How to breathe.

Didn't know there was much to think about, huh?

Ideally, we use our diaphragm to aid in respiration.  The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle (a core muscle, actually!) that separates the chest cavity (the contents of the ribcage) from the abdominal cavity (all those organs that keep you alive).  If you breathe 'correctly', the diaphragm flattens and contracts as the lungs inflate with air, and the ribcage expands.  Another term for this is 'belly breathing' because the abdomen should noticeably expand as the diaphragm contracts on an inhale, as if the air is traveling to the belly.  This is how you should be breathing in every day life, in most athletic endeavors, in many Yoga classes, and just to relax.  How do you know if you're doing this?  Lie on your back, one hand on the abdomen, other hand on the chest.  Without overthinking, take a big breath.  If the hand on the chest rises, nope.  If the hand on the belly rises, that's it.  If you're having trouble feeling this, take a deep inhale again, focusing on inflating the abdomen, almost as if you are trying to get the air to travel all the way down to your toes.  Relax the neck and shoulders.  

But, if you are actively trying to contract your abdominal muscles, and to hold that contraction you'll have to breathe differently, and not into the belly.  In Pilates we call this posterior-lateral breathing: breathing into the sides and back of the ribcage.  

How?  Place your hands on the sides of the ribcage.  Pardon the cheesy example here, but imagine that you are putting on a pair of jeans that you left in the dryer for too long.  That's right, as much as I hate to say this for its lack of finesse, "suck in your abs".  Think: pull your bellybutton towards your spine.  Hold that contraction as you inhale and as you exhale.  Now, keep going but make it more of a 30% contraction, not like you have a vice grip around your waist, or so much that you stop breathing entirely.  Just hold a subtle but noticeable contraction of the abdominals, specifically the area around your bellybutton and below.  As you hold this contraction and continue to breathe, try to feel the sides of the ribcage pressing in to your hands, and the backs of the ribs pressing into the floor as you inhale.  As you exhale, the ribcage should contract sideways, and slightly lighten up off the floor.  Note: pay attention to your neck, chest and shoulders.  They should still be relaxed and free of tension.  This is why it is called posterior-lateral breathing: you breathe into the sides and the back of the body.

Once you have the hang of this, try to incorporate it into Pilates, or really any abdominal work.  Start with a plank.  Maybe you've been doing it all along but never really clued in to the different kinds of breathing, or even knew that there were different ways of breathing.  That's what Pilates is all about: teaching you to be aware of the powerful machine that houses your soul, and learning how to use it more efficiently.