Are your current breathing habits helping you stay healthy, or potentially causing back pain, shoulder pain or neck pain?  Is your current breath pattern helping improve your posture with every breath you take?

Breathing is something we take for granted.  It happens automatically to keep us alive.  Inhaling is the first thing we do when we’re born, and exhaling is the last things we do when we die.  Every minute, of every day  for our entire life, our heart beats to pump life nourishing blood through our system, and our lungs and diaphragm work to provide oxygen to our blood & cells.

It’s nice to know that we don’t have to think really hard to keep breathing and stay alive, but better breathing habits definitely have added benefits to improve our health. 

These Pilates Breathing Tips Can Help:

My dear friend and Pilates mentor, Dianne Miller, made this comment to me about breathing – and it was a revolutionary thought  that has stuck in my brain and helped focus on breathing to improve posture,  assist with the natural action of breathing for compression/decompression of the spine, improve Pilates exercise technique, and help reduce both lower back pain, and neck pain.

“Breathing elongates the natural curves of the spine.”

This is a KEY principle in allowing the breath to assist the body for improved posture & functional movement!

“Breathing elongates the natural curves of the spine.”

There Are 3 Distinct Curves of the Spine: 

1. Lumbar Curve – An arch in the lower back.  (Ideally with the apex of the curve at L3 – at the belly button.)
2. Thoracic Curve – A rounded, flexed upper back.  (So the curve of the shoulder blades can rest on the curve of the ribcage, that is attached to the curve of the spine.)
3. Cervical Curve – An arch in the neck.  (Which should mirror the arch in the Lumbar spine.)

These curves work as a balance, and shock-absorbing system as we sit, stand, walk, and run – fighting gravity all day.

What happens if your curves are not bending at the right spots? 

Balance is off, and there will be undue stress placed in other parts of the torso, neck,  and back.

For Example:

I used to be a gymnast & dancer.  Big arch in my lumbar spine, (spanned my lumbar & ½ of my thoracic curve.)  This long, over-extended arch put a lot of additional strain on my lower back.  My abs could never pull in enough or work hard enough to keep my back from hurting.  And because my thoracic curve was not in flexion, but in extension it restricted my ability to get air to the bottom of my lungs – which made me a very shallow, high-chest breather.

With this posture position, I had chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain, tight shoulders, and usually by Friday afternoons a whopping headache from trying to hold things together with tension and tight muscles in the wrong places.  In addition to this, I experienced a voice injury – because I held my head forward on my neck and there wasn’t enough free air-flow through my windpipe as I spoke for me to project my voice without strain.  But I am not alone…many people have a similar posture position to this!

• Any posture that deviates from the 3 natural curves, balanced, and changing directions at the appropriate points will have an increased risk of back pain and neck pain.
• Any posture that does not “Ride the Breath” to elongate the natural curves of the spine on an inhale, and allows the back bones  to naturally come closer together on an exhale, is missing out on the benefits of breathing for better health.

Become Aware of Your Breathing Habits:

Stand in front of a mirror and watch yourself breathe.

Where does the air go inside your body as you inhale?

• Into the Belly?
• Into the Back, Lower Ribs?
• Into the Chest?

If when you inhale air is going into the belly – you are losing the support in the front of your Lumbar Curve, and your inhale is pulling your lower back into more extension, and causing the back bones to come closer together.  Resulting in compression on your inhale AND more compression on the exhale.  Not a happy feeling for your spine!

If when you inhale air is going into your chest – you are increasing the extension of your thoracic curve.  This means your whole back is arching more, creating more tension in the mid-to-low back and eliminating the opportunity for you to fully fill your lungs with air.  Breathing will be quick and shallow.  The back muscles will be over working, and it will be difficult to get the abdominals to function for better balance and support.  The shoulders will also more-than-likely, be elevated with an increase in neck & shoulder tension, and the head forward, out of balance on the spine.

Learning to inhale and fill the Back, bottom ribs first, then continuing to fill the lungs up through the back of the torso is optimal.

In Pilates we call this Posterio-Lateral Breathing.  You are breathing into the back and sides of the ribcage.  Since the ribs are attached to the spine, if you start filling at the bottom first – the ribs will lift and separate as you fill with air.  When the ribs come apart, it gently pulls each segment of the spine apart also – opening the space between each joint and providing a natural moment of decompression. 

This Posterio-Lateral / Back Rib breathing technique will lift the ribcage up off the hips, while maintaining  and elongating the natural curves of the spine.  The result:  Better posture, reduced back pain, and an improved range of motion for functional movement.

