Lateral breathing
Breathing into the sides of the ribcage allows the lungs to fill to their maximum capacity so increasing the oxygen intake to the whole body. Toxins that are related to fatigue are eliminated faster. Pilates teaches you to use your thoracic and back muscles in order to enable you to fully expand the chest and ribs.

The rhythm of the breathing during Pilates is in general; breathe in to prepare for movement, breathe out as you move.

Try this exercise:

  • Wrap a stretch band around the middle of the back crossing it under your breasts and hold each end lightly. Breathe in to the band taking care not to breathe into the top of the chest.

  • On the out breath help to empty the lungs by lightly pulling on the band tightening it around the chest.

  • This type of breathing can take a while to tame, we are so used to breathing superficially that changing our habits needs a bit of time.

    • Neutral Pelvis
    When your pelvis is in neutral the asis (Anterior Superior Iliac Spine) being the two prominences of the hips and the pubis are all on the same plane. If you place the heels of your hands on these hip bones and the finger tips joining on the pubic bone they should be level .Slowly tilt the Pelvis back (you will feel lower back come into contact with floor) then slowly tilt it forwards (Lower back comes off the mat) come into the middle and place your hands as indicated above to check you are level.

    Once neutral pelvis has been found your spine will automatically find its natural curves and will be also in neutral as a result of the correct positioning of the Pelvis.

    Zipping
    The term zipping and hollowing is a term which will become very familiar over the next few months. The zipping that we refer to is a word used to help you visualise the lifting of your Pelvic floor as if stopping a wee in mid flow.

    The Pelvic floor is a sling shaped muscle that supports the weight of your organs, it is often neglected or even not acknowledged at all.

    The effect of pulling your Pelvic floor up stimulates the engaging of the postural muscles necessary to promote stability of the torso. But we need the hollowing action as well to ensure total core stability.

    Hollowing
    We use this word (among others) to encourage the sinking of the tummy button towards the spine which is obviously not possible but is enough to fire up the Tranversus.

    The Transversus is your "Girdle of strength" muscle that wraps round your tummy and in association with the muscles of the spine stabilises your whole trunk, these are postural muscles designed to hold you up throughout the day.

    Zipping and Hollowing
    The association of these two actions are going to give you the perfect stable base from which you can move safely, correctly and smoothly. This is called core stability.