Pilates Breathing Techniques Explained: The Skill Nobody Teaches You First (But Should)
Here’s what I wish someone had told me my first year of teaching: the breath is the exercise. Everything else — the springs, the carriage, the choreography — is secondary. I’ve spent over a decade cueing breath on the Wasatch Front, and I still think pilates breathing techniques explained clearly and simply is one of the most valuable gifts an instructor can give. So that’s what I’m doing today. No jargon walls. No woo-woo mysticism. Just the honest mechanics of how breath transforms your Pilates practice from going-through-the-motions to genuinely alchemizing your body.
If you’ve ever been on a reformer — or even just watched someone else on one — and thought, “Wait, when am I supposed to breathe?”, you’re in the right place.
What Is Pilates Breathing and Why Does It Matter?
Pilates breathing — also called lateral breathing or intercostal breathing — is a specific breathing pattern developed by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s as one of his six foundational principles. Here’s the simplest way I explain it to new clients in my studio:
Pilates breathing is a technique where you inhale through the nose to expand the ribcage laterally (sideways and into the back), then exhale through pursed lips or the mouth while drawing the deep abdominals inward. Unlike belly breathing, the core stays engaged throughout. This pattern stabilizes the spine while maximizing oxygen exchange and muscular activation.
That 40-second explanation? It took me years to refine. Because the truth is, breath in Pilates is counterintuitive. Most relaxation practices tell you to let the belly expand. Pilates asks the opposite. You keep the deep core braced while directing air into the wide walls of your ribcage.
And it matters because without it, you’re just doing exercises on an expensive piece of equipment. With it, every movement becomes a conversation between your respiratory system and your stabilizing muscles.
Pilates Breathing Techniques Explained: The Three Patterns You Need to Know
In my years of teaching from Draper to Park City, I’ve found that most people do well when I break Pilates breath into three distinct patterns. Not every instructor categorizes it this way, but this framework works beautifully for my clients — especially beginners coming into their first reformer Pilates class.
1. Lateral (Intercostal) Breathing
This is the foundational Pilates breath. Place your hands on the sides of your ribcage, fingertips touching at the sternum. Inhale through your nose. Your fingers should separate as the ribs widen. Exhale through your mouth — fingers reconnect, ribs knit together, and you feel the deep transverse abdominis engage like a corset tightening from the inside out.
I see this with my clients constantly: the first time they actually feel their ribs move laterally, something clicks. They realize the ribcage isn’t a rigid box. It’s a dynamic, expandable structure. And that changes everything about how they approach movement on the reformer.
2. Percussive Breathing (The Hundred Breath)
If you’ve ever done The Hundred — the classic Pilates warm-up — you’ve encountered this breath. Five short, sharp inhales through the nose. Five short, sharp exhales through the mouth. Pumping the arms in rhythm.
This pattern heats the body, increases circulation, and forces rhythmic core engagement. It also teaches breath control under physical stress, which is surprisingly transferable to daily life. Hiking up Big Cottonwood Canyon? Chasing your kids through Liberty Park? Percussive breathing awareness helps.
3. Forced Exhalation Breathing
This is the pattern I use most in reformer work. The cue sounds like this: “Inhale to prepare. Exhale and press out.” The exertion phase — the hard part — always happens on the exhale. The exhale recruits the deep core. It creates intra-abdominal pressure that protects the lumbar spine. It is non-negotiable.
I cannot tell you how many clients come to me from other fitness backgrounds where they’ve been holding their breath during effort. That Valsalva maneuver has its place in powerlifting. It has no place on a reformer.
Why Most People Breathe Wrong in Pilates (And How to Fix It)
Let me be honest. Most people breathe wrong in Pilates for a very human reason: they’re thinking about fifteen other things at once. The springs. The alignment. Whether their leggings look weird. Whether the person next to them is watching.
Breath gets sacrificed because it feels like one more thing to coordinate. And here’s the paradox: the breath is the thing that makes everything else easier to coordinate.
Here are the most common breathing mistakes I see in my studio along the Wasatch Front:
- Breath holding. The classic. Your body goes into survival mode during challenging movements and just… stops breathing. The fix is awareness. I cue breath out loud for every single repetition until clients internalize it.
- Belly breathing on the reformer. Wonderful for meditation. Not ideal for Pilates. When the belly expands, the transverse abdominis disengages. You lose your stability system right when you need it most.
- Shallow chest breathing. This is the stress pattern. Air stays high in the chest, shoulders creep toward the ears, and the diaphragm barely moves. The result: less oxygen, more tension, no deep core activation.
- Reversed breathing pattern. Inhaling on effort, exhaling on rest. It seems minor but it changes the biomechanics of every single exercise.
The fix for all of these? Practice the breath before you add movement. I often have new clients spend the first five minutes of their session just breathing. Hands on ribs. Eyes closed. No springs. No carriage. Just the architecture of respiration. It’s not wasted time. It’s the foundation.
The Connection Between Breath, the Pelvic Floor, and Deep Core Activation
This is where the conversation gets really interesting — and really practical for the bodies I work with every day in Utah, many of them postpartum, many of them managing low back pain, many of them athletes who are powerful but disconnected from their center.
The diaphragm, the transverse abdominis, the multifidus, and the pelvic floor form what physical therapists call the “inner unit” or the “deep core canister.” They work as a pressure system. When you inhale, the diaphragm descends and the pelvic floor gently lengthens. When you exhale, the diaphragm rises, the pelvic floor lifts, and the transverse abdominis draws inward.
This is not something you have to consciously force. If you breathe correctly, it happens. That’s the elegance of Pilates breathing — it’s not about adding effort. It’s about removing interference so the body can do what it already knows how to do.
