Breathing Patterns in Pilates

Understanding How—and When—to Use Them

Breath is one of the most powerful tools in your Pilates practice. At SOMA, we treat breathing not as an afterthought, but as a core part of movement—one that influences posture, stability, nervous system tone, and overall body awareness. And yet, many people don’t realize that there are different ways the body can breathe, and that how you breathe matters just as much as whether you breathe.

There are several primary breathing patterns: abdominal breathing, intercostal breathing, and cervical breathing. Each plays a different role, and understanding when and how to use them can change your experience in Pilates entirely.

Let’s start with a common point of confusion: diaphragmatic breathing. You’ve likely heard this term used interchangeably with abdominal breathing, especially in contexts like yoga, meditation, or breathwork. But the truth is, all breathing is diaphragmatic breathing. The diaphragm is your body’s primary muscle of respiration, sitting beneath the lungs and attaching to the spine, ribs, and sternum. When you inhale, it contracts and pulls downward, creating space in the lungs so air can flow in. If your diaphragm isn’t working, you simply can’t breathe. This is why people with phrenic nerve injuries—nerve damage that affects the diaphragm—are often unable to breathe without mechanical support.

So, if all breathing uses the diaphragm, what’s really being described with terms like abdominal, intercostal, or cervical breathing is where the movement and expansion of the breath is being directed.

Abdominal breathing occurs when the abdominal wall softens to allow the belly to expand on the inhale. It’s deeply relaxing and commonly used in meditation or restorative practices. However, because it requires relaxation of the abdominal muscles, it isn’t ideal during exercise—particularly during movements that require spinal stability and core engagement. In Pilates, we often aim to maintain a gently activated abdominal wall throughout movement. Abdominal breathing works against that goal by relaxing the very muscles we’re trying to engage, making it incompatible with isometric core stabilization.

Intercostal breathing, sometimes called chest or lateral ribcage breathing, is the pattern most aligned with the needs of a Pilates practice. This technique encourages breath to expand outward into the sides of the ribcage, allowing for full, supported breathing while keeping the abdominals lightly engaged. It creates a beautiful balance: the diaphragm still contracts, but the abdominal wall doesn’t have to soften to make room for it. With practice, intercostal breathing allows you to stabilize your core, support your spine, and maintain controlled, efficient movement—all while continuing to breathe freely.

Then there’s cervical breathing—the body’s emergency backup plan. In this pattern, the neck and upper chest take on more of the work. Muscles like the scalenes and sternocleidomastoids engage to help lift the ribcage, often during intense effort or moments of stress. While this type of breathing can happen naturally during sprinting or after a strenuous exercise, relying on it as a default is inefficient and exhausting. It often results in tension through the shoulders, neck, and upper back, and it signals that the body might be working harder than necessary.

When you begin to recognize these patterns, you can start to notice how your body is responding to movement, stress, or rest. In a Pilates class, abdominal breathing might be used intentionally during a cool-down or breath-focused moment. But during core work, standing sequences, or anything requiring spinal stability, intercostal breathing is the most supportive and efficient approach. And if you find yourself breathing high into your shoulders, it may be time to check in with your effort level—or explore where your nervous system is holding tension.

Breathing in Pilates isn’t just about oxygen. It’s about rhythm, coordination, and control. It’s about learning how to create support from the inside out. And most importantly, it’s about learning to recognize and respond to what your body needs in the moment.

At SOMA, we teach breath as an integrated part of movement—never separate, never secondary. Whether you’re stabilizing in a single-leg bridge or relaxing into a gentle stretch, your breath is part of the practice. By understanding your own breathing patterns, you gain one more tool for moving smarter, feeling stronger, and living with greater ease.