Season 4, Episode 4: Why does everyone keep telling me to breathe?

Tania Huddart: Most of us were told to stand up straight. Chest out, shoulders back. It makes you look taller. But it gets in the way of your breathing. So try this. Imagine the very bottom of your breastbone is a light switch. Switch it on, by letting your ribs drop, just slightly. You might feel your shoulders let go.

Host: Welcome to Build Confidence and Purpose with Pilates. I'm here with Tania Huddart: Pilates teacher, teacher trainer and author of Teach Pilates with Confidence and Pilates & Purpose. Both voices you'll hear are made with AI. Every word Tania says is her own, and she's approved each one.

Last episode was about how moving helps your mood. This one is about something you've done every minute of your life. Why does everyone keep telling me to breathe?

Tania Huddart: Because most of us are breathing with half our equipment. Not wrongly. Just not fully. It's the most natural thing you do, and most of us were never taught it. And in Pilates, the breath is where everything starts.

Host: Why is it so central to Pilates?

Tania Huddart: Joseph Pilates, who created the method, put it like this. "Before any real benefit can be derived from physical exercise, one must first learn how to breathe properly."

He believed it was one of the most important things we could ever learn. And breathing is where body awareness begins. When you pay attention to your breath, you have to slow down and notice how you're moving. It keeps you in the room.

Host: So what's actually happening when I breathe in?

Tania Huddart: Your lungs fill with oxygen. Then your heart pumps that oxygen around your body, and carries the waste gas, carbon dioxide, back out. We can last far longer without food or water than without oxygen. So it's worth doing well.

Here's something people don't expect. Your lungs aren't a matching pair. The right lung is bigger, with three sections. The left one is a little smaller, with two, to make room for your heart.

Host: I didn't know that. And the diaphragm? My teacher mentions it a lot.

Tania Huddart: Your diaphragm is your main breathing muscle. It's shaped like a dome, and it sits just under your lungs. It separates your chest from your belly.

As you breathe in, it tightens and moves down, towards your pelvis. That makes room for your lungs to fill. To make the most of each breath, let your ribs widen too. Out to the sides, and into your back.

Host: And my stomach? I've always held it in.

Tania Huddart: A lot of us have. But think about it. As the diaphragm moves down, it presses on everything underneath it. So your belly muscles need to lengthen a little to make room. If you pull your belly in as you breathe in, you're asking the breath to go somewhere it can't.

The diaphragm can't move down properly. And the tension usually goes up into your shoulders. They lift, trying to find space for your lungs.

So let your belly widen as you breathe in. It doesn't need to bulge. When your rib cage and your belly expand together, the whole container gets bigger. The movement is shared over a bigger area. So no single part has to do too much.

Some breath teachers believe modern life keeps many of us tense, all day. And many people want a hard, flat belly. That makes it difficult for the diaphragm to move freely. So letting go there, for a breath, can feel strange at first. That's normal.

Host: What about breathing out?

Tania Huddart: As you breathe out, your belly muscles shorten. They help the diaphragm rise, by gently moving everything back towards your spine. Your ribs fold back in. Your breastbone softens down.

And here's the lovely part. A full out-breath sets up the next in-breath for you. You don't have to go and get it. Learning to let the air out slowly, without forcing it, is calming for your body and your mind. Slow breathing out is one of the kindest things you can do for your nervous system.

Host: Should I breathe through my nose or my mouth?

Tania Huddart: Your nose, wherever you can. In and out. Breathing out through your mouth tends to get rid of too much carbon dioxide. That sounds like a good thing, but it isn't. It makes it harder for your body to deliver oxygen to where it's needed.

That matters when you exercise, too. Most people breathe through their mouths when they're working hard. And that can lead to over-breathing, and to feeling tired. So try this. Notice when you start breathing through your mouth. Then bring the breath back to your nose. Only move as fast as you can while you keep your breath in your nose. Let your breath set the pace.

It will feel strange at first. You might have to slow down. But you'll soon be able to speed up again, and your endurance will improve. Within a month, you're likely to notice a real difference in your stamina and energy.

Host: Does how I feel change how I breathe?

Tania Huddart: It does. When we're angry or scared, we breathe more shallowly than when we're happy and relaxed. And it works the other way, too. How you hold your body changes your breath.

Good breathing depends on good alignment. When the body isn't lined up well, breathing gets less effective, and tension builds. When the whole body is aligned, you can organise yourself, and move without wasting energy.

Host: Which brings us back to "chest out, shoulders back".

Tania Huddart: It does. The most common habit that gets in the way of breathing is flaring the ribs, to stand up "straight". You lift your chest, and the bottom of your rib cage pokes forward, in front of your hips.

Katy Bowman is a biomechanist, which means she studies how bodies move. She explains that we lift our rib cage because the muscles of our chest, shoulders and arms have adapted to desk work, and to not being used much. Chest out is a quick fix for looking taller. But it doesn't solve that problem. And it stops your diaphragm working fully.

Host: So, the light switch.

Tania Huddart: The light switch. Imagine the very bottom of your breastbone is a switch. Switch it on by letting your ribs drop slightly. The bottom of your rib cage moves back, until it sits over the bony points of your hips. Run your hands down from your lowest ribs to your hip bones. You should feel a smooth line.

You may feel your shoulders relax. Keep it gentle. If you feel as if you've shrunk, or breathing feels harder, you're doing too much. Think of it as a sigh through your body. It's a sigh, not a squeeze. Find the point of relaxed comfort.

Host: And in class? What's the breath my teacher is asking for?

Tania Huddart: Breathe in through your nose, a long breath that widens your back, and your ribs out to the sides. Put your hands on either side of your rib cage. Thumbs to the back, fingers to the front. As you breathe in, feel your ribs press into your hands.

Then, as you breathe out, feel your ribs deflate. Your belly muscles draw in, like a corset, around the bones of your pelvis and your lower back. I give people two pictures. Balloon lungs, filling and emptying. And corset abdominals, slowly tightening around you. What shouldn't change is where your bones are. The muscles work. The skeleton stays put.

Host: Why does that matter so much?

Tania Huddart: Because drawing your belly in as you breathe out is the first step to the kind of strength that supports your spine. In every position it takes. Upright. Curling forward. Arching back. Bending to the side. And twisting. The muscles work differently in each one. So we train them to support you when you're still, and when you're moving.

Host: Anything a new client should know before trying it?

Tania Huddart: Yes. If this pattern is new to you, you might feel light-headed, or a little flat, after your first few sessions. Drink a few extra glasses of water on the days you do Pilates. And this is all general information. If anything about your breathing worries you, talk to your doctor.

Host: So, three things to take home?

Tania Huddart: One. Let your belly and ribs widen as you breathe in. Holding your stomach in fights your diaphragm.

Two. Breathe through your nose, and let the out-breath be slow. Let your breath set your pace.

Three. Switch on the light. Let your ribs drop gently over your hips, and notice your shoulders let go.

Host: And a question to sit with?

Tania Huddart: Next time you feel stressed this week, notice your breath. Is it high and quick? Is it in your mouth? Can you let one breath out slowly, through your nose, and see what changes?

Host: You'll find Tania's article, Breathing demystified, in the Journal at taniahuddart.com.

Next episode, the words you hear in class and quietly wonder about. What is neutral spine, and what are all these words my teacher uses?

Tania, last word?

Tania Huddart: You've been breathing all your life. You don't need to learn it from scratch. You just need to give it a little more room.