Let’s take a look at your shoulders, neck, and head while you breathe.

Stand back in front of your mirror, and look at what your neck is doing as you breathe in.

• Do you see the front of the neck grip and tighten as you inhale?
• Do your shoulders actively hike up around your ears on your inhale?
• Does your head get closer to your shoulders as you inhale?
• Does your neck & head lengthen up and away from your shoulders?

If you see any of the first three happening as you inhale, neck muscles tighten, shoulders rise, head gets closer to your torso… you are jamming your head into your body with every breath!

Strive to carry the inhale up the spine with a relaxed neck, and continue lifting all the way up to the base of the skull.  You should feel like your head is a helium balloon floating up to the sky on your inhale.  Done well, the shoulders will rise a little, but only because you are filling with air, not because they are actively lifting.  I almost feel my shoulders go down, the farther up I fill my spine with air.

The shoulders dropping (or pulling down from the bottom tips of the shoulder blades) can be a great anchor point for leverage to ensure the lifting and elongation of the spine on your inhale. This counter-leverage may stretch your neck muscles a bit.  By keeping  your head up lighter at the top of your spine, and doing less gripping with your shoulders and neck muscles when you inhale, you will begin to notice a significant reduction in neck pain.  For me, figuring this out with my neck meant my Friday afternoon headaches went completely away!

Learning to elongate the natural curves of the spine on your inhale, and maintaining good core support on your exhale will help improve your posture, and keep your neck and back healthy.

Ideally this Posterio-Lateral Pilates breathing technique should be your everyday breathing style.

It probably won’t happen overnight!  But throughout your day, pause and take 5-10 breaths focused on feeling the lengthening of your spine, and support of your belly, with your shoulders relaxed down and your neck and head floating up.  In time, you will begin to notice that your body is naturally doing this a bit more as you are reinforcing better habits for whole-body health.

Practice this new breathing habit standing still or seated first, then apply it to everything you do for movement and exercise.  Pilates, Yoga, walking, running, dance, weight lifting, swimming, cycling, cleaning the house, mowing the yard… with everything you do – learning to breathe better is your best-friend for a healthy life!

I’ve seemed to have a flurry of issues with Pilates clients lately who are dealing with neck pain.

Pilates exercises done correctly are excellent for strengthening core muscles for support, which over time helps  to reduce neck tension.  However, sometimes getting started – newer Pilates participants can aggravate a neck problem, by not understanding, or having the strength and flexibility needed to support the body well and keep the stress out of the neck.  If you’re doing any exercise and you begin to feel stress or strain in your neck –Stop!  Better to take a break, then start to use muscles that shouldn’t be doing the work and continue to aggravate neck issues. There are hundreds (maybe thousands) of exercises that can be done without neck pain.  The challenge is finding the right exercises for your body to start with, and continue to progress. 

Regardless of the exercise, good breathing habits are critical for opening the joint space in the neck and helping to lengthen the neck muscles to reduce neck strain and improve posture and body alignment. Our head is basically an 8-10 pound bowling ball sitting on a straw.  If the ball is not well-balanced on the straw, the straw will lean or bend and the head will tip to funny angles striving to stay perched at the top of our body.  At this point, some muscles are working too hard, and others are not pulling their weight.  Over time, the body accepts this way of holding the head and neck as correct (whether its good or bad)  and the pattern of muscle use becomes a habit – whether we like it or not!

The good news…It’s never too late to change a habit!

With a little effort, and having some new strategies to play with and practice, you can effectively reduce neck tension and neck strain quickly and easily just by paying attention to where you are holding tension and practicing better breathing habits during  your Pilates exercises.

Here Are Six Tips To Help Reduce Neck Strain During Pilates Exercise
(AND Daily Life Activities!)

1.  Posterio-Lateral Pilates Breathing Technique

Learning how to utilize the Pilates style of posterior-lateral breathing is KEY to helping lift the head up off the neck and lengthen the spine. Emphasis is placed on inhaling to fill the back of the ribcage from the bottom to the top.  In effect, what happens is as you fill the lungs with air, you are increasing the natural curves of the spine.  This should happen from the tailbone to the top of the head.  So your inhale helps to float the head up off the neck.

