Pilates… What did you say? Pie & Latte?!

Although only done within the radius of my living room, Pilates is a true breath of fresh air, writes Agata Helka, Chartered Physiotherapist at the arena clinic in the Mardyke Arena UCC.

We all treasure our own and our families’ mental and physical wellbeing and recently it has become more challenging.

I discovered Pilates 15 years ago, when my younger sister learned about it on YouTube and claimed the kitchen floor of my family house in Poland as her personal studio.

Dating back to 1923 and developed by Joseph Pilates, it was designed to promote body and mind balance. It has come a long way since, and is now a way of life and a benefit to many who crave that balance.

A well-structured Pilates exercise program enhances movement control and coordination, improves core strength and overall body strength, improves balance, and teaches us to align our breathing with movement.

In a session, the exercises require control of simultaneously moving, engaging core muscles, and breathing, while your mind travels to a place where it is lost in the complete awareness of the motion of your own body. That is why I love to think of Pilates as “mindfulness in motion”.

In the past 20 years, Pilates also became a big part of physiotherapy practice. It is used to treat a variety of injuries and as a part of post-surgical exercise programs, as well as becoming the foundation for endurance sports such as running, cycling, swimming, and rowing. It is a lifesaver for busy parents and also appreciated in pre and postnatal exercise programs.

If you are… recovering from an injury or surgery, spending long hours working at home in static positions, gardening regularly and want to maintain or improve your strength, expecting a baby and want to maintain your strength through pregnancy and recover well after, running, cycling, swimming, or doing any other endurance sport and you want to enhance your performance, Pilates is for you!

Motivation is a push. Inspiration is a pull. Let yourself be taken on a journey of discovering balance in your life, in the comfort of your own home. Let yourself take that step and we will come out of our houses stronger than we have ever been. Let yourself take this moment and find an escape, that will be just as great and delightful as that piece of pie.