How can Pilates reduce stress?

Pilates – Stress Relief

Stress.  Everyone has it.  But your stress is most important.  Yoga, meditation, exercise, running, massage, holidays, shopping, a pint, there are so many suggestions out there as to how to relieve stress.  It’s stressful just trying to keep track of all the stress-free activities.  For some the act of relaxing is itself a challenge because, we rarely get a chance to do it let alone learn how to do it.

The benefits of Pilates are plentiful but the stress relief benefits are not always highlighted. The purposeful breathing in through your nose and out through pursed lips helps oxygenate the blood, filling the lungs with oxygen when inhaling and upon exhaling all the “bad” air and waste is expelled.  This in itself will help calm and relax the body.

So many of us want to fit into our clothes better or look better in our clothes.  This constant desire to want to “fit” and “look” better is a low form of stress.  Many of the benefits of Pilates will help you “fit” and “look” better.  For example, Pilates will help tone and lengthen muscles. This will help give a tighter and lean appearance over time.    Pilates can target smaller muscles and many of the exercises involve multiple muscle groups working both isotonicly and isometricly resulting in improved stability of the joints.  In the hands of a competent Pilates instructor you can slowly improve your posture and in time how you carry yourself.  All these things will slowly help you “fit” and “look” better thus helping you relieve whatever stress you have due to this. 

Sometimes a change of scenery helps relieve stress.  Pilates is a great way to change your scenery. Lying on a reformer, rolling back and forth on the rails, listening to the sound of the rollers in the track can have a calming effect on many.  Even lying on a mat breathing deeply and purposefully while doing something as simple as arm circles can be calming. 

Sitting back, relaxing and shooting the breeze, sharing one another’s trials and tribulations of the day on a patio is a great stress relief. 

There are tons of exercises out there including many Pilates exercises that can help with stress relief.  Having a clear idea what is causing your stress, will help more than all the yoga and Reiki sessions out there.

I will leave you with a simple exercise to help calm things down.  It’s as simple as breathing. 

Breath in through your nose, maximizing your lung capacity by expanding your ribcage out to the back and sides of your body; on the exhale, exhale through pursed lips, purposefully, expelling all the air in your lungs and tightening up your abdominals as if you were stretching saran wrap over a bowl.  Repeat this throughout.   When you’re comfortable with this technique of breathing, add large arm circles.  Inhale for half the circle; exhale for the latter half.  Do 5 or 7 circles in one direction then change directions.   Make every breath and movement purposeful and relax!