Yoga For Bronchitis And Chronic Cough: What Mr Iyengar, The Yoga Doctors And The Research Say

Still coughing weeks after the cold has gone? Chest rattly every morning, and phlegm that will not shift? Bronchitis and a lingering chest infection wear you down. Mr BKS Iyengar and the medical doctors who worked with him point the same way: open the chest, let the poses help it drain, and breathe slowly without strain. This guide brings together what each of them says about yoga for bronchitis and chronic cough, and what modern research has found about chronic bronchitis and a chronic cough. We teach yoga for bronchitis in Darwin and online. Last updated: 7 November 2026.

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Yoga for bronchitis: the short answer

Can yoga help bronchitis? Yes. In the one trial of yoga in chronic bronchitis, people were less breathless and their lungs worked better after four weeks of pranayama (yoga breathing) and simple poses. Chronic bronchitis is one of the two main parts of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and in COPD the reviews found people walked further and breathed more easily with yoga. The yoga doctors add the practical part: chest-opening poses, poses that let the lungs drain, and slow, quiet breathing through the nose.

One thing to keep in mind as you read: most trials tested “yoga” of many styles, taught by teachers with very different training. The trials that tested Iyengar yoga specifically, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, found it helped people with long-term lung disease walk further and feel less anxious and tired, and in our view well-taught Iyengar yoga is likely to go further than the average. Why the kind of yoga matters.

The bottom line: five key moves for bronchitis and a lingering cough

1. Go to a yoga class at your level, several times a week. Supported, chest-opening poses come first. The trial in chronic bronchitis ran for four weeks, and the COPD trials for about twelve, so give it time.
2. Open the chest, and let gravity help. Supported backbends lift the ribs. Downward-Facing Dog and, when your teacher says, supported inversions are the poses the yoga doctors list for draining the lungs.
3. Breathe slowly through the nose. Ocean breath (Ujjayi) and alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhana), which Dr J. T. Shah, a medical doctor who was also an Iyengar yoga teacher, who worked closely with Mr BKS Iyengar for many years, lists for chronic coughs, taught lying down first, soft and unforced.
4. Calm the mind, and the diaphragm lets go. Mr Iyengar linked stress with a tight diaphragm and breathlessness. Supported rests and a long, soft out-breath bring it down.
5. Start now. New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price, in Darwin or LIVE online.

Iyengar yoga is the style we teach at Flametree. During the 20th century, Mr BKS Iyengar was the major person who codified traditional Indian yoga, through his seminal books and widespread teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, so poses can be adapted to almost any body. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. This guide is part of our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

This guide in short

• Overall evidence: Strong. Best study: Zhu 2024 pooled 15 trials with 1,047 people with stable COPD, the lung condition that includes chronic bronchitis. Mind-body exercise, yoga included, raised lung function and walking distance. It looked at COPD, not chronic bronchitis on its own.
• Mr BKS Iyengar: a course of poses for bronchitis that ends with supported inversions and chest-opening rests.
• Dr Krishna Raman, a medical doctor in Chennai who trained in yoga under Mr BKS Iyengar and has used yoga in his medical practice for decades: inversions help the lungs drain, backbends help clear mucus, and every pose is done on props so breathlessness does not build.
• Dr J. T. Shah: several of his poses “drain lung secretions”, and he lists two calm breathing practices for chronic coughs.
• Dr Timothy McCall, an American medical doctor and yoga therapist who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar, author of Yoga as Medicine: bronchitis is not on his list of 117 on its own; in a self-report poll he sets out, 88% of 226 people with asthma or bronchitis said yoga helped.
• The research: 16 studies, from trials in chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis and two Iyengar yoga trials, to reviews in COPD of thousands of people.
• Asthma, COPD and breathlessness have their own guide: yoga for asthma, COPD and breathlessness. This one is about the wet, rattly, hanging-on chest.

Downward-Facing Dog with ropes: head down, chest long

“Deep breath does not mean puffing the chest.”

What bronchitis and a chronic cough are

The bronchi are the airways that carry air from the windpipe into the lungs. In bronchitis they become inflamed and make too much mucus, so you cough, wheeze and get short of breath. That is how Mr Iyengar describes it in Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (pp. 280 to 281).

