Exercises to open the chest and intercostal muscles

[Toni]

On 11/11/2020 at 8:10 PM, E. S. A. said:

There is a sequence of 4 exercises used in various QiGong circles and Vajrayana sects intended for exactly this.

The first exercise is as follows. Grab each arm around the forearms, creating a sort of rectangle with your chest and arms. Breathe in through the chest, expanding the diaphragm and the front of the ribs, slowly raising your linked arms above your head. Keep going and slightly apply pressure downwards, feel the back portion of the diaphragm sink, and the front portion rising up and stretching. Breathe out and slowly lower your arms back down, keeping them connecting. Switch the arms and repeat. This begins the proper diaphragmatic movement.

Second exercise, place your hands on your side near the base of your ribs, elbows pointing to the side. Do the same breathing, expanding up in the front, sinking down in the back. But this time more focus to expanding on the side of the chest pressing against your hands. Feeling the back sink down.

Third exercise, same as first exercise but when you stretch your arms above your head you unlink them at the top and continue to stretch further up going in to the first exercise posture of Ba Duan Jin but with linked hands. do the same breathing this time at the top focusing on expanding and breathing into the upper portion of the chest.

Final exercise is essentially spreading your arms out to the side while breathing in and pushing them out in front of you while exhaling. This is done with palms down first then palms up. But if done properly after the previous exercises the entire chest should be expanding and moving freely and you should feel as if your arms are being pushed apart to the side when you breathe in and pulled in like a spring when you breathe out. Feels like you aren't moving your arms yourself. The Qi is.

If you have any questions I can record a video or something. Very similar to various "Power Breathing" methods taught.

Enjoy,
E. S. A.
The Wanderer

Could you record it in a video please? I am not sure how to do it. Thnks!