5 Yoga Poses to Boost Your Breathing

According to the American Lung Association, the average human being takes about 20,000 breaths a day. That’s around 7.5 million breaths each year. Even with all that practice, finding ease in your inhalations and exhalations isn’t always easy. So if you still feel like you’re learning how to breathe, you’re not alone.

Common breathing patterns that unconsciously restrict full inhalations and exhalations plague everyone at times and stunt your well-being by increasing stress and generally creating unfavorable responses in body and mind. Whereas practicing breathing exercises (known in yoga as pranayama) is proven to help ease symptoms of anxiety.

Deepening your inhalations and exhalations is medicine—and it’s more accessible than it seems. But if sitting still and practicing mindful breathing isn’t compelling for you, exploring the breath in select yoga postures can also help.

5 Yoga Poses That Teach You How to Breathe

Learning how to breathe less shallowly involves shifting habits that have been adopted by your mind and body over time. Spending time in the following yoga poses invites you to create the space you need for the sort of revitalizing breathing you deserve.

1. Fish Pose

Like a few other poses on this list, Fish Pose encourages deeper breathing through expansion along the front body, more specifically, throughout the rib cage. Fish also opens your throat (and throat chakra), helping air to flow in and out of your body with ease.

2. Camel Pose

External stressors and emotional responses can result in holding your breath and other less-than-relaxing breathing patterns, which means learning to find stillness during challenge can help you find similar chill off the mat. Practicing this in Camel Pose, a deceptively challenging backbend, supports this. The front-body-opening helps, too.

3. Gate Pose

Opening your body in all directions supports your goal of expansion. Gate Pose stretches your side body, including the intercostal muscles between the ribs, increasing capacity and supporting your ability to breathe deeply.

4. Cow Pose

The familiar transition between Cat and Cow is basically breath embodied. But even on its own, the subtle backbend of Cow Pose comes with breath-supporting perks. Dropping the belly also offers the diaphragm a chance to descend, improving your capacity for a generous inhalation.

5. Sphinx Pose

For a chill chest-opener, look to Sphinx Pose. It’s a passive stretch, meaning you’re not exerting any effort, which means all the more space to focus on your breath. Additionally, the gentle expansion through the chest, along with your lifted shoulders, lends to chest expansion and better posture, allowing you to breathe easier.