Some of these techniques I got from the internet as taught by doctors dealing with covid-19 patients in the hospitals and at home, but I myself have also practised most of these breathing exercises for many years. In that the book ‘Science of Breath’ by Yogi Ramacharaka has been most helpful, and I cannot stress sufficiently that yoga teachers should study anatomy for the safety and well-being of their students.
The greatest part of the lungs are on the back of the chest. Many people teach to breathe on the front. They teach breathing while lying on the back, thus blocking the back ribs and therefore the lungs. This is a bad mistake. If you look at pictures of covid-19 patients in the hospitals they all lie on their stomachs.
What can we do at home? Here are some very simple exercises to cleanse and strengthen the lungs and make them more elastic.
1. Cleansing breath
- Stand straight (preferably outside early in the morning) with the feet at hip width
- Inhale completely, raising the arms sideways up over the head
- Hold the breath and start lightly tapping the shoulders, sternum, ribs, and back ribs. Drop the arms.
- Turn the trunk to the right (keeping the hips facing straight forward) and expel the air forcefully through the open mouth
- Repeat this whole process on the left.
- Repeat both sides five times
2. Walking breath
- Walk around for about five minutes (preferably outside early in the morning ) while counting five steps during inhalation and five steps during exhalation
3. Toes raising exercise
- Stand straight, holding the back of a chair
- Inhaling lift the body up onto the toes as high as possible
- Hold the pose and the breath for a five seconds
- Slowly take the heels down again while exhaling
- Repeat five times
4. Bridge
- Stand straight with the feet at hip width
- Take a deep inhalation and bend the trunk forward, rounding the back while keeping the breath
- Exhale and come back up again
- Repeat five times
5. Crab
- Stand straight with the feet at hip width
- Inhale completely, raising the arms sideways to shoulder height
- With the exhalation bend the trunk sideways to the right, keeping the hips and chest facing straight forward
- Inhale and come back up again
- Repeat on the left side
- Repeat both sides five times
6. Twist
- Stand straight with the feet at hip width
- Inhale completely, raising the arms sideways to shoulder height
- With the exhalation turn the trunk to the right, keeping the hips facing straight forward and the arms at shoulder height
- Inhale and come back again to the center and repeat to the left.
- Repeat both sides five times