Pilates Breathing

Pilates breathing can be difficult to get the hang of. And there seems to be different and evolving ideas as to what Pilates breathing is and how to do it. It takes a lot of practice! If you've been trying to get it down, here are some pointers... To begin with, the breathing is easier to do laying on your back with feet flat on the floor rather than sitting up. Place the hands on the lower belly, just below the navel. Breathe in while completely relaxed, then breathe out thinking of pulling that lower belly in. After a few breathes, hold the lower belly in and move to directing the breath into the rib cage. This can be hard because so many of us are tight in the intercostal muscles, those tiny muscles between the ribs. To get a deep thoracic, or rib cage, breath, you have to think about breathing into your sides and upper back. Place the hands on the sides of the lower ribs and breathe into them expanding the rib cage wide to the sides as much as possible before raising your chest. Imagery can help. Imagine the rib cage to be a balloon that expands in ALL directions when inflated. Imagine filling the lungs with air from the bottom to the top. To hold the lower belly in, you can imagine you have a tight pair of pants or that you really have to pee and are holding it in. (The 'holding it in' one does really work well.) There are lots of ideas about when to breathe through the mouth and nose; do what seems natural to you. Just focus on expelling as much air as possible on each exhale. A video tutorial will be posted at http://www.pilatesbyphyllys.com/ soon!