• Acute bronchitis is the chest infection that follows a cold or flu. The cough can hang on for weeks after you feel otherwise well.
• Chronic bronchitis is the long-term kind. Dr Krishna Raman defines it as too much mucus in the airways for at least three months of the year (A Matter of Health, p. 384). With emphysema, it makes up COPD.
• A chronic cough is one that goes on and on. It has many causes, and a chest that does not clear is one of the commonest.

What they share is a chest that is clogged, tight and tired. The breathing muscles work harder, the shoulders creep up, and worry about the next coughing fit tightens everything further. That is where yoga comes in.

“A caved in chest does not allow one to breathe correctly.”

What Mr BKS Iyengar taught about bronchitis

In short: open and lift the chest with poses, then rest it in supported inversions. Breathing practice comes in gently.

In Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, Mr Iyengar gives bronchitis its own course of poses (pp. 280 to 281), in a group with colds, breathlessness, sinusitis and asthma. His claim, in the introduction to that group, is that the courses help all breathing problems if they are practised regularly (p. 276). A few ideas run through it.

• Poses first. The course is built from poses.
• End upside down, supported. It closes with supported inversions and chest-opening rests: Shoulder Stand, Plough, supported Bridge Pose and Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani). With the chest higher than the head, the lungs can drain and the breath can settle.
• Winter work. He wrote that standing poses, backbends and inversions in the cold months help fight off colds, coughs and congestion in the chest (p. 181). That is his claim, from long practice.
• Stress shows in the chest. Among the effects of negative stress he lists a feeling of tightness in the diaphragm and breathlessness (p. 179).
• Pranayama is not deep breathing. He was clear that forced, puffed-up breathing tightens the chest. The breath in his teaching is soft and quiet.

In Light on Yoga, his first book, the appendix on ailments has a long list for bronchitis (p. 417) and a shorter one for coughs (p. 419). Standing poses, headstand and shoulder stand with their variations, forward bends, twists and backbends all appear, and he adds three breathing practices. He also says that because he lists so many poses, it is wise to have an experienced teacher choose them.

We do not publish his sequences. A sequence needs a teacher who can see your chest and your breath on the day and adapt each pose, which is what a class is for.

“While other exercises exhaust the lungs, yoga gives rest and rejuvenation.”

What Dr Krishna Raman says about chronic bronchitis

In short: inversions help the lungs drain, backbends help clear the mucus, and every pose is done on props so the lungs rest instead of struggling.

Dr Raman is a Chennai physician who trained in yoga under Mr Iyengar. His book A Matter of Health has a section on chronic bronchitis and emphysema (pp. 384 to 388). His views, in our words:

• Four problems, one answer. He describes chronic bronchitis as clogging, poor clearing of mucus, tired lungs and spasm, and in his view yoga works on all four.
• Inversions drain. Inversions promote drainage from the lungs, he writes. He has headstand done on the ropes, so there is no pressure on the chest.
• Backbends clear. Opening the chest in supported backbends, he says, helps clear mucus from the airways, and forward bends work the back of the lungs while twists squeeze the sides.
• Everything on props. All the poses are supported, so a tired chest does not get more breathless. Lying back over pillows in Purvottanasana (an upward plank, supported) rests the lungs.
• His list. Reclining Hero Pose, supported Bridge Pose on pillows, Downward Dog with the rope, supported Purvottanasana, headstand on the ropes, supported backbends over a chair or stool, shoulder stand on a chair, and Legs Up The Wall.
• Breath, simple first. He starts with Ujjayi, which does not strain the lungs, and says breathing practice helps the airways clear and builds stamina. He asks for at least 15 minutes a day (his figure).
• Active or passive, as the person needs. In chronic bronchitis both active and restful poses can be done, he says, chosen for the person and their age.

A supported backbend over a chair

What Dr Shah recommends for bronchitis and chronic coughs: poses that drain the lungs

In short: For bronchitis and chronic coughs Dr J. T. Shah lists chest-opening backbends, resting forward bends, poses that drain the lungs, and two calm breathing practices.

