Adding poses in yoga to help expand the ribcage into the daily series of exercises is very necessary to improve spine health, especially for office workers or sedentary people.
The poses in yoga that help expand the ribcage and rib cage can bring a lot of benefits, especially for office workers. Because sitting for a long time can cause the spine to be curved and crooked. Over time, this condition can cause hunchback that limits mobility.
Most yoga poses that help expand the chest are backbend poses. During the exercise, you need to focus on the upper and middle part of the spine, rather than the lower part (lumbar spine). Here are the yoga poses to help expand the chest that easyhealthylive.com has collected with levels from basic to advanced. Please take a few minutes to look through and choose for yourself the appropriate poses:
1. Restorative Heart Opener – One of the poses in yoga to help expand the chest effectively
This is a simple pose to get your body ready to start the journey. You can place a mattress or a yoga block under your shoulder blades. Lie on your back on the carpet, legs can be spread, knees bent or left in the goddess position depending on your preference. Hold the pose for a few minutes to relax your back with the help of yoga equipment.
2. Yoga poses to help expand the chest: Cow pose (Chakravakasana)
The cow cat pose is a great exercise for you to feel the difference between extension and contraction of the spine. In the cat pose, you will narrow your ribcage and maximize it in the cow pose.
3. Yoga poses to help expand the chest: Sphinx Pose
Sphinx pose is a very effective chest hair extension movement. Not only that, this pose creates a foundation for you to do more difficult poses like cobra pose or face-up dog pose.
To perform the sphinx pose, lie face down on the mat, legs straight. Both arms propped on the mat to form a right angle. Fix the back, thighs, abdomen, lift the upper body up by force from the arms, face forward, the abdomen is always close to the mat. Toes close to the mat, breathe deeply, gently and hold the position for 10 to 15 seconds and then return to the original position.
4. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
When doing bridge pose, you will lift your hips up to open up your ribcage. At this point, the shoulder blades will act as a support to support the chest from behind.
5. The postures in yoga to help expand the chest: Twisted lying posture (Supta Matsyendrasana)
The twisting position is one of the poses in yoga that helps stretch the front of the chest. During the exercise, try to keep both shoulders on the mat. This may prevent the knee from reaching the floor, but that’s okay.
6. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
For the cobra pose, as you inhale, lift your chest off the floor. Then, exhale and bring your forehead to the floor. Repeat the cycle for two breaths, inhaling up and exhaling down to “wake up” the muscles in your back.
7. Yoga poses to help open the chest: Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)
Although warrior 2’s chest expansion effect is not as obvious as in other poses, this pose facilitates the expansion of the chest when performing other poses more effectively. In addition, because when performing warrior 2, many people only pay attention to the legs and forget about the torso and arms, so the ability to expand the chest in this position is not appreciated.
8. Extended Angle Pose (Utthita Parsvakonasana)
The open angle pose is one of the poses in yoga that helps to expand the chest extremely effectively. However, when doing this, you need to be careful to make sure that you don’t let your chest drop when you try to touch the floor. Instead, you should rest your forearm on your thigh with your palm facing up. The arm will be at a 90 degree angle.
9. Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana)
The triangle pose is similar to the wide angle pose. You can place a yoga block in front of your foot for support to make it easier to open your chest.
10. Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana)
In the half-moon pose, stretching your wings up to the ceiling will help open up your chest. Before lifting your arms, however, make sure to turn your chest toward the ceiling.
11. Upward facing dog pose (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)
The face-up dog pose is similar in appearance to the cobra pose, but it is much more difficult to perform. You will easily see this pose in the series of sun salutations, but do not rush to do it right away. Practice masterful sphinx and cobra pose. In addition, you can learn more about the difference between the face-up dog pose and the cobra pose to do the right move.
12. Camel Pose (Ustrasana)
Camel pose is the choice for yogis who want to conquer wheel pose but are not ready yet. During the exercise, you can put exercise blocks under your hands if your hands can’t reach your ankles.
13. Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
Bending your back and grabbing your ankles in a prone position will help you open up your chest effectively. Pull your ankles with your hands while pushing your feet away and feel the extension in your front torso.
14. Cow Face Pose (Gomukhasana)
In the cow face pose, having your hands clasped behind your back will automatically push your chest forward. If the hands can’t touch each other behind the back, that’s okay. You can use a yoga rope for support.
Above are the poses in yoga to help expand the chest effectively. In addition to the effect of opening the chest, yoga also brings many other health benefits.
Reference source
Heart Opening Yoga Poses https://www.verywellfit.com/heart-opening-yoga-poses-4023748 Accessed date: 10/2/2021
John Alen was born in 1971 and is a doctor in the healthcare and psychology fields with many years of experience. He is currently working at easyhealthylive.com, a leading health and psychology blog. Having studied at Y1 National Medical University named after IM Sechenov, John Alen is using his knowledge and experience to help improve the physical and mental health of people in the United States.
