Patch Blog: Combine the Benefits of Pilates and Tai Chi

Taijiquan:  T'au chi chu-an, literally "Supreme Ultimate Fist", (often shortened to Tai Chi) is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and its health benefits. It is also typically practiced for a variety of other personal reasons: it's hard and soft martial art technique and contribution to flexibility, stamina and longevity.  Like Pilates, Tai Chi generally stresses the balance and coordination of bodily movements.

Tai Chi was originally developed in China as a martial-arts style of self-defense. Over time, it has become a form of exercise and a process for personal development.

Like Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi involves the practice of various postures. Movements are continuous and serve to relax and align the body. A full set of Tai Chi exercises is known as a form.  Tai Xhi relaxes one's mind and heart. In fact, it has been noted that frequent practitioners of this exercise reduce their blood pressure about as much as those practicing more strenuous forms of aerobic exercise.

Pilates: Joseph Pilates formed what he believed to be the perfect exercise regimen, “incorporating the Eastern emphasis on controlled breathing, controlled movements, and highly focused attention, and the more Western use of resistance.”

The Pilates Method is a conditioning program that improves muscle control, flexibility, coordination and strength. The basic principles of Pilates conditioning are to increase awareness of the body as a single integrated unit, to improve alignment and breathing and to increase efficiency of movement. 

The exercises are based on the principle that by developing a strong and flexible torso with a stabilized core (abdominal, back and pelvic muscles) the whole body can be balanced, aligned and conditioned for optimal performance.

Pilates was one of the first to write about mind-body exercising before the modern wellness movement even existed.  This type of exercise promotes body awareness through the performance of precise physical movements that control and balance your own body-weight. 

Joseph Pilates’ writings on the benefits of mind-body exercise can be summed up in one word which he never used:  Wellness.

While other forms of exercise focus on building muscle bulk (e.g. weight-training) or cardiovascular stamina (e.g. aerobics), the Pilates Method stresses the importance of deliberate movement in which both mind and body are fully engaged. 

This is shared in the practice of Tai Chi and, though highly beneficial for every population, both forms of body work are perfectly suited for older individuals.
Benefits from both Pilates and Tai Chi include self-confidence, poise, consciousness of possessing the power to accomplish our desires, with renewed lively interest in life.  These are the natural results of the practice of a mind-body exercise.

Many experts believe that Tai Chi and Pilates are very effective at improving motor control and coordination for walking—when most falls occur.

It's the focus on precise body movements and strengthening the hip and leg joints and the body's core—the abdominal and back muscles—that seems to make Tai Chi and Pilates better suited to lowering the risk of falling. 

A 1996 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that for people 70 and older, tai chi cut the risk of falling nearly in half after only 15 weeks.

Pilates exercises have a huge impact on seniors' confidence, motivation and "dynamic stability, or the balance that results from practicing moving through space in many directions.

What is balance of body and mind? Simply put, it is learning to balance and control your own bodyweight with precision. 

According to Pilates, "It is the conscious control of all muscular movements of the body. It is the correct utilization and application of the leverage principles afforded by the bones comprising the skeletal framework of the body, a complete knowledge of the mechanism of the body, and a full understanding of the principles of equilibrium and gravity as applied to the movements of the body in motion, at rest and in sleep."

In other words, one benefit is "the attainment of perfect balance of mind and body," where neither your mind or your body is more important or developed more than the other. As was advocated by the Ancient Greeks, where "the nearer one's physique approached the state of physical perfection, the nearer one's mind approached the state of mental perfection.”

Older adults or people with physical and systemic issues should consult with their doctors before signing up for a Pilates or Tai Chi class, especially if they have lower back problems or other disabilities.

Please contact InfraStructure Pilates & Tai Chi if you have any questions about our Pilates and Tai Chi Programs

Jose Roth, a Mount Washington resident, is a certified is certified Pilates instructor and owner of Infrastructure Tai Chi & Pilates.

She can be reaches by phone at 323-376-2412 or through e-mail at infrastructurepilates@gmail.com.