For more details on a variety of Breathing Exercises to practice your Posterio-Lateral Pilates technique check out my blog post Breathing Basics

2.  Keep the Front of the Neck and Throat Relaxed on Your Inhale

I notice that a lot of people actually inhale through the torso and tense up so much through the front of their neck that the head actually gets closer to the body on the inhale!  When this happens – the neck muscles are pulling the neck bones closer together (when things should be lengthening apart!)  Watch yourself breathe in front of a mirror and see if you notice your neck get longer, or shorter as you inhale. Do you see the muscles in the front of your neck tense up on your inhale?  Or do they stay loose and relaxed? Think about your neck and throat being an open tube that air can easily flow in and out of.

3. Tongue Placement

Where your tongue is placed in your mouth can make a difference!  Lightly touch the tip of the tongue to the roof of your mouth on your inhale, and drop the tongue away from the roof of your mouth on your exhale. This helps facilitate proper use of the diaphragm, and as the tongue drops on the exhale, you may notice that the muscles in the front of the neck soften and relax a bit.

4. On Every Exhale Use a “HA” Sound To Release and Open the Jaw

Using “HAaaaaaa”  and opening the jaw to exhale moves the primary support lower in the torso to help activate core muscles. You might actually make the “HA” sound as you exhale until this becomes a familiar habit to release the neck and open the jaw.

The habit I notice if people aren’t doing a “HA” breath, is exhaling like you’re playing a flute, through a slightly pursed lip.  This creates the look of a sour lemon face.  If you make a sour lemon face, you’ll notice that the front of the throat tenses up, scalene muscles grip, and the head and neck get pulled closer to the body.  Plus,  it is more difficult to feel the activation of core support – support almost gets stuck in the throat instead of dropping lower into the center.   Can you see how this can create or aggravate a neck problem? Strive to make “HA” breathing your new habit!

5. Pelvic Floor

While I’ve got this as #5 on my list….It probably should be #1!  Effective use of the pelvic floor provides the anchoring at the base of the spine which is necessary for lift and lengthening that occurs during breathing.  Without an active, engaged pelvic floor, it’s impossible to get the ribs to lift away from the pelvis, the neck to lift away from the torso, and the head to lift away from the neck! How do you effectively find and use the Pelvic Floor?  If you’re not already familiar with using your Pelvic Floor, check back soon, for a blog post on this very important topic!

6. Shoulder Depression

Our body is a system of levers and pulleys.  Think of a teeter-totter.  Both ends can’t go up!  One goes down and the other goes up.  So for our body, the shoulder blades doing down provide the leverage for our upper spine, neck, and head to lift up. If your shoulders are wrapped around your ears, chances are your head and neck are jammed in too close to your torso.  Pull the shoulders down and you should feel your head shoot up another inch or two closer to the ceiling.

Which Pilates Exercises Should You Apply These Six Tips to Reduce Neck Strain?

ALL of Them!!! Whether it’s a Pilates Matwork Exercise, or Exercises on the Reformer, Cadillac, Chairs, or Barrels.  If you’re walking, running, riding a bike, swimming, lifting weights, dancing, riding a horse, playing golf, tennis or other sports…  You have lots of opportunities to apply these six tips to get your support where you need it and reduce the amount of tension and stress you feel in your neck.

Don’t forget about moments throughout your day too– at work, driving the car, doing things around the house…anytime you remember to take a minute or two and practice utilizing these six important neck lengthening tips – you’ll be changing your habits for better health!

Don’t worry if you can’t make them all happen at once!  Pick one and practice for a few days.  When it gets easier, see if you can add another one, then another – until you’re able to incorporate all six into any and every exercise you do!

One of the things that keeps Pilates exercises so challenging, regardless of how long you’ve been doing them, is the concept of developing strength with length.  The muscles of our abdominals and back are the ones that help provide the lift, length, and space between the ribcage and hip bones.

Here’s a video with a few thoughts on practicing better breathing habits to help improve your ability to be long and strong.  Start practicing this, and then learn how to apply it to all of your Pilates exercises (and other fitness exercises) to get maximum health benefits from your workout program.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While Pilates exercises are excellent as a form of moving meditation to focus on feeling and activating the energy flow throughout the body,  it’s also important to find that still, quiet place for rest, rejuvenation, and contemplation on well -  absolutely nothing, but altogether everything!

One of the biggest challenges with a meditation practice is learning how to quiet the mind and just be in stillness without the distraction of thoughts, feelings, and emotions.  There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of different ways to meditate and probably just as many techniques to assist in centering one’s focus.

This week I learned the benefits of the words Soham, and using So Ham as a mantra for  Yoga meditation.

