The Six Principles Of Pilates - Breath
Ironic that I have just gotten back from a walk on a glorious sunny day, the sky is blue, the clouds are puffy and the air is fresh. I spent the most part of the walk breathing as deeply as I could. Taking in as much of the fresh beautiful air as I could. It felt divine!
When it comes to breath Joseph Pilates believed that this was foundational, he said “breathing is the first act of life and the last” and of course that is true but what happens to our breath in the inbetween. Breathing is an automated process but what if that automation has become laboursome, less functional and just below par.
Lazy breathing can cause us to feel fatigued and can even lead to ill health. Breathing less efficiently can cause toxins to be left behind, causing our body to have to work harder to function and potentially affecting our response to warding off illness.
Joseph Pilates made breathing a core principle in Pilates because he believed that if we could teach everyone to breathe efficiently then we could encourage better health, more vitality and effective movement.
Each exercise in Pilates has a breath pattern that will help to facilitate the movement, encouraging us to use the breath to enhance what the body is trying to achieve. Take for instance the Hundreds, originally the warm up exercise because it helped the students to encourage proper breathing and prepare the body for movement. Breathing fully for 5 counts and then exhaling fully for 5, until the lungs are completely free of air. This helps to cleanse the body of toxins, increase the amount of oxygen circulating the body, and strengthen those muscles used for breathing.
When we practice efficient breathing regularly, within our Pilates practice, we will of course see improvement in our daily habitual breathing. We will begin to breathe more deeply without even having to think about it. Our body will gain all the oxygen it requires and be able to function at a higher level, thus improving our overall health and wellbeing.
Breathing efficiently is also linked to better posture because you can’t breathe fully when you are in a slumped state. Joseph wrote “Never slouch as doing so compresses the lungs, overcrowds other vital organs, rounds the back, and throws you off balance.” Therefore breathing better will encourage you to remain in a better posture; standing tall and opening the chest to allow for free flow of air in and out of the lungs.
We encourage the breath to expand the ribcage in Pilates, allowing us to inhale deeply whilst still maintaining connection to our deep core muscles. This is purposeful to our movement so that we can maintain centring and control whilst practicing each exercise, and still get deep inhalation and full exhalation. Vitalising the body and meeting the demand of the exercise. Joseph believed that his method would not only strengthen the body but also cleanse internally via good circulation, deep breathing and expertly designed exercises to enhance the natural function of the body.
So if you haven’t started breathing properly yet then what are you waiting for…
“By all means, never fail to get all the sunshine and fresh air you can”