Pilates Neutral Rib Hip Connection

As I've been teaching, I'm noticing a problem in helping clients maintain their neutral rib-hip connection.  Mostly, client's are having trouble breathing in while maintaining this neutral.  The trick, is learning how to breath through our side bodies while maintaining proper form.  It's super hard.  Learning to zip up through the pelvic floor and to maintain the connection during an inhale is difficult and takes time.  Clients have to remind themselves how important it is to extend through the crown of the head and grow during the inhale.  This will allow clients to maintain this neutral.

What's funny, I have one client who is into Yoga.  She doesn't understand how keeping the neutral will allow her to get taller.  I worked the entire class, limiting the weight and explaining everything.  I honestly kept having to tell myself to be patient.  It's hard to explain something that is now so mundane to someone who's never experienced this connection.  Plus, the neutral in Yoga is completely different.  I couldn't figure out how to explain how to get taller and maintain the neutral rib/hip connection.  The client was starting to figure it out, but kept letting her ribs pop open and fall into her old habits of belly breathing.  Finally, at the end of the session, I took her onto the barrel to do some extension work.  When I had her slide her ribs to hip to get back up, like an ab curl, something clicked!  I had her stand, do her pelvic rocking standing, and had her close her ribs to extend taller within her neutral.  I explained finally that by keeping her neutral rib to hip connection (not jutting out the front ribs) will allow her to extend her spine, allowing her to lengthen, "Audrey Hepburn" style.  This was verbatim my cue.  I had my hand on her head and kept saying, "Think of Audrey, be Audrey, that's right Ms. Hepburn".  Finally, she felt the difference and was able to finally close her ribs without hunching her shoulders forward or overly tucking her tail.

Although Yoga and Pilates are so similar (Joseph pretty much stole everything from the 1000 year old art), he put his own spin on it.  The meat of the difference is the breath patterns and the art of engaging that perfect rib to hip alignment.  Let's see how my session goes next week with my Yogi.  Hopefully now, with the cues like "Widen your collar bone while maintaining your neutral rib/hip connection" will allow her to keep the connection, grow and have that feeling of euphoria and growth once the session has ended.  Let's cross our fingers!