Yoga vs. Pilates

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Maybe you've already read this, or maybe you haven't, but the yoga industry is in an uproar because of a New York Times Magazine article - an excerpt of a forthcoming book - that warns yoga can be bad for you under certain conditions (be sure to read the part about Bikram). Actually, it warns that some people are actually hurt more than helped by the practice and explains in detail why.

A lot of runners and triathletes incorporate yoga into their training as a way to stay flexible and reverse some of the muscle and tendon tightening that running and cycling promote (especially if you are bad about post-run stretching). Pilates, which incorporates a lot of yoga into a mat session, is a different animal.

  • Pilates' focus is on strengthening your core; yoga's more about strengthening your soul.

  • Most Pilates sessions start with instructions; yoga begins with intentions.

  • You incorporate medicine balls, BOSU balls, these funky wheels and other equipment into Pilates to make it fun; yoga typically involves optional blocks and stretch-deepening bands to make it work.

  • In yoga, you hold still; in Pilates, you hold count.

  • In both, the strength comes from within. But in yoga, it permeates more than your abs, glutes and lats.


    • Yoga is not a competition, and yet I think we've all been in a class where someone treats it that way. And it's these Type A's that I'm pretty sure are among the injured. As an instructor says in the article, "It’s ego. ...The whole point of yoga is to get rid of ego.”

    Article: How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body

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