Who Dr Shah is: Dr J. T. (Jawahar) Shah, a Mumbai ear, nose and throat surgeon, practised yoga from 1963, studied with Mr BKS Iyengar and taught yoga himself from 1985. His book Therapeutic Yoga carries a foreword by Mr Iyengar and colour-codes every pose by the body systems it works.

One row of his chart (p. xviii) covers asthma, bronchitis, bronchiectasis, chronic lung obstruction and chronic coughs and colds. It names backward bends, forward bends, stress-reducing poses, Ujjayi and Nadi Shodhana. What this guide adds to our asthma guide is his drainage poses. The ones he lists for a clogged chest:

• Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), p. 55: he says it drains the lungs, and lists it for chronic bronchitis.
• Wide-Leg Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottanasana), p. 57: he says it drains lung secretions.
• Half Moon Pose (Ardha Chandrasana), p. 59: he says it drains phlegm from the lungs, and lists it for chronic bronchitis.
• Headstand (Salamba Sirsasana), p. 65: he says it drains lung secretions and improves ventilation, and lists it for chronic coughs and colds. A later pose, learnt with a teacher.
• Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana), p. 43, and Reclining Hero Pose (Supta Virasana), p. 45: supported rests that open the chest; he lists both for bronchitis.
• Crocodile Pose, lying face down (Makarasana), p. 47: easy belly breathing; he lists it for chronic bronchitis.
• Bharadvaja’s Twist (Bharadvajasana I), p. 83: a seated twist he lists for chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis.
• Ocean Breath (Ujjayi Pranayama), p. 97: he lists it for chronic coughs and colds and for allergic conditions of the nose and chest.
• Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama), p. 99: he lists it for bronchitis, chest infections and chronic coughs and colds.

The body systems they work: the respiratory system (his green L for lungs) and the nervous system (dark blue N).

Dr Shah’s cautions, kept as he gave them:

• Upside-down poses: he says headstand and shoulder stand help drain the lungs, and lists where they are left out: high short sight (high myopia), high blood pressure, glaucoma, detached retina, discharging ears and neck arthritis (cervical spondylitis) (p. xiii). They are learnt with a teacher, who gives other poses where they do not suit.
• Empty stomach: practise two hours after a light meal, four after a heavy one (p. xii).

Known from practice; not yet tested by trials. Dr Shah’s list is clinical experience within the Iyengar method. The trials below tested yoga classes, not his exact list.

Tell your teacher. If you have a cough that will not clear, tell your teacher. Your teacher will adapt each pose with props, which is how Dr Shah himself said therapeutic work should be done: with an experienced teacher. Classes run in Darwin and LIVE online.

Source: Dr J. T. Shah, Therapeutic Yoga (foreword by Mr BKS Iyengar), Vakils, Feffer and Simons, Mumbai, 1999, chart p. xviii, general instructions pp. xii to xiii, pose pages 43 to 99. Summarised in our own words.

“The opening of the chest in these particular postures energises the lungs.”

What Dr Timothy McCall and Geeta S Iyengar add

In short: Dr McCall’s poll found most people with asthma or bronchitis said yoga helped, and Geeta Iyengar knew a coughing, wheezing chest from her own childhood.

• Dr Timothy McCall is a US medical doctor and yoga therapist, author of Yoga as Medicine. Bronchitis is not on his June 2019 list of 117 conditions on its own. The nearest is COPD (no. 18), and his COPD studies include the bronchitis trial and the Iyengar pilot in the research section below.
• His poll. In Yoga as Medicine (Table 1.1) he sets out a self-report poll: of 226 people with asthma or bronchitis, 88% said yoga helped them. That is what people reported about themselves, not a trial.
• Geeta S Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter, said in a 1995 interview that she was a sickly child, with colds, coughs and fevers and wheezing at night, long before her serious childhood illness was found. Yoga became central to her life after it. That is her story, told as her story, not a promise.
• Breath before force. Her teaching on the breath is to make space first and never strain, which is the way we teach pranayama at Flametree.

