Crocodile Breathing Partner Assist

This exercise or technique is used to teach and train diaphragmatic breathing with your partner providing proprioceptive feedback.

Starting Position:
Prone

Begin in the prone posture by positioning yourself face down, so that your stomach is on the floor with your forehead on your hands, both palms down, one covering the other. Make sure the chest and arms are relaxed, and you are as "flat" as you can get; your neck should be relaxed and comfortable.

Partner will place one hand on the lumbar spine and the other on the thoracic spine.

Breathe in through the nose and feel the air move down past the chest into the "stomach." When this happens, you will feel the abdomen push out against the ground. This should happen naturally without you forcing your stomach out.

The partner will be giving feedback to the person breathing by slightly applying pressure to the lumbar spine. This technique empathizes the importance of diaphragmatic breathing.

Exhale fully before beginning the next breath cycle.

The key points:

Avoid breathing into the chest first and raising the shoulders.

Inhale and exhale through the nose at a natural pace taking 80% or larger inhalations and long exhalations.

You may exhale through the mouth.