Beyond the Core: The Somatic Side of Pilates : How Awareness Repatterns the Body
How Classical Pilates and somatic education reshape the way we move.
In the classical Pilates world we often talk about repatterning: the nervous system’s ability to learn new, healthier ways of moving.
A concept such as repatterning has been at the heart of what we call somatics since its inception in 1976 by Dr Tomas Hanna.
This concept has been used in the dance world and is at the heart of both Classical Pilates and somatic movement education, a field that explores how awareness and sensation transform coordination, balance, and expression.
I was chatting to my BJJ professor last week, and she said how it is important to be able to explain movement in many ways. And thins made me think at all the times I took classes with different teachers, and got something new, different each time. Isn’t it amazing how movement gets interpreted in many different ways, depending on the ways we experience it ourselves? A word, a touch, or a different explanation will open a whole new world. This is how we access the nervous system each and every time we move, following a new lead, idea, experience.
From Somatics to Pilates
Somatic movement emerged in the 20th century through pioneers such as
Moshe Feldenkrais, Thomas Hanna, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Irmgard Bartenieff, Emilie Conrad, and Irene Dowd.
Each of them showed, in different ways, that mindful attention to sensation can literally rewire how the brain organizes motion. This, in science is called Neuroplasticity of the nervous system.
Their work, now used by dancers, actors, and rehabilitation professionals, inspires how we teach Classical Pilates today: slower, deeper, and centred on awareness rather than effort.
According to Irene Dowd, two key mind-body factors play a major role in the development of musculoskeletal issues in dancers: the harmony between mental focus and neuromuscular control(mind-body), and the ability to shift body weight smoothly and accurately in relation to gravity. When a dancer's mental and physical balance is disrupted, these processes can break down, increasing the risk of injury.
Developmental Movement: Re-learning How to Stand and Move
Somatic research in dance education highlights developmental movement as one of the key pathways for neuromuscular repatterning.
In this view, adults can revisit the same movement milestones that infants pass through, rolling, crawling, standing, to restore efficient alignment and balance.
As described in multiple studies on somatic training for dancers, this “ re-education of verticality” allows the nervous system to rediscover natural support and coordination rather than the tension that often builds through years of compensatory habits.
When we guide a client through foundational Pilates sequences on the Reformer or Mat, we are essentially revisiting these same developmental patterns: grounding through the feet, lengthening through the spine, and finding lift through internal support. and any other piece of equipment just adds different and complementary stimuli to this.
Imagery: The Mind’s Shortcut to New Pathways
Another somatic principle closely aligned with Pilates is imagery.
Educators such as Lulu Sweigard, creator of Ideokinesis, and movement anatomist Irene Dowd demonstrated that vivid mental images, like “a string of pearls lengthening your spine” or “the pelvis floating on breath” help reorganize motor pathways even without large physical effort.
Recent academic reviews in dance science describe imagery as a neurological bridge between thought and movement: by combining imagination with anatomy, the brain pre-activates sensory pathways, making new movement patterns easier to embody.
That’s why in our teaching you’ll often hear cues that sound poetic; they’re not decoration, they’re science-backed tools for re-patterning!!
Pilates as Somatic Practice
Classical Pilates shares these same foundations.
Joseph Pilates called his method Contrology: the art of conscious control.
When practiced with somatic awareness, every exercise becomes an act of nervous-system education: releasing what’s unnecessary, awakening what’s under-used, and integrating body and mind through movement.
In your sessions at SW4 Pilates, this means slowing down enough to feel:
How the breath initiates movement.
How subtle alignment shifts change muscle recruitment.
How effort can transform into ease when guided from within.
This is somatic training in action, repatterning from the inside out.
Why It Matters
Research in both dance and somatic education suggests that developmental movement and imagery together enhance proprioception, coordination, and injury prevention.
For clients, this translates to better posture, smoother movement, and a calmer nervous system.
In everyday life, it means walking taller, breathing deeper, and meeting stress with resilience rather than rigidity.
Start Your Pilates Journey here
Experience what it feels like to move from awareness, not effort.
Begin with our Intro Class (£60) or our Group Equipment Starter Pack (£130 for 5 classes) and explore how mindful, classical movement can reshape the way you feel in your body.
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SW4 Pilates - Classical Pilates in Clapham, near Clapham North & Stockwell.
