What is the Difference Between Pilates and Yoga?
SHORT ANSWER:
As teachers and enthusiasts of both disciplines, we get asked a lot what the difference is between Pilates and yoga. They are both fabulous body-mind practices.
Yoga tends to emphasize more isometric (static) holdings of poses, and is famous for building flexibility. Some yoga uses props, but all you really need is a mat.
Pilates has both mat work and a large repertoire of machine choreography. It focuses more on rhythmic movement and is famous for building core strength. We focus on Pilates here at KO, but we love to incorporate yoga into our sessions, especially deep restorative poses.
LONGER ANSWER:
Yoga is much older. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date back to between the 2nd century BCE and the 2nd century CE.
Yoga is not just a fitness system. It's a philsophy. Patanjali gives this definition: "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations in the mind." In other words, yoga is inner stillness.
The Sanskrit word "yoga" means "union" and is cognate with the English word "yoke." What are we trying to yoke in yoga? Our own inner light to the divine. Yoga is about unifying the individual soul with universal consciousness.
There are many paths within yoga. Gandhi did karma yoga, the yoga of selfless service. Chanting mystics do bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotional love. What we do in the studio is hatha yoga, the physical practice of postures and breathing.
Even within hatha yoga, there is tremendous variation. An Iyengar class with use props and detailed cuing. A vinyasa class will be flowing and vigorous. Sometimes you have to try a class to understand what the style is. It's important to honor your limits. A good teacher will always support students taking care of themselves.
WHY PILATES IS DIFFERENT:
Pilates is named for Joseph Pilates, who was born in 1883 in Germany. It's fun when people think "Pilates" has some esoteric meaning and we get to say, "No, it's just some dude from Dusseldorf!"
Joseph Pilates developed his system (which, at the time, he called "Contrology") after emigrating to England before WWI. Stationed as a nurse on the Isle of Mann, he hooked up springs to the hospital beds of wounded soldiers to help them exercise. That's why the Pilates machine we call a Reformer looks like a bed. It's also why Pilates has such strong roots in rehabilitation.
Joe was a boxer, weightlifter, and health nut who loved to flex for the camera wearing Speedos. The body toning and conditioning benefits drew the attention of dancers, and when Joe and his wife Clara moved to New York City in the '20s, their studio became a mecca for the likes of George Balanchine and Martha Graham.
Pilates classes differ, but you can always expect abdominal work and focus on spinal mobility. One thing we love as instructors is that, paradoxically, the more we do Pilates, the more challenging it seems. We're learning to bypass our compensations: less-then-optimal patterns we have defaulted to through repetition, trauma, or imbalance. We love the pain reduction, the feeling of spinal decompression, and–we admit it–the way we look in our Speedos.