Basic principles of Pilates – Breathing, part 1

The eight principles of Pilates were outlined in the last post. These eight principles are, control, breath, flowing movement, precision, centering, stability, range of motion and opposition. We will look at breathing in this issue.

The general rule with breathing in Pilates is to breathe out on the effort. When you don’t breathe, muscles become tense. Proper breathing helps the body stretch and release tension. This will help promote optimal body control. Breathing supports the following ideas in Pilates. Oxygenation releases tense muscles: When we breathe effectively, oxygen flowed into our blood which flows through our muscles. More oxygen in the muscles means more relaxed muscles. The more effective our breathing in Pilates the more we can release tense muscles that are being recruited to help with a particular exercise.

Heightens concentration:  For each exercise in Pilates there is a breath pattern. A major benefit of this is the concentration gained performing the specific breath pattern for each exercise.

Activation of stability muscles: Exhaling deeply encourages the activation of the deep abdominal muscles, transverse abdominus. These muscles are essential in Pilates. Proper breath and muscular stabilization should occur before movement is performed. This will allow for a more safe and efficient movement.

What NOT to do when breathing in Pilates:

1. Breathing in just the upper part of the rib cage tends to overwork the superficial breathing muscles and we end up getting tense.
2. Breathing low, deep in to the abdominals, diaphragmatic breathing, relaxes the abdominal wall leaving the back unsupported and vulnerable for injury.

Three dimensional breathing of Pilates: think of expanding the ribcage in all three directions, up, out to the sides and towards the back. In our everyday life when we breathe our ribcage expands towards the front and up. However, our ribcage wraps around to the back of our body and encases our lungs. So, it is possible for our lungs to fill up with air and expand our ribcage out to the back and sides, areas of ribcage that aren’t used as often. Breathing in this manner involves breathing in to the lower lobs of the lungs. This may be difficult at first but the patience and practice required to achieve this type of three dimensional breathing is worth is as the result is more efficient gas exchange.

Anatomical breathing pattern in Pilates: On the inhale, the spine slightly extends and the ribs open up a little. On the exhale, the spine flexes a little and the ribs close in and downwards.

So, the “rules” for breathing when performing Pilates exercises is, in any exercise when there is a spinal flexion (a crunch like action) in Pilates, we exhale. In any exercise where there is an extension of the spine, we inhale. Once you are comfortable with this, you can challenge yourself by reversing the “rules”.

There are different styles of Pilates and as a result the basic principles may differ slightly depending on the style.  Some of the eight basic principles above may be combined or enhanced to suit modern day.  For example, the Stott Pilates method has 5 basic principles but they are rooted in these above 8 basic principles.   The 5 principles Stott Pilates has developed are breathing, neutral vs imprint position for the pelvis, ribcage placement, head and cervical placement and scapular stabilization.