Yoga, Pilates: for a return to form!

These “soft gyms” allow you to forget the hassles of everyday life to refocus on your body, improve flexibility, balance, muscle tone, and even endurance.

Some of them also allow you to breathe better, and even to meditate. But beware, who says “sweet” does not mean “relaxing”.

Yoga adapts to you

In Yoga, breathing is an essential ally for linking flexibility, muscle tone and balance exercises.

“In yoga, we will have to adapt the postures a lot to try to always respect the body as much as possible and never hurt ourselves. The idea is that it is not you who adapt to the practice. , but it is the practice that adapts to you”explains Violette Meens, yoga teacher at the Qee center.

If yoga allows you to find serenity and inner balance, it also helps Mirjana Simic to fight her joint pain.

“I have a kind of kyphosis related to working from home, but I also have a problem with the sacrum and the first lumbar, which means that I have no mobility. Yoga really allows me a stretch, but also a strength training of my body. Since I practice it regularly, everything is fine”, says Mirjana, 47.

For Véronique, a mobility problem in her right foot led her to choose yoga.

“I found myself having repeated sprain problems and then they turned into a fracture which left me with scars on my ankle so my support is weakened. Yoga allows us to work on this anchoring”explains Véronique Louise, 53 years old.

Pilates on machines: more advanced work

When the class is over, Mirjana and Véronique now have a session of pilates on machines to specifically work on their posture and their anchoring to the ground.

These machines make it possible to perform movements that would be impossible to do on the ground. It is possible to go further in the movement, both in the resistance provided by the machine and in the stretching and sheathing of the body.

It is sometimes even easier to start learning pilates on the machines, because often the machine is an aid for the body.

The possibility of varying the resistance allows even the less accustomed to start the discipline gently. While each device offers new exercise possibilities, they all allow intense work on each part of the body: arms, legs, abdominals, back and more precisely all the deep muscles, which are close to the spine.

Relaxation and tone

For Véronique, a small ball will help her work on the sensitivity and mobility of her foot.

After stimulating the arch of the foot, this last exercise helps to strengthen the balance and stability of the whole body.

“After a class, you have the impression that you have grown in height, in width and that you are completely relaxed, yet with a beautiful tone”comments Véronique.

To start Pilates or yoga, there is no age limit or real contraindication. The only conditions are to respect the limits of your body and to have fun.

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