Last updated: 9th September 2025
What To Do When You Can't Take A Full Breath
If you’ve ever been in the position where you just can’t take a deep, satisfying breath, you know how unsettling it feels.
In the past, I explained this mostly as a posture problem, and for many people, posture is part of the story. The exercises I originally shared helped readers release tension, and you’ll see in the comments below how many people tried them.
But over the years, I’ve discovered something bigger: shallow breathing is rarely just about posture.
For many people, it’s tied to stress, anxiety, and deeper patterns in the nervous system that simple exercises can’t fully resolve.
So in this article, I’ll share both perspectives: the physical mechanics of breathing and the hidden causes that keep your breath locked up.
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What It Means If You Can’t Take a Full Breath
A full breath starts low, in the belly, expanding like a balloon into your ribs, back, and sides. If you can’t do that easily, it usually shows up in two ways:
- Acute: it comes on suddenly, often after a strain or “pulled muscle.”
- Chronic — it’s been going on for months or years, so it feels normal.
Most people that read this article fall into the second category.
Breathing has been shallow for so long that it doesn’t even feel like a problem anymore . . . until anxiety, tightness, or fatigue brings it to your attention.
Posture, Muscles, and Breathing
Your body is brilliant at compensating. When one muscle isn’t doing its job, another steps in. Over time, that creates imbalances and restrictions.
This is true for posture, and it’s also true for breathing.
- A tight diaphragm can affect your hips.
- Poor spinal alignment can restrict your ribs.
- Stressed muscles keep “holding on” even when they should relax.
Simple corrective exercises can start to reset the breathing pattern. (You’ll see a couple of examples later in this article, since many readers still find them useful.)
But what if posture isn’t the full story?
When Breathing Problems Link to Anxiety
Many people find this article not because of posture, but because of anxiety.
Shallow breathing is one of the most common symptoms of anxiety. It’s also part of a feedback loop:
- Anxiety makes your breath tight and shallow.
- Shallow breathing signals “stress” to your body.
- The cycle repeats.
That’s why you might notice you can’t “breathe your way out of it” when anxiety spikes. Your body is stuck in a protective pattern.
The Hidden Causes Behind Shallow Breathing
Here’s what I’ve come to see in my work:
- Sometimes posture exercises help… but the restriction comes back.
- Sometimes relaxation techniques calm you… but only temporarily.
That’s because the real cause is deeper.
Old stress, unresolved trauma, or hidden energy patterns can keep the nervous system locked in “alert mode.” No amount of stretching or posture correction will fully shift it until the root is addressed.
This is where my current work comes in. I use the Yuen Method to identify and clear those hidden causes. Often, people notice the shift within minutes. Their chest loosens, their breath deepens, and anxiety starts to lift.
They generally feel more 'open' and like there's more space within them.
Exercises You Can Try (If Posture Is a Factor)
Since so many readers appreciated the original suggestions, here are two posture-based resets that can help if your muscles are contributing to shallow breathing:
- Static Back Pullovers (for acute tightness)
- Modified Floor Block with Crocodile Breathing (for ongoing retraining)
These can give relief, especially when posture is a big piece of the puzzle. But if the tightness keeps coming back, it’s usually not just posture.
Static Back Pullovers
- Lie on your back with your lower legs resting on a chair or bench so your hips and knees are at 90°.
- Keep your arms straight and bring them together above your chest, palms facing each other.
- Slowly lower your arms overhead toward the floor, keeping elbows straight.
- Pause just before your lower back arches or ribs lift, then return arms to the starting position.
- Repeat 10–15 slow reps, focusing on relaxed breathing throughout.
Important Notes
- Only lower your arms as far as feels comfortable — don’t force them to the floor.
- Inhale as your arms move overhead, exhale as you return to the start.
- Improvement may take several minutes; let your range increase gradually.
- Do 10 reps, rest ~30 seconds, then repeat another 10 if comfortable.
- If you feel pain or strong discomfort, stop and listen to your body.
Modified Floor Block with Crocodile Breathing
How to do it:
Lie on your stomach, forehead on the floor, legs straight, buttocks relaxed.
Turn your feet pigeon-toed: big toes touching, heels relaxed outward.
Rest your forearms on pillows/blocks (about 6 in / 15 cm high, or lower if needed).
Let your arms stay heavy and relaxed — don’t press into the blocks.
Breathe slowly and deeply into your belly:
Feel your stomach press into the floor,
Your back expand around the kidney area,
Your sides and ribs widen.
(This may take practice; just keep going and it will come.)
Duration:
Continue for about 5 minutes.
