And before some snarky internet troll pulls up some article about toxic smog rolling across the hills and meadows let me put this in context.
Today while teaching I had another one of my moments where a simple statement made all the difference. Watching clients struggle through exercises make me crazy, no matter how carefully I try to set them up for efficiency and ease of movement, at least one will do the complete opposite of what I instruct. In my usual half sarcastic tone, stated that "nobody's ever died from breathing, you know." The class instantly started connecting their breath to their movement.
In Pilates, breath is one of the key concepts. In my own contemporary training, breath patterns are not always as strict as in Classical Pilates practice. The reason behind this is that the breath itself can be a progression or regression to an exercise. In most cases, I instruct my clients to breathe when it makes sense to their body.
In the body's natural rhythm, as we inhale, the diaphragm pulls down drawing air into our lungs. To allow our lungs to expand our ribs must open up as well, similar to an accordion. As we exhale, our rib cage melts back together, the diaphragm returns to its home as the air exits our lungs. In many cases, as teachers we see the "flaring of the ribcage". The cue of "knit your ribs" only goes so far. Finding the release of the ribs in an exhale truly does what we are getting after. Besides, as movement practitioners and educators, why not teach people movement?
Breath also does many wondrous things such as regulating our heart rate, bringing oxygen into our system, and relaxing us in any situation. The best thing about breath is that it is an involuntary process. Most people have to thing very hard about not breathing. Even when a small child throws a fit and holds his or her breath, the body is smart enough to say "enough" and will shut down the conscious level and the unconscious processes will take over.
Remember, it's ok to breathe.