Pilates classes or books?

So Pippa Middleton has brought Pilates into the limelight as she says it is the key to her amazing figure. Now her Pilates instructor has got a publishing deal to write a Pilates book, which I’m sure will be a big hit and I hope it will inspire more people to try out Pilates classes.

This has led me to wonder whether Pilates can be taught through a book or if it’s more of a class based thing? Personally when I was a Pilates beginner I found it so hard to retrain my brain, to understand all the terminology, to get the breathing right and to focus on my alignment. I needed quite a lot of constant reminders and hand on correction until I grasped the basics. However different people learn in different ways and now I understand Pilates I find books really useful. And I love books!

What do you think?