How to Breathe in Pilates
Summary
TLDRThis video script addresses a common Pilates question: how to engage the abdominals while breathing. The instructor emphasizes the importance of practice and persistence. Joseph Pilates advocated for full exhalation to strengthen respiratory muscles but did not focus much on breathing techniques. The script offers tips on breathing with the stomach pulled in, including exercises for lateral and back breathing to expand lung capacity. It also introduces the 'breathisizer,' a tool created by Pilates for opera singers to improve lung capacity and muscle strength, suggesting that re-coordination of breathing is a mental task that continues throughout one's Pilates journey.
Takeaways
- 🧘♀️ Practice is essential for mastering the art of breathing with the abdominals pulled in during Pilates.
- 🎼 Joseph Pilates did not emphasize breathing techniques extensively but focused on expelling all air to strengthen respiratory muscles.
- 👐 Begin by placing hands on the lower belly and breathing naturally, imagining lungs as balloons filling up to the base of the pelvis.
- 🔗 Connect with lower abdominals by pulling them in, lengthening the lower back, and maintaining this position while breathing in and out.
- 💨 Understand that a slight lift while keeping abdominals in is normal as air fills the lungs.
- 🌬 Shift focus to lateral and back breathing to expand lung capacity, avoiding the front of the body which is the usual breathing pattern.
- 🤲 Place hands on the sides of the body to practice breathing into the sides, allowing the hands to expand sideways as the ribs open.
- 🙌 Feel the difference when placing hands under the lower back, focusing on the heaviness of the fingers as you breathe in and out.
- 🧠 Recognize that coordinating new breathing spaces is a mental task and should be gradually incorporated into Pilates practice.
- 🗝️ The 'breathisizer' is a tool created by Joseph Pilates for opera singers to help expel all air from the lungs and expand lung capacity.
- 💪 Strengthening respiratory muscles is a part of Pilates, even if not frequently discussed, and is a lifelong practice.
Q & A
Why is it challenging to keep abdominals pulled in while breathing in Pilates?
-It is challenging because it requires practice and persistence to master the skill of breathing with the abdominals engaged, which is a common question among Pilates practitioners.
Did Joseph Pilates emphasize breathing techniques in his original Pilates method?
-Joseph Pilates did not talk about breathing a lot in his original method. He focused more on getting all the air out to strengthen the muscles of respiration.
What is the purpose of breathing exercises in Pilates?
-The purpose of breathing exercises in Pilates is to strengthen the muscles of respiration and to expand the capacity of the lungs by using lateral and back breathing techniques.
How should one start practicing breathing with the lower abdominals engaged?
-One should start by placing their hands on the lower belly and doing a natural breath, imagining the lungs filling up like giant balloons, and then gradually connecting to the lower abdominals while keeping them pulled in during inhalation and exhalation.
Outlines
🧘♀️ Mastering Breathing Techniques in Pilates
This paragraph discusses the common challenge of maintaining abdominal engagement during Pilates breathing exercises. The instructor emphasizes the importance of practice and persistence. Joseph Pilates, the founder, did not extensively discuss breathing but focused on full exhalation to strengthen respiratory muscles. The instructor then introduces techniques for breathing with the stomach pulled in, starting with a natural breath and progressing to engaging the lower abdominals while maintaining this position. The paragraph also touches on the concept of lateral and back breathing to expand lung capacity, which is different from the typical front-opening breathing pattern. Various hand placements are suggested to assist with these breathing exercises.
🎭 Breathing Exercises and the Breath-A-Lizer
The second paragraph continues the discussion on breathing in Pilates, offering additional insights and a historical note. The instructor suggests that beginners should focus on basic breathing and abdominal engagement without overcomplicating their practice. The paragraph concludes with an introduction to the 'breath-a-lizer,' a device invented by Joseph Pilates to aid opera singers in maximizing lung capacity and clearing the lungs. The device is used by spinning a wheel while inhaling deeply, promoting full exhalation. The instructor encourages viewers to practice this technique using a makeshift pinwheel or their hand to compress air, and to share any questions or comments about the class.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Abdominals
💡Breathing
💡Pilates
💡Practice
💡Lower Abdominals
💡Lateral Breathing
💡Back Breathing
💡Joseph Pilates
💡Opera Singers
💡Breathisizer
💡Engagement
Highlights
Keeping abdominals pulled in while breathing in Pilates takes practice and persistence.
Joseph Pilates did not emphasize breathing much in his teachings.
Pilates breathing focuses on getting all the air out to strengthen respiratory muscles.
Place hands on lower belly and do a natural breath to start.
Inhale to the base of pelvis and exhale fully to practice normal breathing.
Connect to lower abdominals and try breathing in while keeping them pulled in.
