Pilates and Yoga for Depression: Do They Really Help?

February 10th, 2025

Depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, with its prevalence only continuing to rise. As more individuals grapple with symptoms of anxiety and depression in their daily lives, the need for effective and accessible depression treatment options has never been more critical.

Among the various approaches to improving mental health, physical exercise stands out as a powerful tool. Besides enhancing physical health, individuals who exercise show significant improvements in self-esteem, resilience, cognitive functioning, and many other critical components of mental health and wellbeing when dealing with depression.

Pilates and yoga, in particular, have gained attention for their potential to complement traditional depression treatment methods, offering a holistic way to enhance both physical and mental well-being. Keep reading to explore the connection between exercise and depression, and discover how practices like Pilates and yoga can have a positive impact on managing depression.

Exercise and Depression: The Benefits of Movement

While traditional treatments like therapy and medication are essential, there’s a powerful, natural tool that often goes overlooked: exercise. Movement has the remarkable ability to transform both the body and the mind, offering a relief for those struggling with depression.

Exercise can be a game-changer in the journey toward mental wellness. Let's explore how physical activity can help alleviate symptoms of depression and restore balance to your life—one step, one stretch, one breath at a time.

The British Medical Journal compiled a large summary of studies which evaluated over 200 studies involving more than 14,000 participants who attempted to answer the question of how and why exercise impacts mental health.

This review laid out several hypotheses as to why exercise can be so incredibly helpful in improving symptoms of depression. Results showed that exercise uniquely and impactfully facilitates the following:

Increased social interaction
Increased mindfulness and self-acceptance
Increased sense of self-efficacy and depression
Increased exposure to green spaces
Enhanced neurobiological mechanisms that support mood and combat anxiety
Acutely improve mood and affect

At the physiologic level, exercise increases our body’s natural production of endorphins and endocannabinoids (these are natural chemicals that promote feelings of pleasure, reduced anxiety, regulate sleep, and pain relief).

Due to the increased production of these two chemicals during exercise, many people experience enhanced focus, memory, cognition, and executive functioning for up to two hours after vigorous exercise. Additionally, physical activity supports restoration of natural balance and regulation of the body’s sleep cycle, which has significant positive impacts on all aspects of health.

Regular exercise also increases the stimulation and efficiency of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, which ultimately decreases the production of the stress hormone cortisol and helps regulate and balance the hormones responsible for hunger and satiety, leptin and ghrelin.

Physical exercise can also make our immune systems more effective and decrease the body’s production of hormones and neurotransmitters that are associated with systemic inflammation, decreasing our risk of developing age-related memory and cognition problems.

Pilates and Yoga for Depression

Pilates, yoga, and many other forms of exercise play a vital role in boosting self-esteem and self-confidence. These activities help create a positive, empowering routine that focuses on growth and encouragement, rather than restriction or limitation. Over time, consistently doing Pilates, yoga, or other exercises can lead to lasting, life-changing benefits.

To better understand the varying effects of different types of workouts, another Journal examined the specific differences between outcomes for groups involved in an 8-week Pilates program compared to an 8-week Yoga program. At the end of the study, both groups reported significant improvements in quality of life such as overall nutrition, stress management capacity, interpersonal relationships, and spiritual growth.

Both Pilates and yoga were noted to facilitate global improvement in self-reported mind-body-spirit connection, progressive relaxation, and additional mental health benefits through static stretching and meditation.

It has also been demonstrated that individual investment in the belief that exercise can (and will) change mental health can impact its ability to do so. The more someone believes in the possibility of a positive outcome, the more likely it is they achieve those expressed goals and desired outcomes.

Pilates and Yoga For Depression:

Alleviates Low Mood: Pilates and yoga stimulate the release of endorphins and serotonin, neurotransmitters that help combat feelings of sadness and hopelessness commonly associated with depression.
Reduces Rumination: The focus on mindful movement and breathing helps break the cycle of negative, repetitive thoughts that often worsen depressive symptoms.
Builds Self-Efficacy: Mastering poses or movements fosters a sense of achievement, counteracting feelings of worthlessness or helplessness that depression can bring.
Calms the Nervous System: Both practices activate the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing stress hormones like cortisol and promoting relaxation, which can ease the emotional weight of depression.
Improves Energy Levels: Gentle, consistent movement helps combat the fatigue and lack of motivation that often accompany depression, making it easier to engage in daily activities.
Restores Sleep Patterns: By promoting relaxation and reducing anxiety, Pilates and yoga can help regulate sleep, which is often disrupted by depression.
Encourages Mindfulness: These practices teach you to stay present, helping you detach from overwhelming emotions and focus on the here and now.
Fosters Connection: Group classes provide a sense of community and belonging, countering the isolation that often deepens depressive feelings.
Offers a Gentle, Accessible Approach: Both are low-impact and adaptable, making them safe and achievable for individuals struggling with depression, even if they lack energy or physical stamina.

