12/09/2025
How to Get Through Your Holidays Without Holding Your Breath…
Like clockwork and the ever-advancing march of time, the Holidays are upon us! You might wonder how you are going to get everything done you have on your list while keeping it all together and actually enjoying it! Well, in the throes of life, no matter what you are doing, you ever noticed that you have stopped breathing? That you are holding your breath? Yikes! Breath is life! No breath, no bueno!
A key basic of Pilates is breathing. This is the first thing we teach you. We start with the breath to energize, find the mind/body connection and lead us through our exercise series with intention.
But what about in life? During your day? You can use your breath with intention to help you through all your activities, to energize you and to calm you. It helps you and it helps your body.
Try this:
Step 1. Wake up in the morning and start with your Pilates breathing. You want to do diaphragmatic breathing to open the lungs, expand your rib cage, oxygenate your body and get ‘everybody’ going together in the right direction. Breathe in through your nose into your ribs and back, breathe out through mouth, blowing out fully to wring the air out of your lungs and actually closing your ribs together while you complete the breath. Then repeat: take a deep breath into your back and ribs, then exhale fully out the mouth to close the ribs and wring the air out of your lungs. Repeat.
Start with 10 breaths. Yes, you have enough time for this in the morning. Or start with 5 breaths and build up to 10 breaths. The key here is to start. You will immediately feel energized and more alive throughout your whole body.
Step 2. Somewhere during your day, while driving to an appointment, picking up kids, going to grocery shopping, sitting at a stop light… take a deep breath into your back, exhale and wring the air out of your lungs. Do this several times during the day.
How do you remember to do it?
Decide at the beginning of your day. You set your target to do this in the morning. You will remember to do it during the day because you decided to. Maybe not the first time but keep it up. You can control your thoughts. : ) You can do it anywhere – in the car, waiting in line at the store, holding on the phone. There is always down time somewhere in the day. You can be sitting, laying down or standing.
The more you do it, the more you will want to do it and remember to do it because you will feel better, more alive, more energized, more you!
EVENING: When you lay down at the end of the day is a perfect time to prepare for good sleep. Take a deep breath in through your nose and out your mouth, wringing the air out of your lungs to relax the body, relax your mind, expand your space and get out of your head. See if you can do this 10x before you fall asleep. And if you cannot, then, well done! You fell asleep before 10 breaths!
Here is some interesting history about breathing from the book Breath by James Nestor. I highly recommend this book.
In the 1830s artist George Caitlin traveled throughout the Great Plains to live among Native Indians tribes and learn of their customs and paint their portraits. Among the 50 tribes he studied, he found that they all had teeth that were perfectly straight – “as regular as the keys of a piano.” Nobody seemed to get sick, and deformities and other chronic health problems were virtually non-existent. They all ate different diets. The Crow tribe attributed their vigorous health to a medicine, called “the great secret of life”. The great secret was breathing.
The Native Americans explained that breath inhaled through the mouth sapped the body of strength, deformed the face and caused strength and disease. On the other hand, breath inhaled through the nose kept the body strong, made the face beautiful and prevented disease. “The air which enters the lungs is a different from that which enters the nostrils as distilled water is different from the water in an ordinary cistern or a frog pond.”
Caitlin spent six years among these great tribes and they all shared this view and practice of breathing as a basic to their health.
Fascinating, right?
Let’s do it! : )
Our Wellness Center Offers:
Pilates - Private and Group Mat Class. Physical Therapy & Pelvic Floor Specialist. Acupuncture. Massage Therapy and Skin Care.
Call, Text or Email: 818-307-1048 pilates@zonniebauer.com www.zonniebauerpilates.com
Better body. Better Life.