Breathing with abdominals pulled in may feel different and vague at first.
Some abdominal lift is normal when breathing in with them pulled in.
In Pilates, make space on sides and back of lungs, not just front.
Lateral and back breathing expands lung capacity.
Place hands on sides to practice breathing into sides and expanding ribs.
Breathing in with one hand on side and other on low belly helps coordinate.
Place hands under lower back to feel expansion when breathing in.
Coordinating new breathing spaces is a mental task in Pilates.
As a beginner, focus on breathing and keeping lower abs engaged without overthinking.
The Breathisizer is a tool Joseph Pilates created for opera singers to expand lung capacity.
Use a pinwheel or hand to practice Breathisizer technique of compressing air.
Practicing Breathisizer helps strengthen respiratory muscles.
Transcripts
attack
if you're wondering how the heck to keep
your abdominals pulled in while
breathing in Pilates you're not alone
this is a super common question and the
answer is I'm going to give you some
tips but the answer is it takes practice
and persistence so that's my number one
tip is you're going to keep practicing
these skills okay Joseph Pilates
actually did not talk about breathing a
lot in Pilates he did have a device and
I'll show you I'll show you in the end
that he worked with with his opera
singers but um when he talked about
breathing it was much more about just
get all of the air out and that actually
helps to strengthen the muscles of
respiration so I'm going to show you
some tricks though on how to breathe
with your stomach in
um lying down
you're gonna start by just placing your
hands on your lower belly and in a
really relaxed way don't think about
pulling in your stomach at all right now
just do a natural breath imagining that
your lungs are two giant pink balloons
and you're filling them all the way up
to the bottom so inhale to the base of
your pelvis
let everything expand
and then exhale all that air out
okay so that's a natural normal Breath
Right
next we're going to try to connect to
our lower abdominals and then keeping
the lower abdominals in we'll try a
breath like that so pull in your lower
abs lengthen your lower back and holding
on to that position
breathe in and keep your lower abs
pulled in
and exhale
now you might have felt something was a
little bit different there maybe it's
very vague for you at this point and
that's okay you might also have felt
like you could keep your abdominals
pulled in but there was still a little
bit of a lift and that's actually fine
because there's air going in there and
there is going to be some slight change
you can't keep them like Rock Solid hard
um so that's that's normal
um just keeping that in mind now I'm
going to talk about where else to
breathe when you're trying to keep your
abdominals engaged because normally we
breathe all the way down and open the
front of our bodies to breathe so in
Pilates when you're connecting to your
abs you're going to try to make more
space on the sides and back of your
lungs than just in the front which is
what we're normally doing and by doing
this that lateral side breathing and
back breathing we're actually expanding
the capacity of our lungs so this is a
good thing also we're lying down for
most of these breathing exercises and
that's helpful too okay so so now we're
going to place the hands on the sides of
the body and practice that lengthening
of the uh pulling in of the lower
stomach while lengthening of the lumbar
spine and breathe into your sides so
that your hands expand sideways breathe
in
foreign
and try that one more time with just one
hand on your side and the other hand on
low belly breathe in
and breathe out
so you might feel your ribs opening
sideways and coming back together that's
good okay so then the last part we're
going to place our hands a little lower
under the lower back part and when you
breathe in try and feel your fingers if
your skin gets heavier on your fingers
so breathe in
and breathe out
and try it with one hand on your stomach
breathe in
and breathe out
so as you can feel there are places for
us to breathe and this coordinating of
being able to breathe in into these new
spaces is actually quite a mental task
so in the beginning of Pilates we don't
tend to talk about it a ton because as
teachers we know you've got a lot to
think about if you're simply breathing
that's great and thinking about keeping
your lower abdominals engaged you're
doing awesome so just keep practicing
that trying to re-coordinate it I even
forget to do this myself so it's a
practice that you'll continue to use
throughout your Pilates life the last
thing I wanted to share with you because
it's a fun little fact is this
breathisizer and this is a tool that
Joseph Pilates created when he was
working with opera singers and it's a
tool like I said he would talk about
when he described breathing getting all
the air out of the lungs in order to
empty dirty stuff in the bottom of lungs
clean things out and then it when you
breathe in again it expands and opens
new space so you would do it like this
you take a deep inhale
and try and spin the wheel as long as
you can
[Applause]
that wasn't my best effort but you get
the idea you can practice this yourself
with any kind of a pinwheel or you can
just make your hand
um have a nice little bit of a hole so
you can breathe through it you're just
basically compressing your air
[Applause]
and you're really getting all the air
out so that's a fun little fact
um to practice and it helps to expand
your lung capacity and strengthen those
muscles as well uh you can leave me any
questions below this class if you have
comments or thoughts about that and I
hope this helps you with your Pilates
practice
attack
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