Befriending Breath

Befriending Breath ~ My relationship with Pilates and Yoga  

by Chelsea Smith

Growing up I did things like ballet and gymnastics. Playing catch or shooting hoops wasn’t for me.  I found comfort upside down, holding a handstand or doing a backbend. I was happiest in motion. 

It was at 22, in the beginning of adulthood, that I lost my way. I struggled to get up off the ground, walking up a flight of 12 stairs affected my breath and I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror any longer.  I never expected to not know my body.

From this reckoning came a few questions. IF I had a child what would I feed it and how would I nourish it (literally and emotionally?) How am I taking care or treating myself? Finally, What are the differences between my answers? 

Focusing on movement, the idea of play kept jumping into my mind. I knew that play as a value or element was critical to my joy and personal relationship with existence… So play became a priority.  

(My idea of play might be completely different than yours. It’s important to acknowledge that my preference in Yoga or Pilates styles might differ from yours and that all I know is my practice and my preference. It’s all I have. )

At 23 I decided to take action about my physical wellbeing. I knew movement felt like play. So I began to look back at the things I loved. Looking back on conditioning in gymnastics, I remember very clearly working on my centerline and teaser (although they weren’t called that.) I began to research gymnastics conditioning, adult dance classes, and yoga when a Mari Winsor article caught my attention.  She was a Pilates instructor who had incredible testimonials and great amazon reviews on her DVDs.  

When I started Pilates I started on my living room floor.  Thanks to Mari Winsor who studied under Romana who studied under Joe (Joseph Pilates). I loved Mari. Every exercise she cued breath.  Every exercise she cued initiation WITH breath. I had never felt movement that motivated before. The intention behind moving with my breathing was so natural and so needed for me in that moment. Pilates felt like play and I fell in love with trusting my breath. 

I didn’t understand yoga prior to my relationship with Pilates. Every yoga class I took felt too fast, too slow, or too hot. My home Pilates practice gave me confidence, so I bought a book about Yoga and sun salutations. I would walk to a park in my hometown and lay my mat under the Mississippi Kite nest and do the slowest sun salutations I could do, for fun, playing with moving by breath or “holding” with breath.  

When I moved to Houston my home practice altered. My studio practice blossomed. I found my Pilates practice deepening, my shoulder mobility and back strength developing as well as my wrist strength all due to elements of my Yoga practice. Sometimes when your body understands a connection it just plugs in. The active activation required in Pilates, it physically changed my yoga practice.

Pilates’ equipment is designed to give feedback and deepen connections in our tissues. It has lever and pulley systems teach resentence and challenge the use of abdominal activation. This activation changed how I participated in my yoga practice.  Yoga and Pilates provide a balance to me. In my Pilates I work inside of a frame seeing how well I can control motion, perfecting my craft. In my yoga practice my heart can open and my ribs can stretch and my legs can leave the corner of my mat and I can sit in child pose for the hour if I want. 

My Pilates practice changed because of my yoga practice and my yoga practice changed because of my Pilates practice. Don’t be afraid to play.