You can benefit both mind and body when doing Pilates, exercise research shows that doing physical exercise can improve academic performance. The first time that you perform an exercise, the movement may feel unnatural and difficult to co-ordinate, but with practice the movement will become a sub conscious effort rather than a conscious one.
What about Breathing? it can take time to synchronise breathing with movement, the tendency is to hold your breath when first learning an exercise, and often breathing with the upper chest and hence not using the diaphragm as much. Linking the movements at first seems an impossibility but with slow gradual practice things just seem to come together. Often you are not aware of your progress. We use different breathing exercises to help you succeed, progressing you at your own level.
We breathe between approximately 20 -25,000 times per day, getting breathing right can help with flexibility, better body alignment, stress and concentration. As we breathe we are looking to keep a good balance between O2 and CO2, breathing through the mouth may cause an imbalance, it can also have some effect on snoring and mouth breathers tend to breathe with their upper chest. In athletes with high exertion you will often see breathing both through the nose and mouth this is normal.
A flared rib position maybe affected by upper chest breathers, so the older method of trying to hold yourself in a neutrally aligned position can be frustrating as the ribs will need to rise further than normal with each breath to get oxygen in. You may also see the same people with an excessive lumbar curve. Breathing well will also play a part in relaxing muscles by helping to activate the para sympathetic nervous system.
So
Breathing right helps with the state of the mind
Breathing right can help with improving movement
Breathing right can help relaxation
Breathing right can improve cardiovascular performance