Explainer | How Pilates works to transform bodies: it builds core strength, corrects imbalances, improves mindfulness – and LeBron James is a fan
- In an ever-growing sea of exercise regimes that rise and fall with the trends, Pilates commands unusual devotion – and many tout it as life-changing
- One instructor calls it a ‘nice segue into exercise’ that trains mobility, strength, control, balance and flexibility – and it can be done by people of all ages
Dawnna Wayburne, a ballet dancer turned Pilates instructor, suffered from a lung tumour as a child in the UK – and the surgery to remove it left her with nerve damage that, she quips, made her look like “two people glued together”.
“I had a droop on one side of my face, one hip higher than the other,” she says.
Although she recovered enough to join the Royal Academy of Dance in London, the lingering effects limited what she could do as a professional dancer.
“I thought it would be just stretchy exercises at first, but it turned out to be so much more than that,” the 67-year-old says. “Not just the exercises, but also a mindfulness that really helps dancers get in that state of mind for excellence and stay injury-free.”
After moving to Hong Kong, where she opened a ballet school, Wayburne noticed her students experiencing issues like the ones she did – subtle imbalances in their bodies that affected the way they danced. She decided to incorporate Pilates into her dance teaching and, in 1998, opened Pilates studio Iso Fit, where she is currently the education director.