Pilates for Mental Health Support
Alright, let’s talk about Pilates and helping your mental health. In fact, today’s day and age, we have a lot going on, and there’s a lot on our minds, and the reality is, is that we need tools in our toolbox that can help us support our mental health and allow us to be more like ourselves. So let’s talk about how Pilates can do that for you.
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Hi. I’m Lesley Logan, co-founder of onlinepilatesclasses.com and I’m really excited to talk with you about how Pilates can help with your mental health. Because for me, that’s what I experienced from the first class I ever did. I went into the class like it would be nothing, like why would I even be doing Pilates, and I left having so much energy and this ability to feel connected to myself and my thoughts on what I wanted. And so I really want that for you, Pilates can help with reducing stress, increasing your focus and boosting your mental clarity. And whether you’ve been doing Pilates a long time or you’re brand new and looking for something to help with you, what I hope from this video is it helps you understand what parts of Pilates are going to help you do those things. So let’s get into it.
The Benefits of Pilates for Mental Health
Alright, so let’s talk about the mental health benefits of Pilates. So how does Pilates actually both help your physical and mental well-being? Well, here’s deal. Obviously, we know from so many studies that when you move your body, it does make you feel better, even going for walk can reduce cortisol. So the act of moving our body is really important for our physical well-being, but also for our mental well-being, right? Now, you might be wondering, How often should I do Pilates for mental health benefits? The answer really depends on your individual needs, but consistently practicing Pilates—whether a few times a week or daily—can significantly support your mental clarity, reduce stress, and boost overall mood. But the other thing that Pilates does that not a lot of other physical modalities can do, is connect your mind to your body. You actually have to think about what’s moving from where, and really understand how you feel in your body when you do it, so you can’t think about the other things that are going on in your life. If you want to get into more about the benefits of Pilates, especially for women and women’s health, check out our video we have over here. It’s really important that you have all the information so you can make the decision if Pilates is right for you.
How Pilates Reduces Anxiety
Alright. So how does Pilates support your mental health? Well, first, Pilates exercises for stress relief and anxiety. You know, here’s the thing, life has a lot going on, and when you feel really anxious, the last thing you think about doing is moving your body. But if you actually were to just hit pause and do Pilates, you’re going to feel a reduction in that stress and anxiety.
Alright, Pilates is also going to help improve your focus and your mental clarity. You’re going to have to actually focus on what’s moving from where, and that’s actually going to mean you can’t think about any of the other things going on in your life while you’re doing your pills practice. Pilates also helps boost your mood and improve your emotional well-being. Here’s what I love that I tell all of our OPC members: when you are doing your Pilates practice, you can actually understand more about how you feel in that day, which is actually going to give you control about how you say yes or no to certain things in your day, what you’re actually signing yourself up for, meaning that you’re not going to over commit yourself if, while you’re doing your Pilates practice, you’re feeling a little tired. So it’s really amazing at doing those two things.
Pilates for a Sharper Mind
So Pilates is amazing at improving your memory and training your brain. Here’s the deal, if you’re doing Pilates, like we do at OPC, we are always saying the name of the exercise and how to do it, so that you can actually start to remember the exercises yourself and to make the practice yourself. And what that does is it actually helps with neuroplasticity, which is something we need to be doing for our brain, so that as we actively age, we are really allowing our brains to continue to stay young and start to learn new things. And that’s going to improve not only your brain and your memory, but also how you feel about yourself.
Improve Sleep and Reduce Anxiety with Pilates
Pilates also helps with your sleep quality by a few different ways. First of all, as we talked about with all the other points, if you’re feeling better, if you’re reducing anxiety, you’re gonna sleep better. But also, if you have less back pain, if you have more mobility in your body, it feels better to lie down. So that’s also going to improve it. Plus, when you work out, it increases different hormone levels in your brain, which actually can help reduce anxiety, reduce stress on your mind, and enjoy the sleep that you want to have. Pilates also incorporates breath that helps you with your mindfulness in your movement. Here is the deal. Joseph Pilates believed, above all else, we must learn how to breathe, especially exhale. You actually don’t have to remember to inhale. Your body’s gonna do it for you, but exhaling is really important. And so each exercise utilizes the breath so that you can not only have more length and strength in the practice, but also so you connect your mind to your body, and you’re not holding your breath creating stress and tension, so you’re actually reducing that anxiety that sometimes we can create just by the way that we breathe. So as you incorporate your breath in Pilates, you’re going to notice that that anxiety reduces just by doing that.
