Yoga and Pilates are not the same, but they are similar enough so that the workouts can be integrated. Yoga is more a stretching, flexibility, and relaxation routine for the whole body, while Pilates focuses more on strengthening your core. Joseph Pilates invented the movements as training for injured soldiers during the Second World War, and the idea is that you use your own body as resistance and strengthen your muscles. I like Pilates because I can do them even when my back is bothering me, and I find that they help my posture and flexibility.
If you'd like to try a combination of yoga and Pilates (always capitalized), try some of Jennifer Kries's instructional videos, which also include moves from ballet. You can read Kries's book as well, and I'd also recommend The Pilates Body by Brooke Siler and/or The Pilates Powerhouse by Mari Windsor.
__________________
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
I am large. I contain multitudes.
-Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
|