Alternative:
If uncomfortable, adjust your arm/hand position to the gentler variation below.
Breathing as a Gateway
Your breath is more than oxygen. It’s the most direct way to influence your nervous system. When it opens up, everything else changes:
- Stress levels drop.
- Energy improves.
- Pain and tension ease.
- Anxiety softens.
And when we clear the hidden restrictions behind it, breathing becomes easy again. Without forcing it.
Next Step: Clearing What Holds You Back
If you’ve struggled with shallow breathing, anxiety, or the sense that “something’s stuck,” posture fixes may only take you so far.
The good news is: you don’t have to stay stuck.
- Work with me to clear your hidden blocks.
- Or start with a free call to see how this applies to your situation.
Your breath is your life force. When it flows freely, everything feels lighter, calmer, and more possible.
About The Comments
You’ll see many readers below who tried the exercises and shared their experiences. Their stories are part of this page’s history.
What I’ve added here is the deeper perspective I’ve discovered since then, so you can get not only temporary relief, but lasting freedom in your breath and your body.
Hi Matt,
Thank you for the article! I recognize myself a lot in it, basically since having my baby I have been breastfeeding in all sort of odd positions and carrying her around and now I feel I am not symmetrical in the back (maybe the hips as well), I have chronic back-pain in my upper back (more on one side than the other) and can’t expand my chest fully on one side when breathing.
Coupled with post-partum depression, it means I did not get timely help, but now that I am out of the stupour I am trying to get some help..
My question to you is, I am trying the crocodile posture, but having trouble due to the breasts. How do I modify this posture to get comfy on my belly? My instinct is to place a pillow under my chin, but would the posture still be correct then? Would the arms need to be raised more then 15 cm in this case?
Thanks again and looking forward to your answer!
Emilia
hello matt. i’m 16 and last year has been very stressful for me and i overthink about my health. last year December i remember i cried a lot and then went to sleep, but next day morning i couldn’t take a deep breath.And i thought it’ll eventually get cured but nope, it’s been 6 months and i still have it.i always yawn to take a deep breath, but my yawn also isn’t complete i think.after taking several yawns i can take deep breath and sometimes can breathe deep without trying too. but i can not take a deep breaths when i want to. now, I’ve learnt to manage without deep breaths, but i miss my deep breaths.and also i fear whether it might be a serious health issue. i am pretty sure this is due to anxiety. Plz can you reply as soon as possible?
Thank you so much for these exercises, for the first time I can feel what deep breathing means, my body is relaxed for the first time, I feel my head light, tension in my stomach and shoulders is gone after only 10 min of exercising. Meditation is now completely different as I have been always struggling to relax. Your article is really helpful, thank you so much!
Hi Adriana,
That’s great news! Thanks for the sharing your success.
How does it get any better than that?
All the best,
Matt
I’ve been struggling to take a deep breath sometimes to yawn am always tired and have chest pain and back pain I’ve been to doctors but they don’t find the problem it started last year October am only 23 years a mother of one child wat could be the problem?
Last few days I am having problem in breathing. Even normal breathing tires me. My breaths are shallow for quite a long time. Recently the chest feels tight and breathing seems to be a work as if I am struggling to breath. I did the first set of exercise sitting in my chair in office. I am feeling little better. I am able to take deep breath but it is tiresome. Can it be a heart problem?
Regards,
Why is it that i can breath normal but i cant take deep breaths when body calls for it
I’ve been having difficulty breathing for the last 12 or more years. I thought it might be associated with stress. Some days are fine and others I feel like I just can’t function. It has never been a real problem but lately it’s been giving me a headache and chest pain from trying to position my body where I am able to get a deep breathe. I will definitely give your exercise a try.
Thanks,
BR
Matt,
Thanks for the article. I will try these exercises. It seems that when I lift weights and gain muscle in my upper body (especially my chest) that after about a month or so I find it increasingly difficult to take full breaths. My chest feels tight like I have trouble relaxing enough for my lungs to expand. I have repeated this at least 3x over the last 5-6 years, including recently again and each time I have to stop exercising for a while. Have you seen others with the same problem?
Thanks
I experience short breath sometimes. Even when I am walking. What is happening to me?
Matt,
I had a pneumothorax last July and my left lung collapsed. I was in the hospital for 8 days with a chest tube. Anyway, since then I have constantly had an issue with tightness in my chest and with feeling like I simply can’t take a deep breath. And it feels like I can’t breath at all when I try to eat. It’s either eat or breath I can’t do both. I been to different doctors and hospitals a few times. They’ve told me it was anxiety and prescribed clonazepam, they told me it’s heartburn and told me to take Pepcid and other heartburn meds.
