April 23rd, 2011 
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Yoga and Pilates share a lot of the same benefits: slimming, flexibility, balance, strength building, so which is best? Well, it’s a personal preference really, so here is a menu of reasons why each are masters in their own respects.
Yoga Pilates
| A holistic spiritual discipline rooted in Eastern forms of meditation. | Focused on physical conditioning and stemmed from rehabilitation |
| Originated around or before 600 BC | Developed by Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century |
| Connects mind, body and spirit | Centers around mind and body |
| Yoga uses only the body’s strength to tone muscles | The Pilates reformer machine uses resistance and targets muscles |
| There are thousands of variations so each class is unique | It’s a structured practice so you know what to expect each class |
| Focus is distributed evenly on all body parts | The focus always returns to the core |
| Breathing is very deep and channeled through the nose | Breathing pattern flows in through the nose and out through the mouth |
| Includes meditation and chanting to seal the appreciation of the practice and its benefits | Small targeted movements allows the body to work “smart” not hard with control and precision |
| If you are looking for a spiritual and stress-relieving workout, yoga might be for you | If you are looking for a focus on core and back strength, Pilates might be for you |
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Nice lil article. I like the comparison and may use it for a quick client “hey..what the primary difference description”.
I’m obviously on the Pilates side as a Pilates instructor, but I’ve done Yoga for ~20yrs and really enjoy the differences & benefits that BOTH practices offer. And I will eventually do some specific Yoga training, probably AcroYoga.
I will also mention that the Pilates comments only reference the reformer for Pilates, and that “Yoga uses only the body’s strength to tone muscles”.. Actually.. so does the original Pilates Classical Matwork methodology.. It was created as that/original matwork exercise before the equipment, and many people benefit from doing mat classes first (or only if that is what they have access to, or can afford), or even matwork privates to gain experience before pursuing equipment training.