By Puja Gupta

New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANSlife): "Pilates is a beautiful form of exercise that works on your awareness, your breath, your control, centering, concentration. It makes everything else that you do in life better," says the celebrity Pilates trainer Yasmin Karachiwala, who recently opened her Pilate Studio in Gurugram.

In a conversation with IANSlife, Karachiwala who has trained the who's who of Bollywood talks if the benefits of Pilates its future in the country.

Q: How do you see the future of Pilates in India?

Yasmin: I definitely see all of India doing Pilates because it's such a beautiful form of exercise that works on your awareness, your breath, your control, centering, concentration. These are all some of the principles of Pilates. It works on your posture your spine every movement is so precise that it helps you with everything in life. And I believe that Pilates makes everything else that you do in life better. So I just feel that everybody should be doing Pilates in India because it's such an amazing form of exercise.

Q: What's your expansion plan in the near future?

Yasmin: My future plan is to have one pilates studio in every city of our country. I'm hoping that will happen one day. But until then I am on YouTube doing Pilates exercises every Thursday for people to follow in their homes. So until we are there in every city. I'm sure people in every city can follow my videos on YouTube and get more familiar with the form of exercise.

Q: How different is Pilates from the regular gym?

Yasmin: Every form of exercise or sport has a different intention as to why it was invented. For example, martial arts were invented for self defence, yoga was invented as a means to be closer to your spiritual self, and the gym or weight lifting was invented for building muscle using weights. Pilates was invented for one reason alone: to make the human body move as efficiently as possible. If your biceps are stronger than your triceps, your arm will not move efficiently. If you have a six pack or strong rectus abdominis muscles but weak back muscles, you will end up injuring yourself. Pilates ensures that your entirely body develops long, lean muscles, evenly throughout the front and back, the upper and lower hemispheres, so that the body can move as efficiently as possible. When your body moves efficiently, it saves energy, which can be used in other parts of your life! Pilates literally makes you move better, and live better.

Q: Top 5 tips and reasons why people should join Pilates.

Yasmin:

It is the perfect combination between strength training and stretching.

It non-aggressive form of exercise with incredible results.

It works on your posture and strengthens your spine and all the muscles around it.

It helps to strengthen your core and when your core is strong all other movements in life get easier and better.

It forces you to breathe for an hour which makes you feel rejuvenated and refreshed while giving you a great workout!

Q: What is your fitness regime?

Yasmin: I do one hour of Pilates a day and 1 hour of cardio everyday. Sunday is my rest day where I make sure I get a massage.

Q: One common mistake that people make while trying to lose weight?

Yasmin: Crash dieting. It's the worst thing to go an any kind of an extreme diet because (i) it's not sustainable, (ii) your body doesn't get the nutrients that it needs, (iii) higher chances of getting injured and (iv) really isn't good for your body in the long run!

Q: How important is it for people, especially women, to understand the importance of being fit rather than thin?

Yasmin: It is extremely important to be fit. Women run behind being thin and a certain size whereas what is more important is your energy levels during the day and how you are feeling, how much you are able to accomplish and how easily you are able to do your daily tasks! What's the point of being thin and weak? Rather be fit and strong!!!