What Is March Matness?
- Roberta Whitney Hughes
- a few seconds ago
- 5 min read
A Beginner-Friendly Guide to Pilates Mat Work
Every March, the Pilates world comes together to celebrate March Matness — a global movement tradition that highlights the original Pilates mat exercises in a fun, accessible, and community-driven way.
If you’re new to Pilates, this is the perfect time to begin. Truly — all you need is a mat and a little floor space, making it one of the simplest, lowest-risk ways to invest in long-term strength, better posture, and a body that feels good to live in.
At PeaceFull Living, we love March Matness because it brings attention back to the foundation of the practice: simple movements done with intention, breath, and control.
Let’s break it down.
A Little History: Where March Matness Began
March Matness started as a social media movement among Pilates teachers and enthusiasts who wanted to honor the original sequence of mat exercises created by Joseph Pilates. Each day in March, practitioners share one classical mat exercise, celebrating the roots of the method and the incredible depth of these deceptively simple movements.
Long before reformers and studio equipment became popular, Pilates was a mat-based practice designed to build strength using nothing but your body and the floor.
That’s part of its magic — and its accessibility.
Pilates mat work is a series of controlled, low-impact exercises performed on the floor. The focus is on:
Core stability
Posture and alignment
Breath awareness
Mobility and flexibility
Balanced, full-body strength
Unlike equipment-based Pilates, mat work uses your body moving against gravity without the assistance of spring tension. That actually makes mat Pilates the most challenging form of the method — you create and control the resistance yourself.
But challenging doesn’t mean inaccessible.
At PeaceFull Living, we teach mat exercises using building blocks. Each movement is broken down into supportive stages, allowing you to begin where you are, develop strength and understanding, and feel successful before progressing to the next level.
Rather than isolating large muscles or pushing to exhaustion, mat work trains the deep stabilizing muscles that support your spine, hips, and joints. Movements are precise and intentional, which means even small exercises can feel surprisingly effective.
No machines required. Just you, your breath, and a mat — and a practice that grows with you over time.
Why Mat Work Is So Powerful
Mat Pilates might look gentle from the outside, but it creates profound changes in how your body feels and moves.
It Builds Deep, Functional Strength
You strengthen the muscles that support daily life — standing, sitting, walking, bending — not just the ones you see in the mirror.
Pilates helps you feel better and move with more ease at every stage of life, so you can feel good doing all the things life brings your way.
It Supports a Healthy Back and Hips
Many exercises focus on spinal mobility and pelvic stability, which can help reduce tension and improve posture.
Pilates mat work also takes the spine through all six ranges of motion — forward bending (flexion), backward bending (extension), side bending right and left (lateral flexion), and twisting right and left (spinal rotation) — helping to encourage a healthy, balanced, and more resilient spine.
It Improves Body Awareness
Because movements are slow and controlled, you learn how to move with more efficiency and less strain. Pilates builds your awareness of how your body is aligned, how you initiate movement, and where you may be holding unnecessary tension. This increased body awareness carries into daily life — helping you sit with better posture, lift and bend more safely, walk with greater ease, and notice small imbalances before they turn into discomfort. Over time, you move through your day with more confidence, coordination, and a sense of connection to your body rather than feeling stiff, rushed, or disconnected.
It’s Nervous-System Friendly
Pilates emphasizes breath and control rather than speed and intensity. That makes it a wonderful practice for building strength without overstimulating your system. In a world where many of us spend much of our time in a stressed, “go-go-go” state, the nervous system needs activities that support the parasympathetic response — sometimes called rest-and-digest mode — which is responsible for repair, recovery, and overall balance. The steady pace, mindful breathing, and focused movements in Pilates help shift the body out of stress mode and into a more regulated state. This not only makes exercise feel more sustainable, but also supports better sleep, improved digestion, clearer thinking, and a deeper sense of calm and resilience.
Why It’s So Accessible
One of the most beautiful things about Pilates mat work is that it meets you where you are.
You don’t need fancy equipment.
You don’t need to be flexible.
You don’t need prior experience.
Exercises can be learned through a series of building blocks to be more supportive or more challenging, making mat work appropriate for beginners and advanced movers alike.
March Matness: The Perfect Time to Start
March Matness is an invitation to return to the foundations. It’s a reminder that consistent, mindful movement builds strength that feels supportive, not punishing.
If you’ve been curious about Pilates, this is your sign. Start simple. Focus on your breath. Let the small, controlled movements teach your body how to move with more ease and stability.
Strong doesn’t have to mean intense.
Sometimes strong begins on the mat — one steady breath at a time.
Ready to Experience March Matness for Yourself?
At PeaceFull Living, we’re celebrating March Matness with a special Pilates Mat Challenge designed to help you build steady, supportive strength from the inside out.
This experience is available online through our PeaceFull Essentials video library, so you can participate wherever life takes you — from the comfort of your home, a quiet moment at the office, or even your hotel room while traveling. All you need is a little floor space and a mat.
You’ll move through a series of guided mat classes that focus on deep core stability, healthy hips and spine, and the kind of strength that helps you feel more grounded in everyday life.
Whether you’re brand new to Pilates or returning to the basics, this challenge is a beautiful way to stay consistent, feel supported, and grow stronger at your own pace.
Join us on the mat and discover how small, intentional movements can create powerful change — one breath, one exercise, one day at a time.
About The Author
Roberta Hughes is a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher, facial reflexology specialist, and a meditation and yoga instructor. She is the founder of PeaceFull Living—a wellness space devoted to helping people slow down, tune in, and become intentional about self care. With a personalized approach, Roberta empowers her clients to prioritize their well-being through mindful movement and healing practices that include Pilates, facial reflexology, and yoga.
Roberta is passionate about helping individuals build sustainable wellness habits, whether through in-person sessions or by creating a nurturing home practice using the PeaceFull Essentials video library. This on-demand resource is designed to fit into even the busiest of lifestyles, offering accessible tools to support physical health, emotional balance, and inner calm.
Roberta offers complimentary consultations to help new students clarify their goals and select the best path forward. If you're ready to reconnect with yourself and create space for wellness in your life, visit the PeaceFull Living website to get started.