Breathing
Your instructors will start teaching you how to breathe properly right from the first moment. Do not be surprised if you discover that this breathing is difficult for you. Very often in everyday life we breathe inadequately, shallowly. We do not take advantage of breath and the energy that we can gain through breath. If you have some habit that has lasted over nearly your entire lifetime up to now, do not expect to change them in the course of one lesson. But again: Do not give up! We breathe thanks to muscles and we can control these muscles with the brain. It is only a matter of practice. Endure, train, breathe!
A general rule of Pilates states that you exhale during the more difficult phase of an exercise. Through exhaling, you activate the center of power and you will use this power for body working. Do not be afraid to exhale through the mouth! Do not hold your breath! Some of you may recall the classic sit-up from aerobics classes, when you drew upon your last remnants of strength to do dozens of reps while you held your breath. Pilates takes a different path, remember that.