What is Pilates?

What exactly is Pilates, and why do so many people swear by it?

This blog is for the man on the boat last week while I was snorkelling. The waves were lurching the boat back and forth, and while I was doing all I could not to heave my breakfast onto my lap, a kind gentleman asked me:

“So tell me, what is Pilates?”

Sadly, I couldn’t answer. My response was, “I’ll have to get back to you when I’m on dry land.” So Kevin, this blog is for you. I hope it helps.

Nowadays the word Pilates is everywhere. I remember when I first started teaching the method in school halls and village halls in Leeds in the early 2000s, no one could even pronounce it.

“What’s ‘Pie-lats’?” and “Is it like yoga?” were the top questions.

Today there’s a studio in almost every town, with Reformer Pilates becoming the next big trend. So in this blog I’m going to do my best to give a succinct view of what it is and why it has been valuable to my students over the last 20 years. And trust me, it’s remarkably valuable for all bodies, not just women looking for beach bodies or help during pregnancy (although it can do that too).

I’ll also speak a little about why I added the Feldenkrais Method to my teaching tools, and how that fills a missing link for me in this otherwise transformational movement method.

From a distance, the Pilates Method can look like some very abstract bodily arrangements, with different breathing patterns, beating of arms, and lots of rolling back and forth. Some of the shapes look a bit like yoga, some like gymnastics, others like athletics. In the classical form, Joseph Pilates curated the movements to be performed in a very particular sequence, with each exercise given a particular name, such as The Swan, The Monkey, The Elephant, and The Side Kick.

For me, the method is a beautifully curated series of movement patterns in all directions of movement, in varying orientations, encouraging power with length.

Pilates can be done on a mat with zero equipment or with machines. The movement patterns are the same, but the machines offer a range of support, challenge, and resistance to enhance our learning or challenge our skill.

Pilates is a method which asks for regular practice in order to develop movement learning and skill. Even after nearly twenty years, I’m still learning the many ways to meet the exercises, with so many amazing teachers offering unique and creative insights.

What is a movement pattern?

Brushing your teeth is a movement pattern. Shaving the back of your leg is a movement pattern. Walking, flying a kite — we carry out patterns of movement all the time.

These movements ask us to arrange ourselves in different directions: bending forwards, arching backwards, turning around ourselves, and bending sideways. Everything we do is a combination of being arched or rounded, twisted, and bent sideways in various parts of our spine.

As the spine makes up our most central column, it is from this central place that all movement patterns are asked to happen.

Joseph famously said:

“You are only as young as your spine is flexible.”

He continued:

“If your spine is inflexibly stiff at 30, you are old; if it is completely flexible at 60, you are young.”

The Pilates Method asks us not only to explore how we meet all directions of movement through our spine, but also how to develop the control and endurance to maintain it.

When people begin Pilates, they often discover that familiar movements suddenly feel different. Bending down to pick something up from the floor, reaching into the back seat of the car, or turning to look behind you while reversing can all become smoother and easier. These everyday actions involve the same fundamental movement patterns we explore in Pilates: bending, arching, twisting, and side bending through the spine. By practising these patterns in a controlled and thoughtful way, the body becomes more organised and efficient. Over time, what we practise in the studio begins to appear naturally in daily life — often without us even noticing.

What do I mean by power with length?

For me, understanding how the central column of ourselves functions is key to the method.

In order for the spine to articulate in all the numerous directions — sometimes more than one at the same time — it needs length to get there. When we lengthen the central column, the muscles around it become like a corset: supporting, activating, and creating this amazing spring-loaded, super-strong elastic column which can do incredible things. Just look at gymnasts, dancers, and athletes — our capabilities are far beyond our imagining.

In Pilates, I prefer the word power instead of strength, as the word strength often relates more to effort and compression. Power, on the other hand, is developed through coordination and organisation of the whole body. Rather than compressing the spine or forcing movement, we aim to create space and length so that movement can travel through the body more freely. The result is a kind of strength that feels lighter, more elastic, and often surprisingly effortless.

The Eight Principles of Pilates

In his book Return to Life Through Contrology (1945) — yes, Joseph originally called the method Contrology — Joseph describes eight guiding principles of the method. I believe it is through these principles that Pilates becomes so unique among other movement modalities.

Breathing
One of the most habitual things we do, and essential to life. The breathing structures directly connect to some of the biggest movers in the body. Change your breathing and you change your movement — and vice versa.

Concentration
Your nervous system is key to making change in movement. If you don’t know where you are, how do you get to where you are going? Awareness, coordination, and of course, staying safe.

Control
Choice, resilience, changing directions, managing the unexpected.

Centering
Managing the outer limbs from the central column is paramount to the method. I often say to my clients, “We are a spine with bits attached.” Once we can feel movement from the centre outward, power, control, and coordination become much simpler.

Precision
Doing less, with great form.

Flow
Smooth and rhythmic, guided by the breath, without stops and starts. It’s like moving without full stops.

Alignment
Posture in movement — Moshe Feldenkrais uses the term “Acture”: posture in action. When we understand movement patterns and the skeletal arrangements for each pattern for optimal balance and coordination, we access much more efficient power.

Stamina / Endurance
Sustaining controlled movement over time. As the repertoire advances, it’s not the strength or amount of repetition that increases, but the level of complexity in different movement patterns — fewer repetitions, but a wider repertoire demanding sustained control.

So how and why does Feldenkrais become valuable as part of this work?

In 2023 I decided to train in something called the Feldenkrais Method, which is even less well known than Pilates. The Feldenkrais Method filled a huge gap for me in helping my students, in several ways.

Not only does the method go into even more detail about the specifics of movement patterns, the nervous system, and neuroplasticity, but it also opens a whole world of mindfulness, awareness, and understanding how we learn. For some of my clients this is invaluable, particularly those who have had serious neurological challenges or moderate to severe movement and learning impediments.

So what is Pilates?

Kevin, my simplest answer today would be that Pilates is a method for learning how to move your body with greater power, organisation, efficiency, and awareness.

Ultimately, both Pilates and the Feldenkrais Method invite us to become more curious about how we move and how we organise ourselves in everyday life. For me, Pilates provides a beautifully structured repertoire for developing power, coordination, and stamina. Feldenkrais adds another layer of awareness and exploration that helps people discover easier and more efficient ways to move.

Together they create a powerful combination for finding mindful solutions to life’s movement problems — helping us do more of what we love for as long as we can.

Pilates has been a companion in my work for nearly twenty years, and I’m still discovering new layers to it. Perhaps that is the real beauty of the method — it isn’t something you simply master and finish. It is something you continue to explore.

It is my practice.