Save the Date!

We're offering a FREE Pilates Class in celebration of Mental Health Month

Mental Health Awareness Month tends to center around naming emotions, increasing insight, building coping skills, etc. all which are critical, but here’s the gap: we often leave the body out of it and as a team of Eating Disorder experts, we feel like that's a real missed opportunity. 

Research consistently shows that movement directly impacts brain function, mood regulation, and emotional resilience. Physical activity increases neurotransmitters and growth factors that support mood stability and cognitive function, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which plays a key role in depression and emotional regulation.

Why Pilates?

Pilates is uniquely positioned to support Mental Health because it integrates:

• Controlled, intentional movement

• Breathwork

• Focused attention

• Nervous system regulation

This combination is what differentiates “simple exercise” from intentional movement. When you slow down enough to pay attention to your breath, your alignment, your muscle engagement, you interrupt autopilot. You create space between stimulus and response. You shift out of chronic stress patterns.

Research supports this: movement that incorporates awareness of bodily sensations can reduce anxiety, depression, and stress by regulating the body’s fight-or-flight response and improving emotional tolerance.

Intentional movement brings you back home to your body—physically, emotionally, and mentally.

This class isn't about pushing harder, it’s about holding space for yourself, and building that mind-body connection.

Join Us for a Mental Health Month Pilates Class

This class will be led by a licensed mental health therapist who is also a Pilates instructor, blending clinical insight with movement-based practice. You’ll walk away not just feeling stronger, but more connected—to your body, your breath, and yourself.

Spots are limited so register early!

📍 Varsity Pilates | 523 Palisade Ave. Jersey City NJ 07307

🗓 Sunday, May 31 at 3pm

🎟 Register Here

Sources:

1. https://www.medicaldaily.com/mindbody-connection-how-movement-improves-mood-vitality-mental-health-474347

2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7915202/

3. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-simply-moving-benefits-your-mental-health-201603289350