Parkinson’s, Dopamine, and the Gut
Why Classical Pilates Matters — and Why Most People Miss the Point
I read an article this morning about Parkinson’s disease and dopamine, and it stuck with me. Not because it was new, but because it reminded me how often we skip the body when we talk about the brain. We talk chemicals. We talk prescriptions. We forget movement.
Here’s the part that matters: dopamine doesn’t just live in your head. It lives in your gut.
This post was sparked by this article from The Epoch Times:
I teach this every day. Dopamine is largely produced in the gut. Once you understand that, the conversation about health, mood, posture, and movement changes.
Where dopamine is actually made
Dopamine is active in the brain, but most of it is produced in the gut, inside the enteric nervous system—the dense web of nerves lining the digestive tract. This system talks to the brain constantly through the vagus nerve.
That communication affects how we move, how we feel, how motivated we are, and how well the nervous system regulates itself. When dopamine is low, it isn’t always a mindset problem.
Often, it’s a gut–brain problem.
Parkinson’s is not just a brain issue
Parkinson’s disease has long been treated as a brain disorder, and the brain is involved. But research now shows that gut dysfunction can show up years before the classic motor symptoms.
That matters.
If dopamine signaling is tied to gut movement, pressure, rhythm, and nerve communication, then it makes sense to look at practices that support those systems. Not as cures. As support.
That’s where Pilates comes in—real Pilates.
What Pilates actually is (and what it is not)
Let me say this plainly.
I am not talking about trendy Pilates.
I am not talking about fancy choreography on machines.
I am not talking about burning muscles to exhaustion.
That kind of exercise might make you tired. It does not organize the nervous system.
I am talking about classical Pilates.
Classical Pilates is a system. It has order. It has progression. You move from lying down to seated to kneeling to standing. You move the spine through flexion, extension, rotation, and lateral movement. And you do it all while maintaining deep internal stability.
Everything starts in the powerhouse—the transverse abdominis, pelvic floor, diaphragm, deep spinal support, and glutes.
This work was never about how you look.
It was about how the body functions.
How classical Pilates supports dopamine in the gut
Here’s where we stop being vague and start being literal.
The enteric nervous system responds to mechanical input. Pressure. Movement. Rhythm. Breath. Not affirmations. Not motivation. Input.
When you contract the transverse abdominis correctly, you draw the abdominal wall inward and create intra-abdominal pressure. That pressure rhythmically compresses and decompresses the intestines. Nerves in the gut wall are stimulated. Circulation improves.
In plain language: you are massaging your gut from the inside.
Breath makes this stronger. Classical Pilates requires a full exhale. When you empty the lungs, the diaphragm rises and the abdominal contents are gently compressed. That compression sends clear signals through the enteric nervous system.
Then there’s the spine.
Many classical Pilates exercises place you on your belly, rolling across your spine, or articulating it one vertebra at a time. That’s not an accident. Those movements massage the gut from the outside while stimulating spinal nerves from the inside. Gut, spine, brain—talking again.
All of this stimulates the vagus nerve, the main communication line between the gut and the brain. When that line is active, the nervous system shifts toward regulation. That’s the environment dopamine needs to function well.
Pilates doesn’t force dopamine.
It creates the conditions where dopamine signaling can work.
Why control matters more than intensity
Classical Pilates is not slow.
It is controlled. The exhale is controlled and timed…
Controlled, precise, pressure-based, and rhythmic—because the nervous system responds to order. The enteric nervous system responds to order.
Pilates is order.
It is a mind-body movement system.
Random resistance and fatigue-based workouts don’t create the same internal pressure or gut stimulation. Without deep abdominal control, full exhalation, spinal articulation, and progression, you don’t get these benefits.
If your goal is mood support, nervous system regulation, and dopamine health, you need the system—and you need proper instruction. That means working with a classically trained instructor through a reputable program such as Peak Pilates.
Why this matters now
We live in a sedentary world. Sitting all day. Shallow breathing. Collapsed posture. Disconnected guts.
Low dopamine follows.
So we medicate. SSRIs. Mood stabilizers. Sometimes necessary. Sometimes helpful. But here’s the honest question:
If dopamine is largely produced in the gut, why are we ignoring movement that stimulates the gut?
Classical Pilates isn’t about long, lean muscles. That’s a side effect. The real benefit is that the gut is involved in every movement. The powerhouse never shuts off. The nervous system stays engaged.
When the gut moves, the nervous system organizes.
When the nervous system organizes, mood improves.
People stand taller. They breathe better. They feel better.
That’s not vanity.
That’s physiology.
The takeaway
Let’s be clear.
Pilates does not cure Parkinson’s disease.
But classical Pilates—done as a system, with control, breath, pressure, and order—can support gut function, vagus nerve activity, posture, coordination, mood, and nervous system health.
That’s more than aesthetics.
That’s real health.
This morning’s article got me thinking.
Teaching keeps me honest.
And the body keeps telling the truth
research & ReadinG
This post was inspired by current research and journalism on dopamine, Parkinson’s disease, and the gut–brain axis, including work and articles from The Epoch Times, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Harvard Health Publishing, and peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Reviews Neuroscience and Frontiers in Neuroscience, which explore dopamine signaling, the enteric nervous system, vagus nerve function, and the role of movement in neurological regulation.
