Is Pilates Hard?
The word hard is not quantifiable, and as much as I’d like to give you a direct answer to that, let me just tell you what Pilates is and what its like.
The challenge of pilates lies in the precision needed to execute a movement while keeping your ego and body in check. What I mean by that is, when your ego wants to accomplish the movement, it will bypass the necessary challenge to do it properly. When you make your attempts at the movements, you will need to regularly prevent your body from the habit patterns it would typically use to achieve the ego’s desire. Success.
Success in Pilates is the attention. The awareness. The noticing of your error and the attempt to improve it, one degree or one percent at a time. The success in Pilates is the acceptance of what might have previously been viewed as failure, because if you have a good teacher who will make you do the work right, there are a lot of exercises you will NOT be able to do completely. Not yet at least.
In that sense it is difficult to slow down, pay attention and really stay in tune with the sensations of the body. Doing that has a level of hard work invovled, both physically and mentally. Joseph Pilates called it “intense mental and physical efforts.”
The difficult work is very different from the gym, from a bootcamp, from a cross fit, even from a run. It is extremely calm and meditative even when your muscles might be shaking or burning. You never work to the point of fatigue, which means your soreness is always manageable. You will know you did work, but you should never struggle to move the next day. Joseph was very clear about that in his book Return to Health, soreness is poison and debliitating our body for a day or two or three is a terrible way to treat our physical self.
So is Pilates hard? The best answer will come from showing up and giving it a try. A skilled teacher is important. A safe and welcoming studio that teaches you methodically how to progress as opposed to just throwing you into the deepend of difficult movements with not enough instruction. Ideally a studio that encourages personal practice over individual lessons as a way of self-reliance over instructor-reliance. A teacher that is a true teacher, and you learn things from that you end up applying regularly to your everyday life movements.
Much luck on your journey to self-discovery. Reach out if you have more questions.