Why is it So Hard to Incorporate Exercise

Those of us fortunate enough to have ready and regular access to annual health physicals and regular check-ups for physical and mental health are likely familiar with (if not completely exhausted by) the standard doctorly spiel: "Get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy diet, and try to exercise more.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much effort for most people to imagine the experience of moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms, including fatigue, sluggishness, low or no motivation, and disrupted or inadequate sleep.

Imagine gathering the courage to reach out to a doctor, navigating phone calls, scheduling, and transportation, and finally admitting you’re struggling—only to hear, “You just need to exercise.” Yikes. It can feel like trying to climb Mt. Everest without gear or training!

Here are a few reasons why instructions to get more exercise may feel like the straw that breaks the (depressed and exhausted) camel’s back:

1. Overwhelm with Demands of Time: Understandably, starting an exercise routine is often just another thing added to an already-full plate. When we function from a deficit of free time, there is little intrinsic motivation (at first) to borrow what time we do have to dedicate to physical suffering.

2. Lack of Energy or Motivation: Fatigue and low motivation are classic symptoms of depression. During a depressive episode, even the incredibly essential tasks, like showering , or preparing a meal, can feel completely consuming and draining. Adding a fitness routine to the mix can often feel completely unrealistic.

3. Low Self-Esteem: People with depression can experience feelings of inadequacy or guilt. This can translate into feelings of incapability of maintaining a routine or following through on things that resemble exercise or self-care.

4. Unfamiliarity: Trying new things is scary for most people. Exercise can feel intimidating, especially for someone who hasn’t been active before or isn’t sure which type of exercise would be most beneficial. Yoga can be a great entry way to movement for many people because beginners yoga is very approachable! You can even pull up an online course for free and begin yoga in the comfort of your own home with little to no equipment needed.

5. Physical Health Limitations: Especially in individuals who experience chronic pain or somatic symptoms of depression and anxiety, exercising can be difficult, uncomfortable, or scary. This can add to the list of reasons to avoid establishing a routine. Yoga and Pilates are known for being low-impact forms of movement that strengthen the joints and can help ease certain types of chronic pain.

6. Habitual Comfort in Inactivity: Routines. Routines. Routines. The modern societal demands of one’s time can spread a person thin between professional and personal obligations. Sometimes, people find themselves in a fully evolved routine of inactivity as a form of recovery. This inactivity can look like lying in bed or sitting on the couch and can feel like a form of escape or comfort, even if it’s counterproductive.

How Specific Types of Exercise Can Help Improve Depression

According to the British Medical Journal, exercise can be more impactful on symptoms of depression than medication alone. The study further broke down which types of exercise can be more effective for specific groups of people and why.

Overall, the most impactful types of exercise were walking or jogging, yoga, strength training, and dancing. The level of symptom improvement is directly related to the intensity of the exercise, with more vigorous activities associated with greater improvement of symptoms.

Among specific populations, strength training led to more significant improvements for women and younger people. Yoga was more helpful for men and for older adults. Walking and jogging were equally effective for both sexes and all ages.

It’s important to acknowledge there are numerous additional barriers which limit access to different exercise-conducive resources. Fortunately, studies support the hypothesis that activities like walking and jogging can be conducted at the level of intensity appropriate for each person and are still incredibly beneficial to those experiencing depressive symptoms.

Different types of exercise involve variable amounts of these depression-improving components. For example, yoga may promote more mindfulness, group workout classes incorporate more social interaction, independent walking or jogging likely involves more exposure to green spaces, and strength-training may increase a sense of self-efficacy.

It was also found that shorter, consistent workout sessions over an extended period of time have more reliable and lasting positive effects on mood and depressive symptoms compared to fewer, longer workouts.

