CORRECT BREATHING FOR PILATES

The one thing that confuses most people in Pilates is the breathing.  Breathing is a natural, spontaneous, subconscious process, something we pay little attention to during our day to day life.  Put us in a Pilates class and suddenly it becomes the most confusing, difficult thing to do!  This article will hopefully answer a few questions.

Pilates breathing can be confusing

So, here are 5 points you need to remember:-

1. Thoracic Breathing:  In order to offer the greatest support to the lower back and pelvis and to enable us to maintain our neutral position, we need to engage our core muscles.  Therefore you do not want to be breathing deep, otherwise you will find that the abdomen expands and we need to draw it back, hollowing out.  So breathing into the ribcage, lateral/thoracic breathing, is vital.
2. Breathe Continuously:  Don’t hold your breath.  One of the principles of Pilates is the flowing movement and the breath dictates the speed and flow of the exercise.  You need to constantly be taking in oxygen and ridding your body of carbon dioxide.
3. Exhale on Exertion:  The general rule is that you exhale on exertion or effort.  You will find that with some exercises, such as the 100, you are exerting constantly for up to 10 complete breaths.  This particular exercise is great training for control of the breath and learning to maintain neutral position and thoracic breathing constantly to support the lower back.  You would also exhale when closing through the front of the body, e.g. rolling down or up in the roll up, arching the back to the ceiling in the cat stretch.
4. Inhale to Prepare:  For beginners, it is easier to maintain the core contraction when doing nothing or during the easier part of the exercise, e.g. inhale and lift the first leg, pause to inhale to prepare and exhale lift the second leg; or in shoulder bridge, exhale raise a foot off the mat, inhale as you bring the foot back down in preparation for the more difficult part of the exercise to come.  You would also inhale when opening up and lengthening, e.g. when lifting the head and tailbone during cat stretch; later on in swan dive, when you lengthen through the spine and raise the upper body.
5. Experiment:  Of the points above, 1 and 2 never change during your practice.  When it comes to when you inhale and exhale, suggested breathing patterns may not work for you.  You will also notice that as a beginner you may be directed to exhale and raise the upper body in spine extension, but once you start to add a side bend or full swan dive with the legs coming up, this changes.  When you first start Pilates, maintaining the core contraction on the inhalation can be a challenge, so exhaling on exertion is the way to go - simple as that.