Breathing in Pilates is essential.
Breath leads the movement and gives it Power.
It delivers Oxygen to your body, works out your lungs and blood flows efficiently.
It maintains your heart rate and movement balance, whereas the connection of body&mind is doing its magic, its therapeutic trick. That is to clarify and calm your mind, reduce stress levels, increase your perception of movement and the parts of your body facilitating it, as well as it paves the way to a greater and more holistic experience.
If you are attending a Pilates class, mat or equipment, don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by breathing. It is important to develop and combine it through your exercises, but give your self some time to get use to it, and slowly be part of your unconscious movement. Doing that will let you take advantage of the natural contraction of the abdominal muscles on the exhale and the overall expansion in length and width on the inhale. Predominantly in a Pilates class we use lateral breathing, where you expand your ribcage and back to allow for a full circle of air. By breathing during your Pilates exercises you also lengthen and decompress your spine. Here is what Joseph Pilates said to help you understand the type of imagery used in breathing.
"To breath correctly you must completely exhale and inhale, always trying very hard to “squeeze” every atom of impure air from your lungs in much the same manner that you would wring every drop of water from a wet cloth." - Joseph Pilates from Return to Life Through Contrology
As instructors, be wary of how much attention you spend on getting breathing correct, as opposed to the right movement pattern. The way that you instruct your class will largely impact the amount of focus your clients will have on certain proponents of their Pilates.
"To properly deflate the lungs is an art in itself and this final step in correct breathing is least understood. ...It is seldom, if ever, taught unless the individual is privately coached by one who understands what is really is all about." - Joseph Pilates from Your Health
Instructing and using different techniques to facilitate a proper breathing pattern, is to first understand our selves as teachers why and how. With the use of imagery, I personally find is a great way to give out information about breathing, while my class might be in the middle of a ‘hundreds’ exercise. Make it simple, with fun tips so it’s something that a client will ‘want’ to improve, instead of ‘have’ to do.
E.D.
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