Easy Breathing Exercises to Help You Breathe Better

feel like you can't take a deep breath? well i'm going to show you some exercises to improve your breathing. so let's get started. so before we get started, you're going to need a couple things. the last stretch is going to be a really good bonus one seated in a chair. so you want to have a chair next to you that has a backing, something that you can kind of lean into. and then you're also going to need maybe a ball or a pillow that you can fold up, something to be able to push back into the chair. so if you don't have those things nearby, hit that pause button and get those because i'm going to show it to you at the end and it's really good. so one of the keys to being able to breathe better or easily is really to open up the chest area. a lot of times when people feel like they can't take a deep breath, or you know it's harder to take that full breath, it's because they end up kind of rolling their shoulders forward, tightening up the chest area, those pec muscles and everything. and then it's harder to breathe because you're closing up that rib cage onto the lungs. now if you're having breathing issues and it feels really uncomfortable or super tight chest, make sure and check in with your doctor because you know it might be something simple, but it might be something you need to check with your doctor as well. but if you know that you have some tight muscles, this is what it is for to open up those muscles so you can breathe a little bit better. so the first one is just going to be seated t's. and this is just a nice way to kind of start moving those muscles. it's a little bit of a stretch, but it's kind of an exercise as well. really just more almost like a warm-up to loosen everything up. so all you're going to do is just in a seated position. you can do this standing as well. you don't have to do it seated. hands out in front of you about 90 degrees. doesn't have to be 90 degrees. and all you're going to do is open up like a t. so i'm just coming this way and really kind of trying to squeeze those shoulder blades in my back this way going in. so you're really trying to squeeze in. almost imagine that someone's hand is on your spine. and when you open up, you're trying to squeeze back as well. so i'm squeezing back, really opening up that chest. i should feel those pec muscles stretching out a little bit. i'm squeezing those muscles in the back to strengthen those to keep me in that open position. just a little pause. this isn't a stretch, so you can do like a little three second pause, and then come back in. and then just open up again. nice squeeze back there. you can take a nice deep breath in while you're doing it out, and then come back in. so you can do this for time, like if you just want to do it for 30 seconds. or you can give yourself a number, do it 10 times, and then progress as you go. so then the next time try and do 12, and then try and do you know 15, and work your way up from there. but you can also just do it for time. it's a nice way again just to kind of open everything up and get those muscles nice and loosened up. so the next one is kind of more of a deep breathing exercise. i like to add in my arms, i call it the jumping jack movement. but this one a lot of times people will talk about doing diaphragmatic breathing. this one i want you to breathe through your chest because i want you to open up that rib cage. what we're trying to do here is really open up the rib cage, make it easier to breathe. if we've got some tight muscles in there, again that's kind of compressing everything, and sometimes it makes it harder to breathe, or just you feel like you can't take that deep breath. so what i'm going to do is as i bring my arms up, i'm going to breathe in really as much as i can through the chest area trying to expand that rib cage. so as i come up i'm breathing in, and then coming back down breathing out. you can do it through your nose, or you can do it through your mouth, whichever one is more comfortable. but again going up and coming back down. i kind of like to look up and down as i go, just kind of adding that movement in there, but getting that nice full breath in as much as you comfortably can. it shouldn't be painful, but you should feel that expansion. maybe just doing that five times at a time. you know if you haven't done this a lot, and you're getting a lot of breathing in, make sure you don't feel lightheaded while you're doing it. but if you do, then you still might also want to check in with your doctor just to make sure that everything is okay. so this last one is basically a seated snow angel. and this is a great way again to really open up that chest and strengthen those upper back muscles that helps you get in good posture. and that's going to help that breathing really opening everything up. so i'm going to do it first without the ball. you don't really need the ball, but if you use the ball, it's going to be a nice extra stretch. so i'm just kind of sitting up tall. i don't have to put my body against the backing of the chair, but if you need it, it's nice to have it there. so with a snow angel, what you're going to do is you're kind of squeezing those shoulder blades back. my hands are about here, and i'm just sliding up trying to keep those shoulder blades squeezed together. and then come back down, squeeze squeeze squeeze squeeze back in. so it's kind of like if you're playing in the snow and you're on the ground, you're doing these snow angels, but you're getting that squeeze, those shoulder blades, the scapular squeezes in the whole time to activate those muscles. so again my elbows kind of go back. i'm getting that squeeze. i'm putting my palms out in front of me almost like a stop sign. i'm squeezing squeezing squeezing coming up trying to keep that squeeze the whole time. and then really pull everything back and squeeze and in. if you want an extra stretch to really open up that chest, get the ball or the pillow, kind of put it here, and then against the chair. and now i can kind of lean back into it. so see i'm opening up that chest even more. so i'm getting a really nice stretch even without doing that snow angel. and then again i'm squeezing back, elbows kind of back, hands, palms in the front. squeeze squeeze squeeze. do that snow angel. come back, squeeze squeeze squeeze squeeze coming down. and i'm feeling a great stretch in there. so maybe just five times, this is a pretty extreme stretch slash exercise. so you might just want to do two or three at first and see how it feels, and then you can pull. so those were some ways to improve your breathing. if you'd like to help support my channel, click on the link up there. and don't forget to subscribe. where mr yeah right there. and remember, be safe, have fun, and i hope you feel better soon.