Uncle Joe (Pilates) was an interesting fellow. He had some unusual ideas about cleanliness and sleep and a few other things. But he also was good at noticing the subtle little things that make big differences. Pilates exercise instructions all include breath. How and when we breathe can promote or inhibit our movement.
Now, when we are first learning an exercise, we might have plenty to think about with all our too many body parts to consider our breath. This is fine. As long as we do continue to breathe, we’re going to be all right. However, once we’ve sorted out where our knees go and we’ve figured out that ears and shoulders are not the same thing, we can begin to notice our breath, too.
Our inhalations help us when we want to control the “easy” part of an exercise (the “eccentric contraction” in fancy trainer-speak, or the part where we lower a weight or work with gravity rather than against it). They help us when we want to extend our spines, as we do when we bend backwards. Inhalations help us find length in our bodies and space.
Exhalations help us on the “hard” parts, the pushing parts. We exhale to contract our cores for chest lifts, roll-ups, and the like. Those exhalations help us flex our spines, bending forward.
If you don’t believe me, try it out! There are a few folks out there whose bodies don’t follow the general rules and you might be one of them. But most of us will find that Joe has a point. No matter what: keep breathing!
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