Self-efficacy Development: Pilates, a key to Discovering yourself

Self-efficacy is a combination of self-confidence and belief in yourself. It is the certainty that you feel regarding your own person that allows you to accomplish goals that you set out to perform. To find self-efficacy, one must first undergo a process of self-discovery about his potentials, develop ways to improve upon them in order to better yourself and reach a sense of self-actualization. By realizing your full potential through creativity, resourcefulness and independence on your part, you are able to appreciate your own importance.

One of the best ways to being about self-efficacy is through exercising, notably the Pilates method. Pilates is an exercise and fitness system that is concentrated towards maintaining proper body balance and posture, concentrating primarily on the spine and lower back for these improvements.

Pilates involves a great amount of control and concentration. By learning to breathe deeply and learning to maintain fluidity in the muscles, a practitioner can allow for greater coordination and better body balance. Generally, Pilates is a lot harder than it looks. It is necessary to perform intricate and very precise movements rather than choppy and unsure ones, so that these eventually become a habit that the body can eventually subconsciously do. This technique is concentrated mostly on the pelvis and inner thighs area to support the lower back, and newcomers may find the different stances and positions intimidating to do at first. With enough practice and attention to details, however, the proper forms can be accomplished.

Pilates can do more than improve one’s body posture and our health. It has also proven very beneficial in influencing the way he views himself, and how one wishes others to view yourself. Most of the Pilates techniques help to improve the way people position their bodies, and actually improves their stances and how they walk or stand, being able to bring more grace and fluidity in even the simplest of movements.

This is especially helpful, because most of how people communicate with others is through their body language. By holding themselves more erect and more gracefully, others can perceive more self-confidence and better composure in them. In the same way, realizing that one is able to hold himself with better poise and grace also improves one’s self-esteem.

Therefore, the longer that one engages in the Pilates exercises, the better he winds up feeling about himself. And since he realizes that this exercise has helped him increase his own confidence, his desire to continue with exercising the Pilates methods will only continue to grow, until this eventually becomes a cycle.

A good workout always tends to make one feel better about yourself. You are able to improve and contribute towards his physical health, and every time a certain goal has been achieved, such as a marked improvement in posture or movement, or a significant decrease in weight, his self-confidence and self-esteem further increases as well. This sense of self-accomplishment is further heightened by the knowledge that you’re consciously doing something to change your life for the better. In short, you are able to control to a certain extent something in your life that benefits yoursel – in this case, the choice to take on Pilates.

Moreover, Pilates can be structured and customized for a single individual – you can choose to work on certain parts of his body that he feels need more attention than others. Because the Pilates can be personalized according to the user’s preferences, the realization that you are, in fact, in charge of the way his body can look and improve, can increase your sense of self-efficacy. By taking the time to improve both your self-confidence and physical appearance through Pilates, you can be satisfied that you are developing the responsible person you are in taking the time to further improve yourself.

~ by writer on February 29, 2008.