Breath is a core principle of Pilates. Joseph Pilates himself would say
‘in da air, out da air’
(with his German accent). Breath is a big part of movement and in Pilates, we focus on deep breaths by filling the lungs, watching the rib cage rise and then the stomach. I find this type of breathing easy when I’m doing Pilates as that is how I am trained but in my everyday life, it’s not something I do naturally.
We all get busy with life, kids, parents, work, events – all these things place a demand on our time and when we stop to connect with our body and mind our breath becomes shallow. Short, sharp breaths into the top part of our lungs, without ever filling the body with the oxygen that we need to relax and thrive.
I find that I hear my clients say “if I can just get through… this week, this business meeting, this family event... then I can relax”. There is a lot of shallow breathing that happens, the day-to-day frustrations of email, traffic congestion and demands on our precious time. But we don’t have to just get “through it”. We can take some deep breaths and help calm the monkey mind running a million miles an hour with never-ending to-do lists.
Clients come into Wellspring Pilates and for a short time, there is a reprieve from the pinging of mobile phones, no emails to answer, just a deep connection with the body and mind through breath. These deep breaths help us with difficult Pilates movements and often provide stability for a movement as the abdominals are activated on the exhalation breath.
Deep breathing into the belly calms our mind and re-centres our body for the weekly challenge ahead.
So remember to breathe and don’t be afraid to make it loud!
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