Reclining Hero Pose: a rest that opens the chest

Other yoga voices on coughs and colds

• Always catching something. Patricia Walden, a senior US Iyengar teacher, tells of two flatmates. Carrie caught everything: colds, flu, bronchitis, one after another. Helen, breathing the same air, did not. Walden names three differences: Helen felt in control, she expressed what she felt, and she went to an early morning yoga class.
• The nose matters too. Our guide to yoga for sinus problems and hay fever covers the nose and sinuses, where many coughs begin.
• Colds and the immune system. Our guide to yoga for inflammation and the immune system covers how calm practice and pranayama help balance the immune system.
• Dr Loren Fishman, an American medical doctor who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar and teaches yoga through his own programme: we do not yet hold anything from him on bronchitis or coughs.

Living with bronchitis day to day: the yoga approach

In short: yoga can be a way to help manage a lingering cough or chronic bronchitis, and to improve how the chest feels. The practice changes with the stage you are at. People may also choose other professional help as they see fit.

When the chest infection is fresh

• Rest first. Supported reclining poses, such as Reclining Bound Angle or Reclining Hero over a bolster, open the chest while the body rests.
• Half-sitting, not flat. For a heavy chest, Geeta S Iyengar used a half-sitting rest on a bench or bolsters before lying flat.
• Gentle breathing only. Quiet, even breathing through the nose. Nothing forced, nothing fast.

When the cough lingers

• Open and drain. Supported backbends over a chair or bolsters, Downward-Facing Dog, and Legs Up The Wall, the poses Dr Raman and Dr Shah use to help the chest clear.
• Simple Ujjayi, lying down. Dr Raman starts with plain Ujjayi because it does not strain the lungs.
• Coming to class with a cough. Tell your teacher. Take care to respect the wellbeing of the other students who will be close to you, and think about staying home until you feel better. It depends on how unwell you are.

For chronic bronchitis, over the long term

• Regular practice. Dr Raman uses both active and restful poses in chronic bronchitis, chosen for the person and their age, with breathing practice every day.
• Standing poses and backbends. Mr Iyengar valued them, with inversions, for keeping coughs and chest congestion at bay through the colder months (p. 181).
• Humming, once the cough settles. Humming breath (Bhramari) raises nitric oxide in the nose about 15 times over, and in our view it helps balance the immune system, and so helps with what the immune system does, including helping to reduce infection. Your teacher brings it in when you are ready; our immune system guide has more.
• Clean air. Dr Raman names smoking and air pollution among the main causes of chronic bronchitis (p. 385). In the tropics he suggests practising early in the morning, in fresh air if you can.

Every day, at every stage

• Posture. Sit and stand with the breastbone lifted. A caved-in chest, Mr Iyengar said, cannot breathe correctly, and desk hours make it worse.
• Nose, not mouth. The nose warms, filters and moistens the air before it reaches the airways, as Dr Raman points out.
• A light stomach. Practise two hours after a light meal or four after a heavy one (Dr Shah, p. xii), so the diaphragm can move freely.
• Stress and sleep. Stress tightens the diaphragm (Mr Iyengar, p. 179). Supported rests and Corpse Pose at the end of class help the whole system settle, and settle the night too.

Who should take care, and what to leave out

In short: these are the cautions the yoga sources themselves give. Your teacher applies them for you.

• Upside-down poses with a teacher. Mr Iyengar and Dr Shah both value inversions for the chest, and both are learnt with a teacher. Dr Shah leaves them out with high blood pressure, glaucoma, detached retina, high short sight, discharging ears or neck arthritis (p. xiii). Your teacher gives supported alternatives, such as Legs Up The Wall.
• Nothing forced. Dr Raman has every pose done on props so breathlessness does not build. Rest comes before you need it.
• Light stomach. Two hours after a light meal, four after a heavy one (Dr Shah, p. xii).
• Not straight after an attack. Mr Iyengar left out the seated forward bend (Paschimottanasana) during or just after an asthma attack.
• A cough in class. Tell your teacher. Take care to respect the wellbeing of the other students who will be close to you, and think about staying home until you feel better. It depends on how unwell you are.

What the research shows

In short: yoga can help manage bronchitis and a long-term cough, and the studies are the reason we can say so. Trials in chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis and severe airways obstruction found less breathlessness, better lung function, better sleep and more capacity for exercise. The rest of the evidence is indirect: it comes from COPD, of which chronic bronchitis is one part, where yoga and pranayama helped people walk further and breathe more easily. Most of these studies tested yoga in general, of many styles. The Iyengar yoga trials are listed on their own below. Why the difference matters.

