Pilates: A Healthy Way to Reduce Stress and Break the Cycle of Worry

I don’t have to look far to find someone dealing with stress and worry. In fact, I can just look in the mirror. With two parents with chronic, debilitating diagnoses, a teen and a pre-teen, and life in general in 2024, it can hit me really hard. But I know I’m not unique. Chances are you’re dealing with stress, too.

For some of us, stress has been a lifelong issue.

And it’s easy to forget that stress is actually meant to serve a positive purpose.

When something happens to start the stress cycle in us, it’s meant to protect us. A stressor occurs, messages get sent to the brain, and the fight or flight response follows. This means the stressor helps to put the body into a state of elevated response and reaction to face the stressor head on or get away to somewhere safe.

This is great if we’re facing an attacker and being chased.

But most likely this isn’t what’s actually happening.

And something’s gone a bit off kilter and, even if the stressor is no real threat or if that threat is no longer there, your nervous system has stayed in that fight or flight heightened state of response. Of course this makes any additional stressors seem even more insurmountable!

Ever wonder why this happens? Here’s what’s often the case: When fight or flight starts, we’re actually supposed to be assessing the situation and using a higher level of brain power to determine: Is this threat real? Is it as intense as it appears to be?

But many of us have systems that have shorted out, and we aren’t taking that extra step of evaluation. Thereby, we stay in the heightened state of response with stress hormones continuing to be released and perpetuating the elevated response. Our nervous system gets stuck in overdrive, making us a) think there’s an imminent danger when there isn’t one, b) turn small problems into huge threats, and/or c) not letting us move past the fight or flight response and keeping us stuck in a state of perpetual high alert.

So what’s needed to take that extra step and assess things more clearly? How can we get the nervous system to dial back the response so we can think and act more rationally?

For starters: We can practice mindfulness.

When the stressor happens, and the fight or flight kicks in with a boost of adrenaline, being mindful and aware can help dramatically. How? Becoming mindful trains your brain to be in the moment. This means you’re acutely aware of what’s going on in each moment. So if a stressor comes, you’re there actively processing and are able to take that step back and assess the level of risk coming your way.

And guess what: Mindfulness is a huge component of the practice of Pilates. In Pilates, participants are encouraged to tune in constantly. By asking the brain to hone in and focus on what’s happening with the breath and body, we are keeping the brain occupied with what’s happening in the moment. Therefore, there is less opportunity to tune in to the channel of stress and worry. And if a stressful thought or worry pops in, mindfulness helps bring us back to the here and now. The brain can then see that the “immediate danger" is not real, and no additional fight for flight hormones need to be released to protect us. We’re actually already safe. For a few moments, the cycle of worry and stress is broken. With practice, the amount of time spent “in the moment” can grow to exceed the time spent in a stress state, and stress-related hormones can reduce while the feel good hormones increase.

The second thing you can do is find a way to release things physically. As most of us know, when we are mentally and emotionally stressed we tend to “carry” this physically. Tight neck, chest, shoulders, low back, and hips- each of these areas can get so tight and sore.

Pilates helps to open up tight muscles, muscles that can get bound down due to the stress response. With Pilates you can work to open things up and rebalance the tightness.

Finally, you can address your breathing patterns. When we are in fight or flight, a heightened state of stress, we tend to breathe more shallowly and use secondary accessory muscles instead of our primary breathing muscles. Secondary accessory muscles are largely located in the neck. With shorter, more shallow breathing, we expand less through the ribs. The diaphragm (primary muscle for breathing) doesn’t get to move fully, and the neck and chest get tight and feel restrictive.

To fix this, we need to practice healthier breathing patterns. In Pilates, we train ourselves to allow the ribs, belly, and diaphragm to move, and this helps reduce neck and chest tightness and creates a sense of opening…which feels wonderfully freeing and calming at the same time. Healthy breathwork helps us take in oxygen more fully, allowing the brain the opportunity to calm down. In turn, this reduces the release of stress hormones, thereby breaking up the cycle of stress and worry and calming the nervous system.

So if you’re like me and find that from time to time stress is getting the best of you, I invite you to consider Pilates training. Pilates has so much to offer your mental and physical wellbeing, and it can be a tremendous help in breaking the cycle of stress. Learning to pay mindful attention to your breath, to muscle release, and to mindful movement will make a remarkable difference in how you experience stressful moments in your life.

Interested in how Pilates can help YOU manage stress in a healthy way? Reach out! Click the button below to discuss with Ashley.