Mat Pilates in Zürich

What is Mat Pilates?

Mat Pilates is the original form of the method: a sequence of controlled movements on the floor, guided by breath and performed with attention to the center of the body. Joseph Pilates called the system Contrology. Without springs or machines, the body provides its own resistance, which makes the mat the clearest place to learn the principles: breathing, centering, control, precision, flow.

A good mat class is not a core workout with a different name. The exercises strengthen the deep muscles of the trunk, mobilise the spine in every direction and train balance and coordination without fatigue.

What happens in a Mat Pilates class at Anida Lab

Classes in the Aura Room last fifty minutes and take up to fourteen people. The class opens lying down with breath and a slow activation of the center, then follows a sequence that has barely changed in a century: the hundred, roll-ups, single and double leg stretches, the side series, swimming, back extension. Small props such as balls, bands and rings come in when they help. Every exercise has a lighter and a stronger version, and the teacher names both.

The Aura Room is a light, quiet room with more than fifteen metres of mirror, which matters on the mat: you see your own alignment.

What changes with regular practice

A stronger and more stable trunk, a back that feels longer, better balance and coordination, and more awareness of how you sit, stand and move during the day. People with back pain from sitting often report the clearest change: the muscles that support the spine start to do their job again. Two classes a week is enough to feel it within a month.

Who Mat Pilates is for

For anyone starting with Pilates or coming back after a pause, for people who sit a lot, for those who prefer a larger class and the floor to the apparatus, and for regulars of the Reformer who want to refine their basics. No flexibility and no experience are required. Tell your teacher about pregnancy, an injury or a sensitive back before the class.

Mat Pilates or Reformer Pilates?

The principles are the same. On the mat the body is the only resistance and the class is larger, fourteen places; on the Reformer, springs support and resist and five people share the class. The mat teaches control you take everywhere; the Reformer adds feedback and load. Many people start on the mat, move to the Reformer and keep both in their week.

How to start

Book in the schedule on this page with your email address; there is no app to install. The first visit is simplest with the Guest Pass for CHF 40: one class, valid for seven days. After that, a pack of ten or twenty classes or a Movement membership from CHF 370 a month covers every class in both rooms. You can cancel in your account up to 24 hours before the class and the credit returns to your pass. Grip socks and a small towel are the only equipment; bring both.

Where to find us in Zürich

Anida Lab is at Gotthardstrasse 40, 8002 Zürich, in the Enge quarter of Kreis 2. Bahnhof Enge is a few minutes on foot, with S-Bahn and tram connections to the main station, Paradeplatz and the lake. The lab is open Monday to Friday from 06:30 to 21:30 and at weekends from 09:00 to 15:00, which makes a class before work, at lunchtime or on the way home realistic for people who live or work in Enge, Wollishofen, Wiedikon, the city center and along the lake.

Under one roof you find the Aura Room, the Reformer Room, the Red Light Therapy cabin, the analyses of Therapy Base and the Anida Café. A class, ten minutes of red light and a coffee fit into one visit.