Welcome to the February edition of Pilates Central News.
In this edition:
- Pilates and wellness
- Moor Pilates
- Like a prayer
- Roll with it
Pilates and wellness
Wellness is perhaps an overused term, but simply through concentrating on your breathing Pilates can help generate a sense of wellbeing as you forget about the worries of work and daily life. Joseph Pilates wrote in his book Return To Life Through Contrology, “above all learn how to breathe correctly.” Many people take breathing for granted. But as we take roughly 20,000 plus breaths a day it’s certainly something worth concentrating on. For Joseph Pilates, who as a child had asthma, breathing would have been particularly important.
Pilates breathing can seem complicated at first but basically involves inhaling through the nose and drawing your breath in to expand your ribcage and engage your abdominal muscles. The idea is that the lungs have as much room to expand as possible. You exhale through the mouth with pursed lips, to slow your exhalation. You will focus on taking in and exhaling as much air as possible. Deep controlled breathing can generate a sense of mindfulness and reduce stress. It will help strengthen the spine and activate your core muscles.
With Pilates you might find yourself thinking about your posture as you sit at your desk or on a tube train, helping to get yourself out of both a bodily and mental slump. It will help to improve your balance and posture, correct any body alignment problems and boost strength and flexibility. All these factors will help the user feel a sense of wellness and confidence through making controlled movements.
Pilates moves go slowly with both the lifting and lowering phase of each exercise that in itself can generate a sense of calmness compared to more high-intensity exercises. It is about control not speed. Joseph Pilates said that his exercises were, “a complete combination of body, mind and spirit.” Pilates users can receive a mental boost through focusing on the body and the moment, concentrating on which muscles are moving and where.
Our bodies will of course change as we get older but the great advantage of Pilates is that you can keep doing it throughout your life. It can improve bone density and strengthen core muscles, thus preventing back and neck problems. The Reformer can be adjusted to work around any injuries and it can be modified around the user. Pilates is low impact and resistance can be adjusted.
Studios can provide specialist equipment such as the Reformer, Cadillac and Wunda chair, and help from empathetic and expert teachers. Friendships and companionship with other users will also help with mental wellbeing. You can also continue your studio work at home with mat Pilates. Breathing exercises, stretching exercises and posture awareness can take the lessons of the studio and apply them at home or just when walking in the street.
Joseph Pilates said that, “physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.” Ultimately Pilates is about more than just an exercise class. It can hopefully create both a healthy and balanced body with a calm and stress-free mind.
Moor Pilates
Pilates is perhaps best not performed in a “naked dress” like the one Margot Robbie wore to the premiere of Wuthering Heights. Hello! described her dress as having a “corseted bodice crafted from sheer fabric and asymmetrical rope-like embroidery.” But the reason Robbie, 35, can look so good after having a baby and running across the wild and misty moors is of course a combination of Pilates and strength training.
Hello! reveals: “When it comes to her Reformer Pilates routine, Margot does these exercises – wheelbarrows, plank holds, plank to pike, glute kickbacks, and leg circles. Margot prioritises these strength and stability exercises as opposed to hard-core cardio workouts.”
Robbie is no stranger to Pilates. When filming her 2023 hit Barbie, her personal trainer David Higgins had the whole cast, including Margot, Ryan Gosling and Ncuti Gatwa, exercising on Reformer machines. Higgins said that typically the Barbies did four days of Pilates, including core activation, glute exercises and lunges, and two of strength and conditioning work per week.
Robbie has previously told the Daily Telegraph: “If I’m making a conscious effort to exercise, I work with a Pilates trainer on a Reformer machine, and that suits me and my body best.” Trainer David Higgins says of his Margot routine: “I would always listen to how she feels in her body. If she was up for lifting heavy, we’d do more strength training. If she wanted to focus on Reformer, we would.”
According to Women’s Health, “She does reformer Pilates to shake things up,” and it seems to have worked judging by the column inches devoted to Margot’s myriad press tour outfits. These included a snake print corseted gown at the photo call and a blood red Chanel gown worn in Paris. Perhaps not quite the right gear for Haworth Moor but an impressive result for Pilates.
Like a prayer
“Pilates after prayers”, was the Guardian headline after a video of older men doing Pilates at the Jamia Usmania mosque in Bradford went viral on TikTok, gaining two million views. The Guardian revealed how instructor Zafar Kayani keeps the sessions light-hearted and jovial, punctuating the 45-minute period with witty comments and humour, telling them they are “men of steel”.
The mosque’s general secretary Mohammed Ilyas told the paper: “We never expected it to go that viral. It was just a general upload to promote and get more members in. It started from Bradford and if it goes worldwide, we believe it’s a positive thing and we’re making a change.”
The oldest member of the class is 89 and the Bradford mosque has been getting requests from other mosques as far afield as Malaysia and Canada on how to set up Pilates classes, while separate classes for women and young people are on the way.
Typical of the contented Bradford men is Mohammed Salim, a 66-year-old retired shopkeeper who says on the video: “Before I used to feel ache everywhere, all over my body but when I started walking and doing exercise, it’s much better. Recently I had the pacemaker fitted, but I don’t feel anything because I do the activity.”
Pilates even proved a good exercise for radio on Radio 4’s Sunday as instructor Zafar Kayani talked presenter William Crawley through some exercises, causing much laughter, huffing and puffing on air as Crawley exclaimed, “you have never seen my belly!”
Mohammed Ilyas told Crawley: “Some of the members struggle as they have got weak knees or lower back pain so this helps all those people sitting on chairs that can’t fulfil the full movements of the prayer. This helps them to enjoy their prayer more, the best part is bowing down and touching their forehead to the floor.”
Ilyas also told of the links between religion and health: “Islam teaches that the body is a trust from God and therefore maintaining physical and mental health is a form of worship and gratitude to God.”
Roll with it
In astonishing news Greggs opened up a pop-up Pilates studio in Greek Street, Soho. Sadly it only lasted two days from Feb 13-14th as it was a PR stunt to promote Greggs’ new Iced Matcha latte drink. Greggs fans enjoyed a themed session on a Pilates mat emblazoned with, “I’m just here for the Matcha”. After their mat work users were given a free Matcha followed by a Greggs sausage roll or vegan sausage roll for the truly mindful.
Guests in the green-themed studio also received limited-edition merchandise, including a Greggs Pilates mat, a “Matcha and move” tote bag, sweat towel, Pilates socks and a cap. Plus an embroidery station to have exclusive tote bags monogrammed with their initials.
“Try a taste of our new Matcha with a side of Pilates and pastry,” reads the Greggs website. We’re not quite sure Joseph Pilates would have approved of all Greggs wellness offerings, though we assume the class was good for those wanting to strengthen their bakes and work on their tuna crunch rolls. The Greggs fruit pot containing apple was presumably recommended for those wanting to work on their core.
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The Pilates Central Team