Chronic bronchitis and long-term cough (direct)

• People with chronic bronchitis were less breathless, and their lungs worked better, after four weeks of pranayama and eight yoga poses. Breathlessness scores fell, and three lung measures rose: vital capacity, the volume breathed out in one second (FEV1) and peak flow. The authors called it a preliminary study and saw yoga as a useful addition to usual care. Behera 1998, a trial of 15 people at a chest hospital in Chandigarh, India. Read the study.
• Yoga eased breathlessness, improved sleep and lifted quality of life in bronchiectasis, a condition of long-term cough and sputum. Twenty-four sessions over eight weeks. Tan 2024, a randomised trial of 48 people, against no intervention. Read the study.
• Yoga raised the most work people could do on an exercise test, and more of them felt better, than a matched group given standard breathing exercises. Nine months of follow-up. Tandon 1978, a study of 22 men with severe chronic airways obstruction, published in Thorax. Read the study.

Iyengar yoga studies (indirect: COPD and chronic lung disease)

These trials tested Iyengar yoga specifically, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, with props and adapted poses.

• Iyengar yoga helped older people with COPD walk further: about 72 feet more after 12 weeks, while the usual-care group walked about 28 feet less. Distress about breathlessness trended down. A modified Iyengar programme of poses and timed breathing, twice a week. Donesky-Cuenco 2009, a pilot trial of 29 people. Read the study.
• Iyengar yoga twice a week for 12 weeks lowered anxiety and fatigue and lifted wellbeing in chronic lung disease. Santana 2013, a Canadian pilot of 25 people with COPD or high blood pressure in the lungs. Read the study.

COPD (indirect: chronic bronchitis is one part of COPD)

• Yoga improved walking distance, breathlessness scores, lung function and quality of life. Li 2017, a review of 10 studies in COPD. Read the study.
• Breathing exercises lengthened the six-minute walk, and yoga pranayama added about 45 metres. No serious harm was reported. Holland 2012, a Cochrane review of 16 trials and 1,233 people with COPD; the pranayama result came from 2 studies and 74 people. Read the study.
• Yoga-based rehabilitation brought less breathlessness, less tiredness, a lower pulse and better oxygen levels. Ranjita 2016, a trial of 81 coal miners with COPD, against a waiting list. Read the study.
• In the same coal miners, yoga improved health status, low mood and anxiety, while the usual-care group did not change. Twelve weeks. Ranjita 2016, a second report from the trial of 81 people. Read the study.
• Pranayama for 30 minutes twice a day brought COPD symptom scores down from high to medium impact in three months, and lengthened the six-minute walk. Gupta 2014, a controlled study of 50 people with moderate to severe COPD in Rohtak, India. Read the study.
• During a single yoga breathing lesson, breathing became slower and deeper and blood oxygen rose, from 91.5% to 93.5%, with no extra breathlessness. Everyone found it comfortable. Pomidori 2009, a pilot study of 11 people with COPD. Read the study.
• Pranayama at home for 12 weeks went with a longer walk: about 28 metres more, against about 15 metres less with education alone. Kaminsky 2017, a pilot trial of 43 people. Read the study.
• Of nine mind-body practices, yoga had the strongest effect on two lung measures (FEV1 and FVC). Gao 2026, a network review of 37 studies and 3,179 people with COPD. Read the study.
• Mind-body exercise, yoga included, raised lung function and walking distance in stable COPD. Zhu 2024, a review of 15 trials and 1,047 people. Read the study.
• Complementary therapies, yoga among them, eased breathlessness, symptom burden, anxiety and low mood in COPD. Santiworakul 2026, a review of 36 trials and 3,148 people. Read the study.

Meditation and mindfulness

• An eight-week mindfulness course lowered anxiety and low mood in COPD, and the gain lasted six months. Added to a standard lung rehabilitation programme. Farver-Vestergaard 2018, a randomised trial of 84 people in Denmark. Read the study.

In our view yoga and mindfulness overlap: you cannot hold a pose or practise pranayama well without being mindful.

