While both Pilates and yoga are absolutely complementary, there are some major differences between these two types of exercise. We could talk about this for hours, but sometimes a simple comparison works wonders.
| Philosophy | |
| Yoga is very much about the mind healing the body through practice, meditation and devotion to yoga. | Suna Pilates is about the body healing the body through functional exercise and correct posture to create a ‘powerhouse body’. |
| Working those muscles | |
| Yoga is about the stretch, in particular deep stretching of the muscles. | Suna Pilates is about lengthening and strengthening for strong lean muscles. |
| Focus | |
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A lot yoga classes focus on the spiritual aspects of finding yourself, or finding peace through yoga – or simply on feeling calm. |
Suna builds functional fitness with a postural focus to ensure you get results. We aim to tone and strengthen your body in all the right places to ensure you have a happy, healthy body to live in; as well as teaching mind-body connection and mindfulness! |
| Posture | |
| Yoga focuses on holding postures – and less on whether the pose is correct or not. | Suna Pilates teaches postural focus – because only doing exercises correctly gets exceptional results. |
| Sweat? | |
| Nope. | Oh hell yes! |
| Fitness results | |
| Gentle toning and increased flexibility. |
Spring based reformer equipment means you get tangible fitness results really quickly and there are always different exercises being introduced to keep workouts fresh, interesting and fun – and to work your body differently! The key thing about equipment based pilates is that it enables so many more muscle-specific exercises - and the increased resistance speeds up results. |
| Mindfulness | |
| While many find yoga very calming, the length and (often) ease of poses means your mind is still free to race while you are exercising. | The extreme focus required for correct posture and the guidance on your posture mean that your brain is forced to focus on your body and be in the moment. No room for busy minds to run off and worry – they need to be completely present in the moment. |
| Class size | |
|
Yoga classes are normally large, with one teacher who does not individually correct poses. Yoga classes tend to be big with a ‘one size fits all’ tone. |
Suna classes are small and every client is fully supervised and directed by the instructor. You can expect that your instructor will correct your posture continually to ensure that you are doing the exercises correctly, and will know if you have special goals or injuries to work with. You can expect to get personal attention in every class. |
| Time commitment | |
| Most yoga classes take a minimum of 1.5 hours. | Suna classes are just 30 or 45 minutes long, as they are designed to deliver effective, mindful exercise for busy people who want results. |
| The afterglow | |
| Yoga leaves you feeling calm. | Suna leaves you feeling energised and physically refreshed with a clear mind. |
Still curious about why Pilates will work for you? Come and try it – no strings attached!