Common Pilates myth debunked: You should not practice Pilates alone

I have recently noticed this strange new point of view where instructors are telling clients that they should not practice Pilates alone in case they do it wrong and injure themselves.

Wow, I thought let me rather write an article about this in hopes that someone might come across it when they need it most.

With any exercise or activity you do there is always the risk of injury. Whether it is picking up a newspaper or doing a specific exercise. It is not to say that just because someone is watching and correcting you, it cannot happen. Why do people get injured? Injuries can be due to a specific traumatic event, for example: an athlete could trip over something on the running track and that causes him to twist his ankle. But a lot of injuries are also classified as over use injuries - meaning you used the joint a lot and it needs to rest. There used to be a consensus that poor posture and form causes injuries, but if I look at the latest talk in the physio and evidence based exercise world - that also does not seem to be the compelling cause of injuries. In fact, it is starting to sound like we understand good posture less and less. What I have learned from the world of fascia is that the body is a whole unit and each part has an effect on the other. Tightness, tensions and rigidity can often be blamed for injuries - the parts of the body that we habitually don't move or don't move enough can effect other parts and cause a variety of problems. (interesting how more movement is again the answer here)

What does play an undeniable role is your mindset and neurological experience. Do you feel safe doing the movement and whether you experience the movement as overall positive. With this in mind, I always try and encourage clients to get more comfortable and confident moving their bodies in many different ways. As opposed to building fear and restriction when it comes to movement corrections. I especially don't want them to worry about moving without me or outside the studio at any point. I want confidence and ability to grow inside and outside the studio.

What we do know is that having good co-ordination and introspection is very valuable towards having a healthy body and healthy mind. And what improves both? Movement. Not movement with x, y or z. Just movement. But I must mention that working with a movement coach really helps people that feel they don't have a natural ability towards co-ordination and movement. For a lot of people it feels that way, but we all do have the ability. It is just very underdeveloped in some situations. Usually where there has not been opportunity to develop these skills either due to factors like a lack of education on the topic, disease, lifestyle or accessibility.

We also know that people who are physically active in any way, whether it is running, swimming, horse riding or Pilates, have better longevity and quality of life than sedentary individuals. Again, the focus is movement. Any type of movement! In fact, the key to postural agility is multi-directional movement. Meaning moving in different ways. We can adopt this as a training principle and try to do different activities to stay active like walking/swimming/racket sports/etc.

Lastly I believe Joseph Pilates himself encouraged clients to do their exercise at home too so that they can practice Contrology 3 or 4 times a week. Self practice has been a part of the Pilates system since the very beginning! And if Pilates is your preferred way to move, then do it often, in many different ways and with who ever you want. The only bad workout is the one you did not do. Even when it might feel like you are worse of after the fact, there is always room for improvement with practice. The body and the mind is constantly adapting, but you have to give it the input it needs to be able to adapt.

I hope this article gives you a bit of food for thought and makes you more relaxed and positive towards self practice. It is important for me that you realise that your lived experience in your body is valuable and that you can trust yourself with your own body. Very often you will instinctively know how to move to feel better. Because you know your body. The idea is that you can then learn more movements and strategies form your movement coach to be able to do even more effective workouts on your own.