COPD and Breathlessness

12-Week Breathing and Yoga Program for COPD

The distance you can walk before you have to stop has been getting shorter. Stairs need a plan. And the breathlessness itself has a way of speeding your breathing up, which empties the lungs less completely and makes the next breath harder still.

Our yoga teachers built this twelve-week program around the finding that surprised everyone in this field: the breathing does most of the work. Twelve weeks to breathe out more completely, walk further before you stop, and have something to do when the breathlessness starts.

Three sessions a week plus a short daily one, four sequences, twelve weeks. Twelve is not a round number: every trial behind this program ran exactly that long.

Length: 12 weeks
Practices: 84 in total
Rhythm: Three sessions a week plus a short daily one
Made for: Adults with clinically stable COPD who can walk without oxygen at rest

What the research says

The single most useful result here comes from a trial that tested breathing on its own, with no poses at all. Forty people with moderate to severe COPD were taught one seated breathing technique in four short sessions and left to practise at home. They managed about twelve minutes a day rather than the thirty they were asked for. After twelve weeks the difference in six-minute walking distance between them and the control group was 65 metres, well past what counts as clinically meaningful, and their quality of life scores improved too.

That fits what the pooled evidence says. A meta-analysis of 11 trials with 586 patients found yoga improved six-minute walking distance by 25.5 metres and improved FEV1, both robust to how well the trials were run. Its authors were specific about the reason: the benefit tracked with the breathing-focused interventions rather than the pose-heavy ones. An earlier meta-analysis found the same direction, with 38.8 metres on the walking test and 123 mL on FEV1.

And it holds up against the standard of care. A trial of 150 people compared supervised yoga by video call against pulmonary rehabilitation by video call, five times a week for three months. Both groups improved substantially in walking distance, breathlessness, symptoms, quality of life, anxiety and depression, with no significant difference between them. That makes this a reasonable thing to do alongside your care. It does not make it a replacement for pulmonary rehabilitation.

See every study and guideline behind this program →

How the program works

3 phases, and you stay with the same practices for the whole of each one. That repetition is the plan rather than a shortage of ideas. A body changes when the same ask comes back often enough, and the trials this program follows repeated for weeks before they made anything harder.

Weeks 1 to 3MoveBelly breathing and pursed lip breathing, until both are automatic.Open week 1 →Weeks 4 to 9BuildPractice on most days, plus two more breathing techniques and a little standing.Open week 4 →Weeks 10 to 12IntegrateUse the breathing during exertion, not only during practice.Open week 10 →

Each phase has one longer session three times a week and the same ten-minute session on the other days. Open a session below to see every pose, its timing and the breathing that goes with it. Two things run through all twelve weeks: the breathing comes first in every session while you are freshest, and you never hold your breath in any of it.

Who this is for

·Your COPD is clinically stable and you have not had a flare up in the last month or so.
·You can walk on your own, even if you have to stop and rest.
·You do not need oxygen while sitting still.
·You want something to do about the breathlessness rather than only waiting it out.
·You can find ten minutes most days and twenty minutes three times a week.

Before you start

This sits alongside your medical care and any pulmonary rehabilitation, not instead of either. Nothing here uses forced or rapid breathing, and nothing asks you to hold your breath. The practice guide has the rest, including what to do about oxygen saturation.

Read the full safety notes in the practice guide →

The practice

Pick a week to see what it asks for and the practices that carry it. The same practices run for a whole phase, so a week changes what you do with them rather than replacing them.

Move

Build

Integrate

Move · Weeks 1 to 3

Find out where your breath currently sits

One hand on the belly, one on the chest. If the upper hand is doing more, that is the pattern these three weeks are changing.

Core session · Three times a week

20-Minute Yoga Sequence for Breathing With COPD

20 min · 7 poses

Twenty minutes, six of them breathing before anything else, then four gentle positions that give the ribs room.

1.Easy Pose6 min
2.Staff Pose1 min
3.Seated Side Bend1 min each side
4.Revolved Easy Pose1 min each side
5.Bridge Pose45 sec, twice
6.Fish Pose1 min
7.Corpse Pose5 min

Open the full sequence →

Daily session · On the other days

10-Minute Yoga Sequence for Easier Breathing With COPD

10 min · 5 poses

Ten minutes. In the study behind this program, about twelve minutes a day was what people actually managed and it was enough.

1.Easy Pose4 min
2.Staff Pose1 min
3.Cow Pose1 min
4.Bridge Pose45 sec, twice
5.Corpse Pose3 min

Open the full sequence →

← Back to the copd and breathlessness practice guide

The research behind it

This program is based on studies from

Read what each study found →

The 13 poses in this program

Every pose has its own page with alignment, common mistakes and the energetic effect. Look one up when a shape does not make sense in your body.

Easy Pose Staff Pose Seated Side Bend Revolved Easy Pose Bridge Pose Fish Pose Corpse Pose Cow Pose Mountain Pose Mountain Pose with Side Bend Cow Face Pose Legs Up the Wall Upward Salute

Go to the Asana Lab →

The guide behind this program

Why these poses and not others

The COPD and Breathlessness practice guide explains what each pose does and why it belongs to this goal. It also carries the safety notes and every study this program is built on. Read it if you want the reasoning rather than the plan.

Read the guide →

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this replace pulmonary rehabilitation?

No. The trial that compared them found supervised yoga and pulmonary rehabilitation delivered by video call produced similar improvements in walking distance, breathlessness, symptoms and quality of life, with no significant difference between them. Similar is not the same as replacing, and pulmonary rehabilitation includes assessment and supervision that a program like this cannot.

Do I really only need ten minutes?

On most days, yes, and that is one of the better supported claims here. In the trial that tested breathing on its own, participants were asked for thirty minutes a day and actually managed about twelve, and still finished 65 metres ahead of the control group on the walking test.

What is pursed lip breathing doing?

Breathing out through gently pursed lips keeps a small back pressure in the airways, which stops the smaller ones collapsing early and lets the lungs empty more completely. That leaves more room for the next breath in. It is the single most useful thing in this program.

What about Kapalabhati and Bhastrika?

They are not here. Both use fast forced exhalation, and there is no evidence that this is safe in lungs that are already over-inflated. The techniques in this program are the slow ones, which is also where the evidence sits.

Is this suitable if my COPD is advanced?

This program is built for clinically stable COPD in people who can walk on their own and do not need oxygen at rest, because that is who was studied. The review that looked specifically at advanced disease with a high symptom burden did not find the same benefits, so if that describes you, this belongs in a conversation with your respiratory team rather than as a self-directed program.

What should I do about oxygen saturation?

If you use a pulse oximeter, agree a floor with your clinician and rest when you reach it, then start again once you have recovered. Symptoms count as much as the number: breathlessness at rest, dizziness or chest tightness mean stop, whatever the reading says.

Creator of this program

Manish Rana

Founder of Asanaverse.de. Manish writes about yoga, Ayurveda and meditation, and owes his deep connection to yoga to his Indian roots. With over 1,000 hours of Yoga Alliance Teacher Training, he shares his knowledge with the community.

More about Manish →

Where to next

All programs

See the other programs

Every program here was built around one complaint and around the trials that studied it. Back, neck, knees, hips, sleep and stress, each one running for as long as the research says it takes.

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