styles a coordinated and unified whole. In this way, it will help improve your control, balance, and coordination.