So Ham is a universal mantra that is used throughout the world for meditation because it’s vibration is a natural part of breath. Because everybody breathes it is  familiar to our body, even though we may not have ever thought about or focused on it in this way.

Sooooo… is the sound of inhalation, and Hummmm… is the sound of exhalation.

This Hamsa mantra poses the question, “Who am I?” And So Ham provides the answer, “I am that.”

When repeated it declares, “I am that I am that I am that I am.”

This can be a very useful and powerful tool to train both the body and the breath for increased relaxation to quiet the nervous system and the mind. Peace, Blessings and “So Ham” to your good health!

Check out this how-to video to learn more about So Hum and how to begin using  So Hum to compliment your Pilates training and Yoga practice by discovering new ways to deepening your connection to center through meditation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In fact according to the AMA, 70 to 85 percent of all people have back pain at some time in their life. Yikes, what a staggeringly high number of people, and I suspect that unfortunately, these numbers are probably going up rather than down!

As one of those in this majority, who suffers with congenital back issues, I have spent most of my life actively doing things to help keep my body strong, fit, and flexible.  I have discovered over the years, that there are some things my body loves to do, and other things that are guaranteed to cause me grief.  And what I have learned is that the more I exercise and stay active, generally, the better my back feels, and the happier and healthier my whole-body is.

Let’s face it, when your body hurts, it’s under stress.   While some muscle tension is good and appropriate to maintain posture and help us move around, overly tight muscles create unnecessary stress and too much tension which unfortunately can lead to back pain. When any of the bones in our body are held too tightly together by muscle contraction, or misalignment, freedom of movement will be restricted and over time, with the inability to enjoy free and easy movement, poor posture and pain can be the result.  It’s no secret that stress causes tension… 

Discover how to reduce neck pain, and back pain with Pilates breathing techniques.

Learning effective breathing techniques can be one of the easiest and most effective ways to begin releasing stress and mobilizing the spine without big, dramatic movement or specific back-care exercises.  Whether back pain bothers your lower, middle, or upper back and neck – learning how to lengthen and support the back, AND breathe is a great exercise that can be practiced anytime and anywhere to help release stress and reduce pain.

While it’s always best to consult your physician if you’re experiencing any pain or injury, breathing is still required to stay alive!  And there are lots of different ways to breathe. When your body is in pain, it will resort to an instinctual pattern that is shallow and will help you turn over just enough oxygen to keep all systems functioning to keep you alive.

While this is practically helpful to be able to get through the day, it may not help solve the bigger issues at hand.

Pilates posterio-lateral breathing is an excellent choice to benefit back care. This is a big fancy word for breathing into the back (posterio) and sides (lateral) of the ribcage.  Under the ribcage are the lungs which fill with air on every inhale.  Not only does the ribcage help to protect our lungs and other internal organs, but each rib attaches to the spine.  As we inhale, and fill our lungs with air, each rib should lift and separate creating space and length through the back of the body (basically stretching the spine!) As the ribs separate, since they are attached to each segment of the spine(vertebrae) , the segments are pulled apart too.

Because I’m personally prone to both lower back and neck issues, I like to take the practice of my posterio-lateral breathing and carry it the full length of my spine so I can feel my inhale lengthen down through my tailbone, and up through the top of my head.  It feels slightly different when I’m seated, standing, or laying down, so I’ve got lots of different places to practice throughout the day.  I find that lots of times my inhale tends to stop at my shoulders and my head actually jams down on my neck – No wonder it hurts!  Feeling the head float off the neck on an inhale is very liberating for releasing tension.

Good breathing habits provide compression and decompression for the spine. Inhale and the vertebrae lift apart – decompression.  Exhale and the vertebrae come closer together – compression.  This rhythmic action should be happening with every breath we take, all day long to provide a pumping action for vital nutrients and fluids to move up and down the spinal column. When we experience an injury, accident, or back pain for any reason, there may be one, two,  or multiple segments restricted from this natural movement.  This tension of our bones being held too tightly together, and lack of freedom to move for decompression and compression during breathing, and daily life activities, may, over time result in a chronic back pain problem.

Practicing better breathing habits may not solve all your back pain issues, but it’s certainly a great place to start, and will assist you with good movement and muscle use while you incorporate the most appropriate back-care exercises into your daily routine to keep your body healthy and pain-free.

Discover helpful tips and techniques for Pilates posterior-lateral Breathing Exercises here:

http://www.centerworks.com/blog/2005/10/10/breathing-basics/