Movement helps the mind.
Pilates, Yoga, walking, running, swimming, dancing, weight training, gardening — regular movement of almost any kind can support our mental health, largely through the same gentle mechanisms: better sleep, released tension, a break from the loop our thoughts get stuck in.
We know this from research, but we know it more from experience. I came to Classical Pilates during a genuinely difficult period with depression, and found in it a way back into my own body. It became one part of what helped me through that time. To this day, when I feel anxious, it’s conscious, flowing movement guided by breath that I keep coming back to.
Contrology itself was born out of hard conditions, too. Joseph Pilates developed the foundations of his method while interned in a World War I camp on the Isle of Man. He had the men in his block exercise daily to protect their spirits along with their bodies. For those too weak or injured to leave their beds, the story passed down through Pilates tradition is that he adapted springs into the hospitals bed, so even bedridden men could still move. That small, improvised act of care became the basis for the equipment we still train on today.
There’s something lovely, we think, in knowing the method was built on the idea that movement is a form of looking after people, not just their muscles.
The research broadly backs up what we see so often in the room: regular movement can support mental well being, and Pilates brings many of the same things that make movement helpful: concentration, breathing, body awareness, and the endorphins that come with movement.
When it comes to mental health, neither format (group or private) is the “better” one. Sometimes being around people fills us up; sometimes having an hour that’s entirely our own is better. This is the actual reason why we care as much about how a class feels as how it looks.
In our students’ words:
“I had a hard time recently, and it was your studio — especially the people in it — who motivated me to pick myself up and keep going.”
“The studio really saved me during burnout and made me stronger. I love the friendships I found there”
If any of this sounds familiar, we see you.
Sometimes moving your body, being around the right people, or simply having somewhere to go can make things feel a little lighter.