We 💛 Woo Woo

Yoga sometimes gets compared to Pilates.

And Annika we would know. We answer calls about it allllll the time asking to explain the difference (also, literally x5 reformer pilates studios opened up in the area January this year, so I am feeling the refreshed hype around it too!)

I understand the confusion. Both yoga and pilates are low-impact exercises that can be done with minimal equipment (even zero in a lot of cases) and very little, if no guidance at all (that is, if you are self disciplined enough to think of a balanced yoga or pilates class plan off the top of your head).

In 2016, I also compared the two. I was teaching aerial arts for a couple of years and noticed students were getting a whole bunch of injuries and were just, like, not really stretching or doing any recovery (that included me btw!)

I picked yoga over pilates because doing yoga involved learning about its mother land, India, and I've always been drawn to the colors, outfits, food and magic of the place. I also enjoyed wearing the baggiest clothes possible sometimes (my baby daddy once told me it looks like I get dressed by throwing material in the air and running underneath it, and yes, I took that as a compliment), and I felt like I could still keep my exquisite fashion taste if I got a job as a yoga teacher, something that was important to me at the time.

8 years later, I am finally starting to really understand the difference between the two.

No one is better than the other. But they are different.

We personally went down the yoga path and will continue to stay here for several reasons:

It's Holistic:

Not saying that pilates ain't, but yoga will ALWAYS include not just postures, but breathwork of some sort, meditation and a splash of philsophy.

Its Ancient:

Really old. Like over 5000 years old.

Mind-Body Connection:

Yoga is about self-awareness. We often reflect on how we feel physically and emotionally throughout class. And yes, this can be confronting, uncomfortable, and awkward.

Adaptability:

Both pilates and yoga are adaptable. Yoga is however adaptabile to the point where you can literally lay down for a whole class. A WHOLE CLASS! once lying down, you don't even have to move once (otherwise known as yoga nidra; here is an example).

Chill Time:

How much chill time do you give yourself? Are you skim-reading this newsletter as we speak? Yoga holds spaces for that chill time, so many of us are terrible at giving ourselves.

Community and Support:

Both yoga and pilates have exceptional communities and support. It is worth mentioning that this is a foundation for all yoga studios, including ours.

Woo Woo:

Want to explore the things science may not have the answers for yet? Yoga is a great place to start.

A disclaimer for you also, I am only trained in yoga, not pilates, and I am sure there are plenty of reasons as to why pilates could be "better" too.

We are also biased, as we own a yoga studio, and we want more people to visit our us 

Already do some yoga with us but keen to dive a lil deeper?

There are plenty of ways to do this. Youtube, books and mentors are all exceptional ways to start. This book in particular is what got me really started on this journey all those years ago, even thought its "technically" not a yoga book.

Our yoga teacher training is exactly 2 months away also and we already has two new enrollments over the weekend.

So Annika, if you are reading this and you are keen to hang with other like minded humans every Sunday morning, and do a whole lot of sitting in a circle talking about your feelings, click here.

And no, you don't need to want to become a yoga teacher to do the teacher training.

I'll leave you now with a picture of myself and my dear friend Ari maybe 5 or 6 years ago, in our studio reception, back in the day when people used to walk past thinking we were a nursery and would ask how much the plants were, and be disappointed when we told them we had no business selling plants to the public, only yoga.

I get to see Ari on the regular now as he is a teacher in our teacher training. He has his own teacher training as well as manages all the teachers at a big fancy chain of yoga studios in the city, and I am exceptionally humbled to have him travel down to the West to share sequencing and assist to all future yoga teachers.

Till next week,

Annika xx

P.S. We found all of our studio helpers by just mentioning it here. Thank you to those so keen to help us out around the studio! 

P.P.S. We launched our new intro offer last week. $69 for 30 days of unlimited classes. All new AND old students can redeem this, but only once. If you are not a member, you can do that by clicking here (and if you are a member, we love and adore you; without you, we wouldn't be able to share yoga in this way. Thank you thank you thankyou).