What is the difference between Yoga and Pilates?
New friend: ‘and what do you do for a living Georgie?’
Me: ‘I teach Pilates and a bit of Yoga!’
NF: ‘is Pilates like yoga?’
Me: ‘well um, yes sort of, but they are different’
NF: ‘What is the difference between Yoga and Pilates?’
This is the first question that generally comes out of most mouths when I tell people I teach Pilates (unless they have done Pilates and Yoga before). In short, they are two different practices and to really understand the differences, it is best to try them both.
Let’s define both of these names according to the Oxford Languages Dictionary:
- PILATES: a system of exercises using special apparatus, designed to improve physical strength, flexibility, and posture, and enhance mental awareness.
1960s: named after the German physical fitness specialist Joseph Pilates (1880–1967), who devised the system.
- YOGA (translates to ‘union’) is a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practised for health and relaxation. The practice of yoga has been thought to date back to pre-vedic Indian traditions; possibly in the Indus valley civilization around 3000 BCE.
There are hundreds of different types of Yoga ranging from Hatha to Ashtanga, from Yin to Vinyasa (and many, many more) and they all focus on different things depending on the style and teacher. You might find one kind of yoga where you are sitting or lying in a meditation for most of the class, doing very little ‘physical’ movement or, moving slowly from one movement/ stretch to the other focusing on finding stillness and calm. Or, you might find yourself in a strong ‘Vinyasa Flow’ class which is fast paced, sweaty and stretchy, working on your upper body strength.
So in short, ‘Yoga’ is a very open word used as an umbrella for all the different types of Yoga, whereas Pilates is a practice that is named after Joseph Pilates himself, who created a system for strength, flexibility, concentration, balance, control and alignment all in one glorious package!
NF: ‘But you do them both on a mat don’t you?’
You will see in the definitions above that it is thought that original Yoga dates back as far 3000 BCE, whereas Joseph Pilates was born in 1880. It is because of this that Joseph Pilates was able to study Yoga and why there are similarities in the movement shapes that are made when practicing both. They are however, executed very differently, quite often with Pilates searching for more stability and strength, whereas Yoga more stretch.
Joseph Pilates was a sickly child with rickets, and other auto-immune problems and gathered a whole wealth of knowledge and training throughout his life because of this. He then went on to create his own method (The Art of Contrology) and went on to invent the magic circle and then all the larger pieces of equipment using springs for resistance to help with non-weight bearing movement for strength and rehabilitation.
As far as I know, Yoga is practiced just with small pieces of apparatus (straps, blocks, bolsters, blankets, Myofascial release balls to name a few), but the practice is consistently taken on a mat with either few or no pieces of apparatus to enhance the lesson planned out.
I think it’s safe to say that Pilates is less spiritual than Yoga, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t help your headspace and mindset any less. Along with the movement and breath working in conjunction, Pilates is a truly powerful mental tool, it just works in a less spiritual way.
Speaking of breath, they also work a little differently. Pilates breathing tends to be in through the nose and out through the mouth, whereas within the yoga practice you are encouraged to breath in and out through the nose, creating a channel of breath through the body that moves and warms you up throughout your practice.
I absolutely love both practices for very different reasons. What I get out of Pilates is very different to what I get out of Yoga and I love delving into both of them depending on how I’m feeling in my body and mind at the time. I would urge you to try them both yourself, as how we all enjoy and respond to different situations, teachers, and practices is always going to be different to the person sat next to you!
If you have any further questions, please get in touch and if you enjoyed this journal post, feel free to share the love!