Fish
Optimise your breathing!
This exercise is provided by Spiraldynamik
The fish pose, like the cobra and reverse plank pose, is a great exercise for stretching and loosening your chest muscles. Raising and opening the chest and shoulders from the supine position creates more space inside the chest. A supple, widened chest is essential for relaxed, deep breathing. This is because the stiffer and more immobile your chest, the greater the resistance when breathing deeply and the more limited your breathing volume. All the more reason to counteract this in a targeted manner, so that you can use your entire lung capacity and achieve the right pace while running.
How it works
Place both hands under your pelvis. This initiates a gentle roll-in movement and lengthens your lower back. Your breath should now reach into the posterior lower ribs.
Move the back of your head to the top of the mat, letting your chin sink at a right angle to your neck. As you inhale, widen your collar bone. Now, lift your upper chest using your back muscles. Raise your breastbone up as far as it will go. The back of your waist should be elongated while your lower ribcage is anchored to your pelvis. Deepen the rolling movement of the head and pelvis again.
Now, purposefully press your forearms into the ground. Your back muscles will intensify the curved, uniform line formed by your body as you lift your head off the mat. Your head and neck should integrate harmoniously into the arch. Stay in this pose for several breaths.
To come out of the pose, lift your head and pull your chin towards your neck. Let your arms slide outwards and lower your head back down.
Objective: the fish pose is an effective exercise for stretching the internal organs and fascia in the chest cavity, thus facilitating the internal and external posture right through to old age. This pose is ideal for those who sit for long periods of time with rounded backs, neck problems and postural dysfunction. However, it is also an interesting option for those with mild shortness of breath, sunken chest and asymmetry of the breastbone.
Our book recommendation:
Medical Yoga - TRIAS Verlag
Dr. med. Christian Larsen, Christiane Wolff, Eva Hager-Forstenlechner
https://shop.thieme.de/Medical-Yoga/9783432107677