Phase 3 · Breathing While You Move

Part of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Breathing With Asthma

25 Minute Yoga Sequence for Everyday Breathing

The last two weeks and the one to keep afterwards. Standing, moving, and still breathing well while it happens.

Everything so far has been done sitting or lying down, where breathing well is easiest. This session stands up, because breathing well while you are actually doing something is the version that matters. It is also the session to keep after the eight weeks, and the strongest trial behind this program had exactly that shape: a supervised start, then months of people carrying on at home.

25 min · Level 1

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When it helps

For weeks seven and eight, and then once or twice a week for as long as you like. Twenty-five minutes. A blanket, a wall, and your inhaler in reach. This is an addition to your asthma treatment, never a replacement for it. If the breath tightens during any of this, stop and use your reliever inhaler.

Breath

The same long exhalation, now while standing and moving. That is a harder thing to hold on to and the reason this phase exists.

Physical effect

Side ribs, front of the chest and upper back, with one standing pose that asks the chest to stay open under some effort.

Transfer

The point of the last two weeks is that the breathing pattern turns up on its own, on a walk or on a flight of stairs, without you setting it up.

Set the pattern

Five minutes seated, so the breathing is established before anything else happens.

Sukhasana

5 min

Easy Pose

Alternate nostril breathing for three minutes, then two minutes of humming bee breath.

Shorter than in phase two, because by now the pattern comes back quickly. It still goes first.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Standing, and still breathing well

The part that transfers. Keep the long out breath going through every one of these, and slow down if it disappears.

Tadasana

2 min

Mountain Pose

Stand tall, feet hip width. Breathe in for four and out for six, standing up. It is noticeably harder than sitting.

Standing changes how the diaphragm works. If the pattern only exists on a cushion, it is not going to turn up on the stairs.

Learn more about Tadasana

Parshva Tadasana

45 sec each side

Mountain Pose with Side Bend

Reach one arm overhead and lean gently to the side. Breathe into the long side.

Side ribs, standing. The same expansion as the seated version, with the body carrying itself.

Learn more about Parshva Tadasana

Uttanasana

1 min

Standing Forward Bend

Fold forward with soft knees, head heavy. Breathe into the back of the ribs.

In this shape you can feel the back of the ribcage move, which is nearly impossible to sense standing up.

Learn more about Uttanasana

Urdhva Hastasana

45 sec

Upward Salute

Stand and reach both arms overhead, ribs lifting away from the hips.

The longest the front of the body gets in this session, and it costs almost nothing.

Learn more about Urdhva Hastasana

Virabhadrasana 1

45 sec each side

Warrior I

Warrior I, arms up, chest open. Keep the out breath long even though the legs are working.

The one pose here with real effort in it. Holding the breathing pattern while the legs work is the whole test of this phase.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana 1

Down and open

Back to the floor, and the chest opens one more time before the ending.

Bhujangasana

30 sec, twice

High Cobra Pose

Face down, low lift, even breathing.

The front of the chest again, now with the breath already established.

Learn more about Bhujangasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

45 sec, twice

Bridge Pose

Hips lifted, breathing wide across the collarbones.

The widest the chest gets all session, in the easiest position to breathe in.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Let it settle

Seven minutes, same as always. It is the part people cut and it is the part the protocols kept.

Viparita Karani

3 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall, long out breath.

Everything the session built gets consolidated lying still.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Savasana

4 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, quiet, and let the breath run itself.

If the pattern is still there when you stop instructing it, the eight weeks have done their job.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 3 · Weeks 7 to 8

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Breathing While You Move, the third phase of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Breathing With Asthma. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Three times a week for weeks seven and eight, then once or twice a week indefinitely, with the ten minute sequence whenever it fits. If a dynamic session ever brings on tightness, slow down and shorten it. Exercise-related tightness is common with asthma and it responds to a longer, gentler warm up.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

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Make it yours

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