How to deepen your practice using the Pilates principles.

The principles are the foundation of the practice.

The wonderful thing about Pilates is that you never perfect the practice. As with life, there is always a new challenge or opportunity to improve. I’ve been introducing the Pilates principles at the start of my classes to help you develop body awareness, good form and a broader understanding of the practice.

Keep the principles in mind as you move forward. It will help you build the strength, flexibility and connections needed to do the exercises more precisely. Don’t be scared to play around a bit to find more length, more stability or a deeper connection. For instance, changing your breath, the way you initiate movement or your focus can change how you experience a movement or your entire practice.

The 9 Pilates Principles

1/ Breath

Use your breath to increase your focus and improve oxygen levels and lung capacity. 

2/ Concentration

Sharpen you focus to improve your form and increase precision of movement.

3/ Control

Modify experiences or reduce the number of repetitions to maintain your form, alignment and level of effort during the whole movement.

4/ Centering

Practice regularly to develop a strong, stable and flexible core to move with greater ease.

5/ Precision

Perform exercises with optimum form and right level of effort. Forget about mantras like “no pain. no gain”. Develop unconscious competence with time and practice.

6/ Balanced Muscle Development

Practice all exercises, even the ones you don’t like, for uniform development of all muscles.

7/ Rhythm and Flow

Practice smooth, graceful and functional movements to lengthen and strengthen your entire body.

8/ Whole Body Movement

Integrate mind, body and spirit to create balance in your body and life.

9/ Relaxation

Find the right balance between effort and relaxation in every movement.

“Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. Our interpretation of physical fitness is the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind fully capable of naturally, easily and satisfactorily performing our many and varied daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure. To achieve the highest accomplishments within the scope of our capabilities in all walks of life, we must constantly strive to acquire strong, healthy bodies and develop our minds to the limit of our ability.”

~Joseph Hubertus Pilates