Is Pilates the answer to your body image woes?

16 Feb

Do you ever feel like your body is never quite ‘enough’? Like every time you look in the mirror, you’re measuring yourself against unrealistic expectations. Your own, your family’s, society’s?

Many people turn to Pilates in search of the ‘Pilates body,’ believing that changing their body’s appearance will bring them confidence. But if aesthetics is the only goal, Pilates might not be the long-term solution you’re looking for.

Body image is about more than how your body looks, it’s about how you feel in it.

And today, we’re exploring how Pilates can be a powerful tool for reconnecting with your body, beyond the toxic ‘just love your body’ messaging.

Moving Beyond Toxic Body Positivity

Body positivity was originally rooted in social justice. It wasn’t a “solution” for an individual to heal themselves, it was asking for societal change. The movement was started by fat-acceptance activists who were fighting for equal rights for fat people in all areas of life.

The hard and unfair truth of it is that some bodies are deemed more acceptable than others. Asking a person to “just” love their body places the onus entirely on them. When the reality is they are being treated differently due to their intersecting marginalised identities.

That isn’t to say a person shouldn’t bother to heal their relationship with their body, it’s to say that true body liberation is not just an individual journey. It requires a society that respects and values all bodies, regardless of size, race, ability, or gender.

Understanding Body Image Through an Intersectional Lens

The term intersectionality was coined by scholar and writer on civil rights, critical race theory, Black feminist legal theory, and race, racism and the law. Intersectionality highlights how social justice issues like racism, ageism and sexism overlap and create multiple layers of injustice.

As Chrissy King mentions in her book “The Body Liberation Project”:

“The intersection of race, gender, body politics, age, sexual orientation and ability status are often left out of the conversation about body positivity.”

The reality is that our bodies exist across multiple and intersecting lines of identities. Some of these identities hold privileges and some identities have been pushed to the margins of society. Mainstream fat activism, especially in its early days, often excluded the voices of People of Colour. Many white activists believed tackling multiple issues would weaken their message. Ironically, a movement meant to support marginalised people often ended up marginalising others.

They also assumed that since some communities of colour seemed more accepting of fat bodies, fat people of colour didn’t need the movement. Unfortunately the misconception of invulnerability among racialised groups is still common today.

When we explore body image through an intersectional lens, we are really giving space for the whole person and their unique experiences.

The Wheel of Power and Privilege is a visual tool that can be used to reflect on your own intersecting social identities. The wheel has been adapted many times but here is Silvia Duckworth’s interpretation of it below.

As you look at the wheel above, ask yourself the following questions:

Are there identities that you are more aware of day to day?
Which identities do you think about the least often (or perhaps rarely consider)?
Which identities do you feel have the strongest influence on how you perceive yourself?
Which identities do you feel have the most influence on how others perceive you?

How Pilates Can Support Body Image Healing

Pilates isn’t a magic fix for body image issues, nothing is. But it can be a powerful tool for reconnecting with your body in a way that feels safe and supportive.

When we talk about body image, we’re not just talking about how you see yourself in the mirror. We’re talking about how you feel in your body, how you experience movement, and whether you feel at home in your body. And for many of us, especially those with marginalised identities, that feeling of home has been disrupted by years of being told that our bodies are a problem that needs fixing.

This is where Pilates comes in.

Unlike high-intensity workouts that push you to “go harder” or “burn more,” Pilates encourages awareness. It asks you to slow down, tune in, and actually listen to your body.

One of the reasons I love Pilates so much is because it helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system. That’s the part of our nervous system that allows us to feel calm, safe, and connected.

And this is important because body image struggles don’t just exist in our minds, they live in our bodies too.

So, can Pilates erase all of the harmful messages you’ve internalised about your body?

No.

But it can be a practice that helps you reconnect with yourself in a way that feels grounding, nourishing, and free from external expectations. And that is so important in the journey toward healing.

The Role of the Nervous System in Body Image Healing

If you’ve struggled with body image, chances are you’ve experienced moments where your body didn’t feel like a safe place to be.

Our nervous system is how we process safety and threat, both physically and emotionally.

When we experience body shame, past trauma, or societal messaging that tells us our bodies aren’t good enough, our nervous system picks up on that. It can send us into survival states like hypervigilance (constantly monitoring our body’s appearance) or shutdown (feeling numb or disconnected from our body altogether).

This is where Pilates and nervous system regulation come together.

The more time we spend in this regulated state, the easier it becomes to move out of body-checking, self-criticism, and disconnection. And when we do get triggered, it becomes easier to find our way back to a place of calm and safety rather than spiraling into shame.

This doesn’t mean Pilates (or any movement practice) will regulate your nervous system 100% of the time. Nobody is regulated all the time.

But it does mean that the more we practice tuning into our bodies in a way that feels safe and supportive, the less power the world’s ‘isms’ and ‘phobias’ have over us.

The messages society throws at us about our bodies? They don’t get to live inside us. They stay outside (where they belong).

And that shift?

That’s where body image healing really begins.