Pilates and Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization – What Is DNS and Why Do I Use it Alongside Pilates?
I am a movement teacher, and throughout my extensive career, I have expanded my skill set to help people not just perform movements but truly understand and refine them. My roots are in Pilates, but I have incorporated other modalities in pursuit of a comprehensive approach to movement education. Let me explain why Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization has become an integral part of my practice.
Pilates is a method designed to enhance both physical and mental well-being. Created by Joseph Pilates, it was born out of his personal pursuit of whole-body health. The Pilates Method effectively balances strength, flexibility, and mobility while fostering good mental health through regular practice. Renowned worldwide, it is often taught in a sequence that progresses in range, load, stability, and proprioceptive challenge. Each individual movement mostly takes place within a single movement plane, and it’s the variety within the repertoire that ensures the whole body is addressed.
After teaching Pilates for a few years, I became a mother for the first time. Observing my daughter grow, I became increasingly curious about how she progressed from one developmental milestone to the next. What made one baby able to sit up unaided or crawl at a certain age while another perhaps skipped a phase altogether? I noticed how the modern world was selling us parents props to “support” our babies in sitting or standing, yet I felt instinctively that these devices were depriving babies of a natural relationship with their environment—one that would enable their development to unfold efficiently.
This curiosity led me to recognise that some of my clients exhibited challenges, dysfunction, or a sense of disconnection from the physical abilities we first learned as babies. I also realised that I wanted a deeper understanding of the mechanics of movement. Fortunately, my husband, an Osteopath with a keen interest in three-dimensional movement patterning, had come across a system that integrated neurology and biomechanics—this was my first introduction to the rehabilitation technique called Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilisation (DNS).
Rooted in developmental kinesiology, DNS gave me the tools to understand what should happen in the body for each movement phase to be successful, along with postures and sequences that allowed me to train my clients methodically. Most people today are familiar with Pilates, and it’s fair to say that most of my clients initially seek me out for this. By contrast, far fewer people seem to know about DNS.
So, What Is DNS?
DNS is based on the principle that our nervous system is pre-programmed with motor control patterns that regulate posture, movement, and gait. These patterns develop in the first few years of life as we interact with our environment and respond to the fundamental needs of movement and stability. We practise reaching, pulling, and pushing, learning both ipsilateral (same side) and contralateral (opposite side) support patterns.
To provide a visual context, picture how babies spend months practising the ability to roll over—it requires significant integration between breath, core stability, and controlled, effective turning through the hip and shoulder joints to move from back to front and back again.
DNS exercises take place on the mat, using a progressive series of developmental positions that mirror the stabilisation stages a baby moves through from 3 to 14 months old. These positions serve as the building blocks that allow us to develop into bipedal beings—enabling us to walk, run, and move effectively and efficiently throughout our purposeful lives.
How Does DNS Relate to Pilates?
Like Pilates, DNS follows key principles of breath, alignment, and control:
Breath: DNS teaches true diaphragmatic breathing, fostering an understanding of how intra-abdominal pressure contributes to trunk stability.
Alignment: It promotes optimal postural alignment, ensuring that breathing and trunk stabilisation work together dynamically.
Joint Centration: DNS prioritises joint centration—the correct alignment and distribution of forces within a joint for optimal function and efficiency.
DNS also places emphasis on:
Up-righting: Having an efficient, functional spinal relationship with gravity
Transitioning: The efficient and smooth passage from one position of support through movement to another position of support
However, where DNS excels in functional dynamic stabilisation, it lacks in spinal segmental mobilisation. Fortunately, the Pilates repertoire is abundant with exercises specifically designed to enhance spinal mobility and muscular balance. Reinforcing why combining these two modalities is so effective.
How I Use DNS in My Teaching
As a DNS exercise instructor, I integrate these developmental positions and principles to help my clients where I see postural instability, movement dysfunction, or pain patterns. Whether in one-to-one sessions or group classes DNS helps me, alongside Pilates, to address areas of weakness, imbalance, and compensation directly.
In group settings, I weave DNS postures into transitions between Pilates movements, bringing a sense of playfulness to the practice. This reminds adults of the natural movement patterns they will have first explored as babies and encourages a curious, progressive approach to interacting with their environment.
Each DNS position represents a stage of development, but when strung together, they create dynamic, flowing sequences that are both satisfying to perform and functional. For example, transitioning from lying on your back to rolling onto your side, pressing up to sit, moving into crawl, high kneeling, and eventually standing. Taught slowly at first, with attention to detail, then progressed into a fluid, real-time flow, this practice fosters a deep appreciation for the incredible movement journey babies and toddlers go through!
The Urgency of Relearning Functional Movement
Surely there has never been a more critical time in human history to make functional movement patterns a physical fitness priority.
Our increasingly technology-driven lifestyles are leading to widespread postural dysfunction, movement deconditioning, and, arguably, a developmental regression unlike anything seen before. This is why I believe reintegrating these fundamental movement patterns is essential—not just for rehabilitation, but to spend time doing what us humans are designed to do and for long-term health and vitality.
Why DNS Excels in My Scope of Practice
I have found DNS particularly transformative in my work with postnatal women.
As a postnatal specialist, I have spent years refining my approach to treating Diastasis Recti and other pregnancy- and birth-related injuries. DNS has become an invaluable tool in my practice. What’s especially beautiful about using this technique with postnatal women is that I am often guiding them through remastering the same developmental positions their babies are learning and progressing through for the very first time.
It feels like the most organic, effective way to rebuild stability and function—restoring the body’s innate movement patterns, which may have been disrupted by pregnancy, childbirth, and modern life.
Beyond postnatal care, there is no client that I have not found DNS highly effective for, but some direct examples are:
Post-Total Hip Replacement Rehabilitation – Using DNS’s controlled, developmentally progressive hip-loading positions, I can support effective recovery and reconditioning.
Hypermobility Disorders (e.g., Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - EDS) – DNS provides a stable framework for improving spatial proprioception, reducing joint instability, and supporting connective tissue health.
Rehabilitation Post-Adhesive Capsulitis (Frozen Shoulder) – The focus on joint centration and optimal force transfer through movement is particularly beneficial for regaining shoulder mobility and function.
These examples in my practice are by no means exhaustive, and I wish both Pilates and DNS were part of the school physical education curriculum through to 18, and that all older people had access to community classes to support their continued vitality and independence.
Pilates & DNS – A Perfect Partnership
With nearly 25 years of experience as a movement educator, I still love practicing and teaching Pilates. I deeply respect its role in whole-body health—and I am grateful to have found DNS to integrate alongside it.
In addition to these two modalities, in more recent years I have also found immense value in the growing fascia-focused movement approach, though that deserves an entire post of its own!
Humans are complex beings, and as a movement teacher, having a broad skillset allows me to better support the intricacies of health and well-being.
Final Thoughts
DNS has profoundly shaped my approach to movement education, allowing me to bridge the gap between functional rehabilitation and performance. Whether addressing postnatal recovery, rehabilitation, or general movement enhancement, this method has transformed the way I teach, train, and move—and I’m excited to continue sharing its benefits.
If you would like to try DNS both alongside Pilates and in its own right, I offer a broad selection of prerecorded classes in my OnDemand Movement Library which is accessible internationally through online membership.
