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<td width="343" valign="bottom"><p class="date"><a href="default.html">4/19/04 • Vol.
128, No. 33</a></p></td>
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<td align="left" valign="top"><p><a href="yoga.jsp">Meditation Mayhem</a></p>
<p><a href="DeadDaysBar4.jpg">DEAD DAYS</a></p></td>
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<h1><font size="5">Meditation Mayhem</font></h1>
<p class="subhead">In the battle for inner peace and relaxation, how does
a person decide between yoga and pilates?</p>
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<td><p><a href="yogaandpilates.jpg"><img src="yogaandpilates.jpg" alt="" name="Photo" width="198" height="160" border="1" style=""></a></p>
<p align="justify">Participants stretch and relax during a class
in Yogilates at The Marsh: A Center for Balance and Fitness in
Minnetonka, Minnesota. </p>
<p class="byline">-Photo courtesy of KRT Campus</p>
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</table> <p class="byline">By Julie Deardorff, KRT Campus</p> <p>Both pilates and
yoga can improve strength, flexibility and posture, as well as relieve
stress. Both are considered mind-body practices. And both use the breath
as a tool to delve into hard-to-reach places. </p>
<p> But while yoga was originally a spiritual, meditative practice based
on the Eastern concept of moving energy through the body, pilates has always
been about physical conditioning and “functional fitness.” </p>
<p> Correctly engaging and working the core muscles of the body, which reach
from the lower rib cage to the pelvic floor, is the foundation of pilates.</p>
<p> The main difference between the two is philosophical: Yoga generally
adds “spirit” to
the mind-body connection. </p>
<p> The best way to figure out which is right for you is to try both, sampling
several different teachers. </p>
<p> A yoga class can be a rigorous, flowing cardiovascular workout, or it
may involve static poses, chants or readings or meditations that encourage
the students to be kind to all creatures and live a balanced life. </p>
<p> Pilates mat classes focus on biomechanics and teach students to move
in ways that strengthen the body’s core muscles, called the powerhouse,
and the surrounding stabilizing muscles that are often ignored.</p>
<p> For the extremely flexible, pilates can be beneficial, because it teaches
you to stabilize the joints, whereas yoga might push you deeper into
the joints, said Chicago’s Abby Factor, 31, who teaches both yoga and
pilates.</p>
<p> “
But if you’re in a bad place mentally, you might find more comfort
in yoga and focus on mediation and breathing,” Factor said.</p>
<p> Factor, who also is a cyclist, had been teaching yoga for several years
but was having back problems. After trying pilates, she found she felt
stronger and her lower back pain disappeared. Her yoga classes now incorporate
a good deal of core-strengthening work. </p> <p> “
The core is where we have a weakness and where your power is,” said
Factor, who teaches at health clubs and Moksha Yoga Center. “It’s
where everything originates, energetically and physically.”</p>
<p> Cindy Reid, owner of Flow Inc. in Chicago, who also teaches both, said
that pilates has more emphasis on stability and biomechanics, while
yoga stresses bringing the mind to a place of emptiness and bringing a
stretch
to a full range of motion. </p>
<p> “
In pilates, you only achieve a full range after you achieve stability,” she
said. “For someone with loose or unstable joints, I’d recommend
pilates. For someone who is so tight they don’t experience any movement,
it would be nice to start with gentle yoga.”</p>
<p> Athletes with tight hamstrings and overdeveloped quads can benefit from
either practice. But it doesn’t have to be an either-or decision. </p>
<p> “
I need both. Pilates helped strengthen my back, core and abdomen, but I
enjoy yoga for the mental clarity and deeper, lifelong connection,” Factor
said.</p></td>
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