A lingering cough, and clearing the chest

No trial has yet tested yoga or pranayama on its own for a chronic cough, or for clearing mucus from the chest. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. Mr Iyengar, Dr Raman and Dr Shah all describe, from long practice, how inversions, backbends and slow breathing help a clogged chest clear.

Trials also tested “yoga” in general far more often than pranayama as an Iyengar teacher teaches it, slow and nasal and learnt step by step. Why the kind of breathing matters.

For men

COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis, hits Australian men harder: men’s death rates from it ran 1.4 to 1.7 times women’s between 2011 and 2021 (figures in our COPD guide). Men also tend to be stiff through the chest and shoulders, which is exactly where breathing gets stuck. Yet men come to yoga far less often than women. Bring a mate or come alone, but give it 12 weeks.

“Pranayama is not deep breathing.”

Yoga, pranayama and mindfulness: how they work together

Some of the studies above tested a mindfulness or meditation course, not yoga. That still counts for our classes. Mindfulness is steady, present attention, and yoga poses and pranayama (yogic breathing) are old routes to that same state. So the research on mindfulness and meditation for chronic lung disease also shows what a good yoga and pranayama class can build. No trial separates which part does the work.

We suggest coming to both a yoga class and a pranayama class. Mr Iyengar taught that asana (poses), pranayama and meditation are not divided, and in our experience the two together do more than either alone. See every class time. We trace the history and the links in Yoga And Mindfulness: Why The Mindfulness Research Points Back To Yoga And The Breath.

How this comes together in a Flametree class

Everything above points the same way, and it is how we teach in Darwin and online. If a chest infection will not clear, or a chronic cough lingers, this is the yoga side of the answer: an open chest, poses that let the lungs drain, and a slow breath through the nose.

• Chest opening first: supported backbends over bolsters and chairs, and standing poses that lift the ribs.
• Head-down poses, supported: Downward Dog, often with the ropes or the head resting, and Legs Up The Wall, with headstand and shoulder stand only when your teacher sees you are ready.
• Classes adapted to the people in them. No one-size-fits-all. Tell your teacher about your cough if you wish, and the poses are changed for you.
• Pranayama when you are ready: lying down, slow and nasal, starting with Ujjayi.
• Gentle days: our gentle yoga and restorative yoga classes suit a tired chest, and our pranayama classes run at 6.30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in Darwin and online.

Read more on breathing and the chest

• Yoga for asthma, COPD and breathlessness: the full guide
• How to improve lung capacity: what breathing exercises did for COPD and asthma
• Yoga for sinus problems and hay fever
• Yoga for inflammation and the immune system
• Bridge Pose, step by step
• Ujjayi, the ocean breath and alternate nostril breathing
• Nose or mouth? How to stop mouth breathing
• Iyengar quotes on the breath, explained

Take it further

• Classes, in Darwin or LIVE online: new, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. See every class time.
• Pranayama: live pranayama classes with Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist, at 6.30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or start any time with the 4 pranayama video classes.
• Masterclass: our 2027 Sunday Arvo Masterclasses with Chris Lalor include anxiety, upsets and anger, and sleep and energy. Bookings are open.
• Retreats: a week of daily yoga and pranayama in Bali, by the sea air. See the retreats.

Other conditions are in our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

Yoga for bronchitis and chronic cough: questions people ask

Can yoga help bronchitis?

Yes. In a trial of yoga in chronic bronchitis, people were less breathless and their lungs worked better after four weeks of pranayama and simple poses. In COPD, which includes chronic bronchitis, reviews found yoga helped people walk further and breathe more easily. The yoga doctors who worked with Mr BKS Iyengar use chest-opening poses, poses that help the lungs drain, and slow, quiet breathing through the nose.

Has yoga been tested for chronic bronchitis?

Yes. In a trial in chronic bronchitis, fifteen people did pranayama and eight yoga poses for four weeks; their breathlessness scores fell and three lung measures rose. In a 2024 trial in bronchiectasis, another long-term cough condition, yoga eased breathlessness and improved sleep. Much of the other evidence comes from COPD, where trials, including two of Iyengar yoga, found people walked further and felt less anxious and tired.

Which yoga poses help clear mucus from the chest?

