What Is The Difference Between Yoga And Pilates?
Yoga is a transformative art, and deceptively simple. At least,
although the advanced yoga postures are in fact difficult to the
unpracticed, and look it, the changes that yoga can bring into
one's life belie the apparent simplicity of stretching muscles.
After all, we stretch muscles at the gym during a warm up. So
what is the basic difference between yoga and regular workouts,
including pilates. Pilates, after all, took some of its
inspiration from yoga. Or at least the aspect of yoga that is
made of the physical exercises, the asanas.
Yoga integrates the breath and consciousness with physical
stretches in a way that I haven't even felt in pilates, although
pilates is great as a way of strengthening the internal muscles
of the body as well, particularly the pelvic floor.
But in yoga, through the breath, and focusing on it within our
body, we come to a greater understanding of both our body and
ourselves. We begin a more conscious relationship with our
individuality. We meet that unique expression of ourselves
expressing physically in that moment. And we are able to begin a
process of changing that which is blocking the vital flow of our
energy.
That is why it doesn't matter what state we are in when we begin
practising a yoga posture. We might be more or less stiff, or in
pain, or distracted, than usual. It is a journey of discovery,
not of trying to fit ourselves into an external idea, even if
that idea is represented in that moment by the yoga posture we
are trying to do. Desikachar writes that the body can "only
gradually accept an asana". We should not strain ourselves, or
judge ourselves, if we cannot fit into that posture. That
posture is a possible outcome, yes, but what we do in our
practice of yoga is to take the journey.
Desikachar makes another important point: "We should remain
flexible so that we are still able to react to changes in our
expectations and old ideas. The more distanced we are from the
fruits of our labors, the better we are able to do this...
Paying more attention to the spirit in which we act and looking
less to the results our actions may bring us - this is the
meaning of isvarapranidhana in kriya yoga"
The asanas are a way of preparing ourselves to more fully meet
the challenges of life in a way that does not throw us off
balance, and increases our capacity to adapt to those changes
that are inherent in life. They allow us to be more sensitive
and aware to what is really going on inside us, and in life
itself. This growing self knowledge then provides us with a more
complete picture in which our responses to whatever situations
confront us more accurately reflects what is truly present.
There is a deeper engagement that goes beyond the vagrancies of
the mind, the self doubt, the domination of our preconceptions
and expectations, or our need for something to be a certain way.
When we are distracted or preoccupied with doubts, worries, and
fears, and even hope that is attached to an outcome (need), the
vital energy of our whole being is leaking, diffused. Through
yoga practice, we are able to clear the detritus, to redirect
our diffused energy within, to sit within the body, our being,
again. This is an energetic aspect of self-mastery. Integral to
this is the knowledge of oneself as whole, and simultaneously a
part of the wholeness that is within everything.
References: Desikachar, Heart If Yoga