core breathing | Pilates with Priya

Saggy Tummy skin?

Mummy pouch?

Abdominal separation that hasn’t healed?

Here are 3 reasons you may not be seeing results.

1. Posture.

I can’t highlight this enough. Try this out. Place one hand on your tummy muscles. Stand up with poor posture, rounded shoulders, head jutting forward. Now what does it do to your tummy? Those muscles feel taut and strong, or saggy and loose? What changes when you lengthen up through the spine, bring the shoulder blades round and down in your back and straighten your neck? You should feel your tummy muscles are tighter and in a better position to heal up when you have good posture.

2. Nutrition.

If you are not giving your body good nutrition then you aren’t giving it the best chance to heal. Protein, zinc, iron and vitamin C are all important in wound healing and muscle repair. I know as a mum you need quick meals and often have to eat on the hoof, but you can eat still eat healthily. It is all in the preparation and mind set. Step away from the cake and focus on nutritious snacks that give you energy and fill you. Nuts, seeds, homemade granola bars, hummus, egg muffins are good examples. A bowl of fruit, Greek yoghurt (higher in protein) and a small handful of nuts is a fabulous snack. Make overnight oats with fruit and seeds the night before, ready for an instant breakfast. Bake a pile of sweet potato’s ready for lunches, then you can heat them in the microwave for lunch, top with tuna, pile some salad on the plate and it should keep you going. The diagram below is both relative for pelvic floor healing and diastasis recti.

3. Breathing and Stress.

How much attention do you give to your breathing? Probably very little. Yet thoracic breathing can be a deal breaker. When you breath into the ribcage and not the belly you activate the intercostal muscles instead of forcing the tummy muscles out. As you breath out your pelvic floor lifts and you core activates. So breathing alone can work to strengthen your pelvic floor and lower abdominals. Stress leads to shallow breathing higher in the chest. It also affects hormones, posture in a lot of people and eating. A triple whammy. So taking time to relax, bring your cortisol levels down and calm down can be a factor. A bath, reading for 10 mins, a pilates class, it all helps.

I know how hard it can be. I’ve been there. But I also know this stuff works! I’ve closed 2 diastasis in my own body. Don’t delay, start with the tips above today.

If you want a 1-1 session for posture assessment and exercises you can use at home then get in touch I can even work over Skype.

It’s that September time of new beginnings, which has led to more new Pilates enquiries and a flurry of activity in the studio. So we’ve some new Induction classes to help introduce people to Pilates and teach the basics before they join a class. One of the key things that people always struggle with is the breathing. I know it seems back to front, it did to me too. However the breathing really is key. Let’s face it, breathing full stop is key.

The breathing in Pilates gives you stronger movements, more control and helps you focus. If Pilates was Star Wars I reckon the breathing would be “the light sabre” and the core would be “the Force”.

Why is it so important? When you breath in the right way you work with your core. So you will get a more effective movement, work harder and see better results.

Stress, everyday life and bad posture leads to people breathing into their belly or having their shoulders rise and fall as they breath. The type of breathing we are after in Pilates is thoracic breathing. This means breathing with the ribcage expanding and contracting.

A good way to practise this is to tie a resistance band or folded towel around your ribcage. Alternatively place your palms with middle fingers touching, on your ribcage. As you inhale breath into the ribcage, you should feel it expand or push into the band with the breath. The diaphragm moves downwards. As you exhale let the breath come out of the ribcage, the diaphragm moves upwards and you will feel a tightening in your core (your lower abdominals will draw towards you and your pelvic floor will lift). You may have to exhale to the end of your breath to initially feel this. Once you tune into it, it will feel more intuitive.

Click on the diagram to get a better look.

Tag: core breathing

3 reasons your abdominals may not be healing up.