How To Incorporate Movement into Your Mental Health Routine

Inactive people have poorer mental and physical health. In general, individuals with even a simple and infrequent exercise routine have been shown to have a better overall quality of life. Most people know this, which begs the question “how,” rather than “why?”

Consider the following recommendations for starting and maintaining positive habits and routines:

Exercise in a supervised setting, i.e. group workout or personal training. Supervised exercise can increase motivation while decreasing the rate of injury.
Increase your accountability by sharing your expressed goals or plans with someone else. This can also be achieved by utilizing wearable devices (like a Smart Watch) to track activity.
Do what you’re comfortable with – the less natural aversion you have to overcome, the more likely you are to stick with the routine after the novelty wears off
Set goals, track progress, and collect feedback – set a date for your goal and reward yourself for achieving it
Anticipate and prepare for challenges. Connect with your purpose and reasoning for wanting to establish and maintain an exercise routine. A lapse, or brief hiccup, does not always need to evolve into a full-scale forfeit. Consider triggers (a certain time of day, a typically challenging time in life, boredom, etc.) and plan accordingly to minimize exposure to triggers.
Reward yourself for accomplishing a goal or milestone. It’s important to structure rewards in the short-, moderate-, and long-term. Give yourself permission to dump the negative self-talk.
Avoid setting too many goals or overextending yourself towards a goal

As you establish new routines, remember that consistency is more important than perfection. Seriously. It is. The all-or-nothing mindset is one of the biggest enemies of sustainable change. Remember it’s okay to mess up, it’s okay to start again.

Remind yourself that you deserve to feel good and that you will achieve the goal with continued effort. Try to incorporate this form of positive self-talk whenever you can in order to reinforce positive changes.

Start today. Do your best. Be patient with yourself. Know that the science is there – exercise will improve mental and physical health, and in some cases, more than medications.

Yoga, Pilates, walking and jogging, strength training, and Tai Chi are particularly impactful for the symptoms associated with depression. Using exercise to help treat depression is becoming more popular in psychiatry, with promising results showing symptom improvement and symptom remission.

Depression Treatment at Clarity Clinic

We understand that depression is a deeply personal experience, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why we offer a comprehensive range of evidence-based depression treatments tailored to your unique needs.

From cutting-edge therapies like TMS to personalized depression therapy and intensive outpatient programs. Whether you’re seeking relief from depression symptoms or long-term recovery, we’re committed to helping you find relief and reclaim your life.

TMS Therapy for Depression

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS treatment for depression) is a revolutionary, non-invasive treatment for depression, especially for those who haven’t found relief through traditional methods like medication or therapy.

Using magnetic pulses to stimulate specific areas of the brain, TMS helps restore balance to the neural pathways involved in mood regulation. At Clarity Clinic, our TMS therapy is FDA-approved, safe, and effective, offering hope to individuals struggling with treatment-resistant depression. With no downtime and minimal side effects, TMS can be a game-changer in your journey toward mental wellness.

Fill out this form to receive more information on our TMS services in Chicago!

PHP and IOP for Depression

For those needing more structured support, Clarity Clinic offers Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) for depression. These programs provide a higher level of care while allowing you to maintain your daily responsibilities.

PHP treatment is ideal for individuals requiring intensive, day-long therapy and support, while IOP treatment offers a flexible schedule with multiple therapy sessions per week. Both programs include individual counseling, group therapy, skill-building workshops, and more, all designed to help you manage depression symptoms, build coping strategies, and achieve lasting recovery.

We also offer an virtual IOP Program option where you can get treatment from the convenience of your home.

Fill out this form to receive more information on our PHP and IOP Programs in Chicago!

Therapy for Depression

Therapy is a cornerstone of depression treatment, we offer a variety of therapeutic approaches to meet your needs. Our licensed therapists specialize in evidence-based modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Psychodynamic Therapy, helping you uncover the root causes of your depression and develop practical tools to manage it.

Whether you’re exploring therapy for the first time or seeking a new approach, our compassionate team is here to provide a safe, supportive space for healing and growth.

Book a consultation today to start getting the help you need! We have various mental health clinics located throughout Chicago such as the Loop, Lakeview Broadway, Lakeview Belmont, Evanston, Arlington Heights, and River North.

Can’t make it to our offices? No worries! Clarity proudly offers leading online therapy for depression so you can get the care you need from the comfort of your own home.

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