In sports one thing we see a lot is tight chests.  If you’re needing to find out how to better open your chest and get some deep, therapeutic stretches, we can help!

The best chest stretches in yoga are not complicated and they don’t take a lot of time.  You can get a nice stretch in from work, home or while you’re in your car.  A lot of people have even learned how to do seated yoga poses while driving, grocery shopping or otherwise being on-the-go.  These are simple stretches that you can do anytime to open your heart and release those tight chest muscles.  The best chest stretches in online yoga are accessible for people of all ages and physical capabilities.

Interestingly, whenever youre stretching the front of the spine, you are stretching the chest.  Rolling the shoulders back, reaching the arms behind the back and arching the back slightly are all good ways to stretch the chest.  This type of movement is always energizing for the body and the mind.  It uplifts and invigorates and gives us bursts of energy to do more, be more, see more.  A lot of people include these chest stretches when they are looking for beach yoga poses.

There’s something about opening up the chest on the beach that feels particularly good.  When the beach air and the smell of the ocean are moving across your face, it can really make you want to practice yoga.  And when you stretch the chest and press the heart space up to the sun, you feel free and liberated.  This is something you can only get from beach yoga.

On the opposite end of things, whenever you are rounding your back and coming into spinal flexion, you are relaxing the body.  This compresses the chest rather than opens it.  It causes the energy level to go down, it can make you sleepy.  Many people do back rounding stretches before bedtime or when they are struggling with insomnia.  This isn’t something you want to do to open the chest or get any type of stretch in the chest.  Quite the opposite, this stretches the back.

The back and the chest are opposing muscle groups so when you stretch one, you compress the other.  If you aren’t’ sure whether or not you are stretching your chest, then one thing you can do is to pay attention to your back.  If your back feels open and stretched, you are probably not stretching the chest.  You are probably closing the chest. If you feel like the back is compressed or the shoulder blades are squeezing together, then that is a good sign that you are indeed stretching the chest.

Not stretching the chest can lead to a lot of problems in the body. It can cause bad posture because you don’t stretch those muscles then you are hunched over to accommodate those short muscles.  As you open the chest with the best chest stretches you will improve your posture, open your lungs and improve your breath along with lengthening your muscles.