Best Pilates Exercises for Mental Health
Pilates Hundred
So the moment we’ve been waiting for the exercises are going to help improve your mental health. First of all, this is not a exhaustive list. This is just a few for you to get started. The first one is the Hundred. I know not many people’s favorite, but here is the reason why I want you to do the Hundred. The benefits for your mental health are that it incorporates the breath, because you actually are doing 10 cycles of breathing, and it makes you have to focus on what is going on in your body. So you’re pumping these arms vigorously trying to keep your core connected. You can’t think about anything else while you’re doing that, which is a really amazing way to de-stress the mind.
Pilates Roll Up
The next one is going to be the Roll Up. And the thing about the Roll Up that I love so much is that you use this breath, especially at the hardest part. It allows you to see that you’re able to do something quite hard, because the Roll Up is not easy to do, and it stretches your back and your hamstring, something we often need to help reduce any tension in our bodies.
Pilates Rolling Like a Ball Exercise
Rolling like a ball, another amazing exercise, because it’s fun and playful. Sometimes for our mental health, we just need to have a little bit of fun. And so when you roll like a ball, you get to feel very childlike. It also massages your back, while also strengthening your center, your hamstrings and your glutes, if you’re doing it correctly. And so you’re going to feel like you’ve gotten some great massage in your body, but also having a lot of fun reducing that mental stress.
Pilates Double Leg Stretch
Next, I want you to do Double Leg Stretch, one of my favorite exercises. It’s actually one of those essential exercises you can do in your Pilates practice. You’re gonna start in a tight ball, which is really nice. It feels really, really good to start like that and then stretch everything out so you can challenge yourself in expanding who you are. And it really is nice to have you do that for your mental health.
Pilates Swan
Here’s the deal about Swan. Oftentimes, when we’re stressed and anxious, we start to curl up, and Swan is going to make you open up, right? It’s going to help you open up your body and improve your posture, because you’re starting to work your extensors and pull your shoulders on your back. One thing we know about our posture as it affects our mental health. So Swan is going to be essential for that. Which leads us to Double Leg Kick.
Pilates Double Leg Kick
Double Leg Kick is also amazing at helping us open up our shoulders, pull our shoulders on our back and improve our posture. What we know from other videos we’ve done on this channel is that when your posture is amazing, it also improves how you feel in your body. It improves how you receive information. So I want you to do a Double Leg Kick to improve your posture and reduce that stress.
Pilates Thigh Stretch
After Double Leg Kick, I want you to do your Thigh Stretch. Here’s the thing about your Thigh Stretch, it’s actually going to help stretch the front of your thighs. That’s the name of the exercise. And when you stress your hip flexors and you strengthen your glutes, it actually helps the tension that you pull in your lower back, and when you have a lower back, tension that can often affect how you sleep, which can actually help, can actually affect your mental health, well and well-being. So the more we can open up those hip flexors and strengthen the back of our legs, you’re going to feel so much better when you’re sitting, standing, running, jumping.
Pilates Side Kicks
Lastly, I want you to do Side Kicks. Here’s the thing about Pilates. Pilates is one of the few exercise modalities that works for side body, and we strengthen our side body, especially our hips, which is where we hold a lot of tension and stress and emotional stuff, it’s actually going to move all that out of your body while strengthening those so not only do you have a lot more mobility, a lot more strength, and you’ll also have a lot less lower back pain. So those are your exercises I want you to do. And lucky for you, you can do them all on the Mat.
Build Consistency with OPC 4-Week Challenge
And look, if you’re like “Lesley, this was amazing, but I need accountability. I’m not sure I can remember all these on my own”. Not to worry, we have something for you. It is a four-week challenge. It’s how it’s going to help you build your habits, your consistency, and these exercises in your body. All the exercises listed are going to be in these classes, plus several more. So go to OPC Challenge. To sign up for the Mat Workout four-week series.
Prioritize Self-Care with Pilates
Thank you so much. We truly love that you’re here, and we hope that you got something out of this. Please let us know if you have any questions, you can put it in the comments below. We answer those questions, we go live on Sundays at 9am Pacific Time, and if you haven’t yet already subscribed to our YouTube channel, we would love for you to do that so we can make sure you’re always getting new videos from us.
If you’re struggling with your mental health, we do hope that you’re taking care of yourself and you’re thinking about yourself. The thing you need to know about Pilates is that it’s part of your self-care routine. And we believe that self-care is not selfish care. In fact, it’s one of the best things you can do for the people that you love. And when you are taking care of yourself and you’re moving your body, when you’re doing Pilates consistently, it will not only improve your mental health and well-being, it will improve your strength, your posture and how you feel about yourself and in your body. Pilates for mental health can truly make a difference. So enjoy your Pilates practice. We hope you do it with us on our YouTube channel or at OPC. You can always check us out at OPC YouTube, have an amazing day.
