When it comes to Pilates for Beginners, the crucial aspect of starting out is getting the basics and foundation right.

Pilates is an easily approachable, safe and effective form of exercise for your fitness goals. It is, however, strongly suggested that you focus on getting the basics right to enjoy a long and healthy relationship with this great form of working out.

Pilates Excercises Online offers a free Pilates Fitness Guide, which you can access here. Some of the sections in this guide speak to where one should begin.

Pilates for Beginners: Mat Exercises

This video is particularly helpful in the way the instructor (Jessica Valant) addresses many of the routines and approaches. We recommend subscribing to Jessica’s channel here)

Pilates Principles

Understanding the principles of Pilates is key to your success when embarking on your journey. These principles, when it comes to Pilates for Beginners, will guide you through the process of understanding, and maximizing Pilates for your needs.

The following has been taken from Very Well Fit:

  1. Centering: This concept is defined as physically bringing the focus to the center of the body, the powerhouse area between the lower ribs and pubic bone. Energetically, Pilates exercises are sourced from the center.
  2. Concentration: If you bring full attention to the exercise and do it with full commitment, you will obtain maximum value from each movement.
  3. Control: Every Pilates exercise is done with complete muscular control. No body part is left to its own devices. It is all a conscious, deliberate movement that the mind is controlling.
  4. Precision: In Pilates, awareness is sustained throughout each movement. There is an appropriate placement, alignment relative to other body parts, and trajectory for each part of the body.
  5. Breath: Joseph Pilates emphasized using a very full breath in his exercises. He advocated thinking of the lungs as a bellows — using them strongly to pump the air fully in and out of the body. Most Pilates exercises coordinate with the breath, and using the breath properly is an integral part of Pilates exercise.
  6. Flow: Pilates exercise is done in a flowing manner. Fluidity, grace, and ease are goals applied to all exercises. The energy of an exercise connects all body parts and flows through the body in an even way. Pilates equipment, like the reformer, are very good mirrors of one’s flow and concentration as they tend to bang around and suddenly become quite “machine-like” if one loses ones control and flow.

Source: https://www.verywellfit.com/six-pilates-principles-2704854