Pilates AND Pink Kit breathing

18 March 2009

We received an email today from a family using The Pink Kit Package. The pregnant woman said:

'The breathing reminds me little of Pilates'

This is the Pink Kit response.

With Pilates the goal is to have a very strong core. This is good! In fact, after birth Pilates is wonderful to do.

So the below comments are not anti-Pilates but just highlighting the difference in the breathing and the profound difference in the goal.

If you're pregnant now and doing Pilates then must also learn your Pink Kit breathing and understand why you want to change both your breathing and your awareness of what you're doing inside your pelvis.

The Pink Kit breathing ... in all it's forms is used to create space, soften, open and relax inside your pelvis.

To understand this you must first thing ask yourself this question. Do you think that pulling up on your perineum will help or hinder getting something the size of a grapefruit down through your pelvis and out of your crotch? The answer is absolutely ... you hinder your baby's efforts to be born if you have, create or store tension inside your body.

One father thought during their first pregnancy that his wife had to have 'strong' muscles to push out their baby (she had a c/s). Once they went over the PKP he realized that concept was absolutely wrong and what she needed to do was open up and let her baby out. In order to do that she had to learn to soften and relax!

So Pilates breathing is good for after the birth to re-strengthen your core, put your hips right and all the soft tissue inside your perineum but that intentional tensing up and drawing up is terrible for birth preparation or giving birth.

So, your Pink Kit skills are specific for preparing your pregnant body to give birth ... whether a natural birth or a medical one.

If you are planning a Caesarean delivery without a labour you can just totally enjoy preparing your body for the birth of your baby.

We should all enjoy doing this in the right manner and feel confident about the skills.