Many Pilates exercises focus on the spine. This means that exercising regularly will help your body support its spine better. How? The practice helps create space between each and every vertebra. This will help you appear taller than you are as well as provide you with better mobility. After as little as 10 sessions your stiff spine will become supple. This will prevent degenerative spinal problems and will make you look more graceful when you move.

Pilates isn’t just for your body, it is also for your soul, and can have a great influence on your emotional health. Pilates focuses heavily on how you breathe and it is done in slow, smooth, and steady movements. These activate your parasympathetic system, which reduces stress and allows you to feel relaxed and rejuvenated. You’ll find that the more you practice Pilates, the calmer you’ll be.

Whether you are out of shape or as fit as a fiddle Pilates can help you ease back into shape, or challenge you in ways you can’t imagine. Pilates will help you become more aware of your muscles and of how you move them. Since the method has rehabilitative qualities you can do it every day without worrying you’ll wear or tear your muscles.

Balance can be difficult to achieve but it is very important, both metaphorically and physically. In our forties, our muscles start weakening, and our nerve receptors start losing their sensitivity. This leads to a deterioration in your ability to balance yourself. Pilates helps prevent that, using many exercises that strengthen and stabilize your core. It works on small deep muscles that usually don’t get attention in other workouts.