I see this profoundly with my postpartum clients. Many of them come in gripping their abdominals, holding their breath, and bearing down on the pelvic floor without realizing it. When we retrain the breath, the pelvic floor and core begin to coordinate again. Sometimes within a single session, they feel a difference. Not because I did something magical — because the breath did.
How to Practice Pilates Breathing at Home
You don’t need a reformer to practice this. You don’t even need a mat. Here’s a simple sequence I give to every new client who walks through the door at Alchemize:
- Sit or lie down comfortably. Knees bent, spine neutral. Place both hands on the sides of your lower ribs.
- Inhale through your nose for 4 counts. Feel the ribs expand into your hands. The belly stays relatively still — not sucked in, just quiet.
- Exhale through pursed lips for 6 counts. Feel the ribs narrow. Notice a gentle tightening deep in your lower abdomen — below the navel. That’s your transverse abdominis waking up.
- Repeat for 10 cycles. No rushing. The longer exhale activates your parasympathetic nervous system. You’ll feel calmer, more grounded, and more connected to your center.
- Add gentle movement. On the exhale, try a pelvic tilt or a small spinal curl. Notice how the breath initiates the movement — not the other way around.
Do this daily for two weeks and I promise you: your next Pilates session will feel different. The springs will feel lighter. The exercises will make more sense. You’ll wonder why nobody explained this sooner.
Breathing on the Reformer: What Changes?
On the reformer, the stakes of good breathing go up. The moving carriage creates an unstable surface. Springs add resistance. If you hold your breath during a footwork series or a long stretch, you lose spinal stability at the exact moment you need it most.
In my reformer classes, I cue breath as aggressively as I cue alignment. “Inhale at the top. Exhale to press. Inhale to return.” It becomes a rhythm. Almost musical. And when the whole room locks into that rhythm together — there’s this audible exhale that rolls through the studio like a wave — that’s when I know the work is landing.
The reformer also adds a beautiful feedback mechanism: if you’re holding your breath, you’ll feel it in the springs. The movement gets jerky. Forced. When the breath is flowing, the carriage glides. It’s one of the things I love most about teaching on the apparatus — the machine doesn’t lie.
When Breath Alone Isn’t Enough
I want to be transparent here, because I think good teaching includes honesty about limitations. Pilates breathing is powerful, but it’s not a cure-all. If you have a diagnosed respiratory condition like asthma or COPD, you should work with your healthcare provider to determine how lateral breathing fits into your overall respiratory strategy. If you’re managing significant pelvic floor dysfunction — prolapse, chronic pain, incontinence — a pelvic floor physical therapist should be part of your team alongside your Pilates practice.
I’m a Pilates instructor, not a doctor. What I can do is teach you to breathe with precision, awareness, and intention. What I can’t do is diagnose or treat a medical condition. The best results I’ve seen come from collaboration — my clients who also see a PT, who also prioritize sleep and nutrition, who treat Pilates as one piece of a larger wellness picture.
Your Breath Is Your First Movement
Joseph Pilates once said, “Breathing is the first act of life and the last. Our very life depends on it.” He wasn’t being dramatic. He was being precise.
Every exercise in the Pilates repertoire begins with the breath. Not with the legs. Not with the arms. Not with the springs. The breath. When my clients truly internalize this — when it stops being something they think about and becomes something they feel — the transformation is visible. Their posture shifts. Their movement quality deepens. They look different walking out of the studio than they did walking in.
Now that you have pilates breathing techniques explained in a way that’s practical and honest, I hope you take the next step: practice it. Try the at-home sequence. Bring your awareness to your next class at Alchemize. Or if you’ve been thinking about starting, check out my beginner’s guide to your first reformer class. The breath will be waiting for you. It always is.
— Bianca
Frequently Asked Questions About Pilates Breathing
What is the difference between Pilates breathing and yoga breathing?
Pilates uses lateral (intercostal) breathing where the ribcage expands sideways while the deep core stays engaged. Most yoga traditions emphasize diaphragmatic belly breathing where the abdomen expands on the inhale. Both are valuable — they just serve different purposes. Pilates breathing prioritizes spinal stability during movement, while yogic breathing often prioritizes relaxation and nervous system regulation.
Should I breathe through my nose or mouth during Pilates?
The traditional Pilates approach is to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth. Nasal inhalation filters and warms the air, and the oral exhale helps you engage the deep abdominals more forcefully. That said, if nasal breathing is difficult for you due to congestion or a deviated septum, breathing through the mouth on both phases is far better than holding your breath.
How long does it take to learn Pilates breathing properly?
Most of my clients begin to feel comfortable with lateral breathing within 3 to 5 sessions. However, truly integrating breath with complex reformer exercises can take several weeks of consistent practice. I recommend practicing the breath pattern at home for five minutes daily — this accelerates the learning curve significantly.
Can Pilates breathing help with anxiety?
Many clients report feeling calmer after Pilates, and the breathing pattern is a major reason why. The extended exhale used in Pilates activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which lowers heart rate and reduces cortisol. While Pilates isn’t a substitute for professional mental health support, the mindful breathing component can be a helpful tool for managing everyday stress and anxiety.
Why do I get dizzy when practicing Pilates breathing?
Dizziness during focused breathing usually means you’re hyperventilating — breathing too quickly or too deeply. Slow down your pace. Keep the inhale to 4 counts and the exhale to 6 counts. If dizziness persists, return to your normal breathing pattern and mention it to your instructor. Occasionally, dizziness can indicate low blood pressure or other conditions worth discussing with a healthcare provider.
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