Dr J. T. Shah, a medical doctor who studied with Mr Iyengar, lists Downward-Facing Dog, the wide-leg forward bend and Half Moon Pose as poses that drain the lungs. Dr Krishna Raman says supported inversions promote drainage and supported backbends help clear the airways. Your teacher chooses which suit you.

What are the best breathing exercises for bronchitis?

Slow, quiet breathing through the nose. Dr Shah lists Ujjayi, the ocean breath, and Nadi Shodhana, alternate nostril breathing, for chronic coughs and bronchitis. Dr Raman starts with plain Ujjayi. At Flametree pranayama is learnt lying down first, step by step.

What can I do day to day for a chronic cough?

Keep the chest open and the breath slow. Go to class several times a week, sit and stand with the chest lifted rather than caved in, breathe through the nose, and rest in supported reclining poses when the chest feels heavy. Geeta S Iyengar used a half-sitting rest on bolsters for a heavy chest, and Dr Raman asks for regular daily breathing practice once the cough settles.

Are upside-down poses good for bronchitis?

Mr Iyengar’s bronchitis course ends with supported inversions, and Dr Shah says headstand drains lung secretions and Downward-Facing Dog drains the lungs. They are learnt with a teacher. Dr Shah leaves headstand and shoulder stand out with high blood pressure, glaucoma, detached retina, high short sight, discharging ears or neck arthritis, and Legs Up The Wall is the gentle alternative.

Is chronic bronchitis the same as COPD?

Chronic bronchitis is one of the two main parts of COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the other being emphysema. Dr Krishna Raman defines chronic bronchitis as too much mucus in the airways for at least three months of the year. Our guide to yoga for asthma, COPD and breathlessness covers COPD in more detail.

Is it OK to do yoga with a lingering cough?

Tell your teacher. Take care to respect the wellbeing of the other students who will be close to you, and think about staying home until you feel better. It depends on how unwell you are. When you do come, the class can be made gentler: supported chest-opening poses, supported head-down poses and rest. Dr Raman has every pose done on props so breathlessness does not build.

Can stress make a cough or chest tightness worse?

Mr BKS Iyengar listed a feeling of tightness in the diaphragm and breathlessness among the effects of negative stress. A tight, anxious chest breathes less freely. Supported poses and a long, soft out-breath help the diaphragm let go.

What did Mr BKS Iyengar teach about bronchitis?

In Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, Mr Iyengar gives bronchitis its own course of poses, which opens and lifts the chest and ends with supported inversions and chest-opening rests. In Light on Yoga he lists many standing poses, inversions, forward bends, twists and backbends for bronchitis and coughs, and advises an experienced teacher to choose them.

What did Dr J. T. Shah recommend for bronchitis?

Dr Shah lists backbends, resting forward bends and stress-reducing poses for bronchitis and chronic coughs, including Downward-Facing Dog, Half Moon Pose, Reclining Bound Angle and Reclining Hero. He adds Ujjayi and alternate nostril breathing, two calm breathing practices.

Where can I do yoga for bronchitis in Darwin or online?

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online across Australia, with bolsters, chairs and ropes to open and support the chest, plus pranayama classes at 6.30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. New, or away 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes, then 10 at half price.

Where this comes from: BKS Iyengar, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (Dorling Kindersley), the respiratory system courses, bronchitis pp. 280 to 281, and pp. 179 and 181; Light on Yoga, Appendix II, pp. 417 and 419; Astadala Yogamala, volume 7; Yoga Wisdom and Practice; and “A Commonwealth Interview”, Iyengar: His Life and Work. Geeta S Iyengar, Yoga: A Gem for Women, and her 1995 interview in Yoga Pushpanjali. Krishna Raman MD, A Matter of Health, Pulmonary Diseases, pp. 384 to 388. J. T. Shah MD, Therapeutic Yoga, 1999. Krishna Raman MD and S. Suresh MD, Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ. Timothy McCall MD, Yoga as Medicine (Bantam), Table 1.1, and his June 2019 list of health conditions helped by yoga. Patricia Walden’s story of two flatmates, as retold by Chris Lalor. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, reports on COPD. Studies as linked above. Everything is summarised in our own words.

This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online.