The importance of modern breathing technique in Pilates, and the benefits when practiced on Pilates Apparatus - By Loraine Prokopiou


The breath is an essential part of any Pilates practise and is considered to be one of the many principles of Pilates. While Joseph Pilates did indeed implore everyone to “breathe correctly” he didn’t actually fully explain what that meant. 

I have often heard the story that Joseph Pilates would say “you must OUT the air to IN the air” encouraging a full exhale to then fully inhale, which I think is why we often hear the forced expiration in Pilates classes. Unfortunately, I believe this can lead to over-breathing - blowing off too much carbon dioxide. Whilst our muscles need oxygen to work, more oxygen is not necessarily better. We do in fact need some carbon dioxide to be able to offload oxygen to the mitochondria (the energy giving cells) in the muscles. 

This is called the Bohr effect. 

For more information on the Bohr effect:
Don’t get me wrong; a forced expiration can be a really useful tool to bring the focus of attention to a particular muscle group, usually the abdominals, in preparing the body for hard work. My query comes when we are exaggerating the exhale for no apparent reason. In life our breath should match the activity, so if we are resting quietly in a chair, our breath will be quiet and calm, if we are running for a bus, our breath needs to match the body’s needs. Likewise if we were to lift a heavy weight we could use a forced exhalation to prepare and brace the body for the exertion.

As Pilates teachers, I sometimes think we have got into the habit of making a loud exhale to remind students when to breathe out - our students then copy that behaviour. I have been in classes where the breathing is so loud it sounds like there’s a train coming! 

One of my respiratory physiotherapy friends tells me that she sees several patients that have developed hyperventilation (an over breathing pattern) since starting Pilates or yoga. She has to encourage them to re-learn their natural breathing pattern and leave the Pilates or yoga breath patterns at the studio door. Maybe as instructors we should rethink how we teach any breathing exercises, and what advise we give, in terms of breathing in everyday life.

The nose is for breathing, the mouth is for eating (or kissing?!)

In an ideal world we breathe through the nose as not only will this filter, warm and humidify the air before it reaches our lungs, it also helps deliver nitric oxide to the blood.  Nitric oxide, not to be confused with nitrous oxide (laughing gas), is a very important gas in the body which helps deliver oxygen to the blood and dilates blood vessels.  The discovery of the benefits of nitric oxide (originally thought of as a toxic gas) led to the development of Viagra - so you get the idea what it does to blood vessels. Nitric oxide is released into the nasal cavities, then as the air goes through these nasal cavities it helps to deliver nitric oxide to the lungs and into the blood.

For more information on nitric oxide:

I would say in general during Pilates classes we tend to teach “in through the nose and out through the mouth”, perhaps even through pursed lips to force the exhale and engage the abdominals. I’m trying to re-learn my Pilates breath with full nasal breathing – so both in and out of the nose. By exhaling through the nose, I feel I’m getting a more controlled abdominal muscle engagement avoiding the gripping that can sometimes happen. When I’m exercising, whether it’s Pilates or another activity I believe the breath and the muscular contraction should be appropriate to the exercise. So if I’m doing sprint training I’d be likely to end up breathing through the mouth,  but if it’s just a leisure walk I should be able to breathe through the nose. 

The breath connects the mind and body - Interoception

Interoception is the conscious awareness of the brain and body dialogue. Pilates definitely taps into this dialogue as we focus the brain into full awareness and control of our movements, including the breath as we exercise.  It can be such an amazing feeling to coordinate the breath and the movement as we work through our Pilates practise. I will say though that sometimes that co-ordination can be too much to think about, especially for beginners, and in this case I would say just allow the breathing to happen and focus on the movements and what they feel like in the body. You can always layer the particular breath patterns later on. 

For more information about interoception:

Bucket handles and pump handles

That co-ordination of breath and movement is a focused and controlled way of moving. Generally in Pilates we will extend the spine on an inhale and flex on an exhale. When I was at physiotherapy school we were taught that the movements in the thorax whilst breathing works a little like bucket handles and pump handles. So think of the ribs as bucket handles attaching at the breast bone at the front of the body, and the spine at the back of the body - when we inhale those bucket handles come up and out encouraging spinal extension, and as they release, flexion. Then consider the breast bone like an old fashioned water pump as we inhale the pump handle lifts, encouraging spinal extension, and as it releases, flexion. 

Generally that inhale to extend, and exhale to flex works really nicely, but I don’t like to impose hard and fast rules, sometimes we can reverse the breath for a different challenge, or we just have to allow the breath to happen while we focus on getting the movement patterns right, before we can add the breath patterns on top.

Exercises on Pilates Apparatus assist breathing

1. Step Barrel - Back breathing 
Generally our breath can be quite shallow and focused more into the apices (the top) of the lungs. In this flexed and supported position over the barrel, we can really feel the breath into the back of the body and into the bases of the lungs. There’s a sense of opening through the lumbar spine with the inhale which can help bring an awareness of a deeper breath. 



2. Wunda Chair - Mermaid with legs extended
 A side bend is a great way to get a sense of opening up through the intercostal muscles (muscles between the ribs) using the chair in this version of the mermaid we shorten the underside (right) side flexor muscles, pressing into the resistance of the spring-loaded pedal. At the same time, we get a corresponding opening of the upper side (left) side flexor muscles along with those intercostal muscles. In this clip I work a four-breath pattern, you could also hold the pedal down and focus the breath into that upper side really trying to feel the opening through that side of the rib cage. 


3. Tower - Roll back with legs straight 
The roll up on the mat is a notoriously challenging exercise - often there’s that “sticky” section in the middle where we are working hard against gravity usually at the point we’re trying to get the lumbar spine off the mat. The roll-down bar really assists the exercise here so we can get into more of a flowing movement and let the breath flow easily through the body. I work a four-breath pattern again here, but there are other options - exhale to roll down, inhale to roll up (a two breath); or reverse that pattern, so inhale roll down, exhale roll up; or you could hold the forward flexion position as you reach for the stretch over the legs and then breathe - focusing the breath into the back of the body. 


4. Reformer - Elephant arabesque 
The elephant with or without the arabesque is a lovely eccentric hamstring exercise. The arabesque version shown here really brings the focus into that standing leg whilst maintaining stability and control through the rest of the body. We use the breath to exhale as the carriage returns so that we can encourage engagement of the abdominals to maintain a neutral pelvis whilst eccentrically working the hamstrings to control the reformer.


Whether you’re working on the mat or Pilates equipment I encourage you to explore your breath - try breathing through the nose during your practise - notice it can be a real challenge to change those habits. Does the engagement of the abdominals feel different when you exhale through the nose compared to the mouth? Also notice how the breathing brings your awareness into your body finding that interoception. Lastly, remember that the Pilates police won’t get you, so enjoy your breath and movement in whichever way feels good to you.

About Loraine Prokopiou:



Loraine qualified as a physiotherapist in 1995 and became interested in Pilates whilst doing a postgraduate muscle balance course. Loraine is a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) and an Advanced Level 3 Instructor on the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs). She also has a Master of Science degree in Applied Human Science. Loraine worked for the NHS as an outpatient physiotherapist for 16 years. As well as teaching for Mbodies Training Academy Loraine also now combines physiotherapy and Pilates on a private basis.

All Mbodies Pilates Apparatus courses are taught with full attention to breathing patterns:

For information about Mbodies Training Academy visit: https://www.mbodiesacademy.com/

For Online Pilates Teacher Training visit:  https://mbodies.thinkific.com/














 

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