I’m not having panic attacks and I seriously doubt heartburn would last over a year. I’m going to try your breathing exercises. Could it be that the pneumothorax damaged my lung somehow and I’ll just never be able to breath right again?
Hello how are you, just found your website after researching a number of websites for my condition. About 2 months ago I was diagnosed with bronchitis, I also have sarcoidosis which is an auto immune disease. Before bronchitis I could breathe normally, now it seems as though I have the urge to take deep breathes every 30 seconds to a minute. I never had anything like this happen to me when I breathe. Why is this happening, could it be caused by inflammation in my lungs or other organs in my body. I am just at a loss for what to do about this.
My breathing problems started about 5 days ago I woke up and couldn’t seem to get enough air in my lungs. I cannot breathe well through my nose, it has always been that way. I tried forcing air in my lungs by sitting in front of a fan…didn’t help. I will try your exercises but very nervous about it because of the nose breathing. Could a physical therapist help?
Hi Jackie,
Could a physical therapist help? In theory, yes. But keep in mind that there are many forms of physical therapy and within each modality there are good practitioners and not-so-good practitioners.
Physical therapy can be anything from actual ‘physical therapy’ through to yoga, Pilates, Egoscue, MBF and a whole bunch of other stuff.
The key would be to assess you properly and get an understanding of the root of the problem.
If you awoke one day and couldn’t get enough air into your lungs, that suggests a musculo-skeletal issue. Have you tried the exercises in this article? You should get benefit from at least one of them, if not all of them.
If that’s the case, then it adds weight to the ‘musculo-skeletal argument’.
As for having trouble breathing through your nose, that may also be sue to an alignment issue (it might not as there can be many causes for sinus problems). If your upper back is excessively rounded then that can affect 1) your ability to breathe properly and 2) the function of your sinuses.
Without seeing you in person I can’t say much more than that. The only thing I can add is that sitting in front of a fan is unlikely to help much (I’m assuming you didn’t get much, if any, benefit from that?).
The problem is internal (i.e. it’s due to the way your body is functioning / ‘dysfunctioning’), so it needs to be treated from the inside out to remedy it, not the outside in (which is effectively what you were trying to do with the fan).
Hope that helps.
All the best,
Matt
I just found your website when I Googled ‘problems taking a deep breath’. I recently did something to my neck and shoulder blade.
I don’t remember anything that might have caused it, but it was excruciatingly painful for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t do ANYTHING without great pain, including breathing.
After eating a strict diet to help heal it has almost gone, but now I notice that I can’t get a satisfying deep breath.
When I read your first words about posture and correct breathing, a light went on. I knew immediately you had the answer. I’ve been aware for some time that my good posture has become a slumping over. I am aware of it from the mirror and photos. I am trying to remember to stand up straight. Also, I am one of those people who thought that I didn’t need instructions on how to breath.Ha,ha! Yes, I understand now. I am starting your exercises at the end of this letter. I will give you feedback in a week. I am pretty sure, though you are absolutely right.
Hi Honey,
Happy to hear the article helped switch a light on! How have you been getting on?
Best,
Matt
Staci again with one more question. Are you supposed to breath in and out through your nose or mouth?
Hello –
I practice yoga every day and I recently fell out of a chair (the wheel broke!) shortly after that I realized I was having problems taking a full deep breath. I have mild asthma and I thought maybe it was that. This was two weeks ago. I went to the doctor last week and lungs are clear, xray is clear and ekg was fine. My back does feel tight and I am still having problems breathing. I want to try these exercises, but do I fall under the acute since it was recent in the 2 weeks or chronic? Also, how long should you do each exercise for. For example the acute exercise mentioned, should you repeat that for 10 minutes or something? Thanks so much and I am glad I found this, I started to think I was going crazy! Staci
Hi Staci,
Sorry to hear about your accident :-/
I would start with the exercise in the ‘acute’ section first and see how you get on with that.
Even though the article is divided into 2 categories — acute and chronic — with different exercises in each category, ultimately there isn’t a truly hard and fast rule.
Everyone’s different and everyone’s needs are different, so listen to your body and do what feels best for you (trust your instincts).
It may be that one of the exercises in the ‘chronic’ section is the one that will unlock the spasm you’re experiencing at the moment.
With regard to nose or mouth breathing, we should breathe through our noses in normal every day situations. When you breathe through your nose, the air is filtered and warmed before entering your lungs. Mouth breathing doesn’t do either of these things.
Hope that helps. Good luck with the exercises and remember, trust your instincts — if you don’t feel much tangible difference after you’ve done an exercise, do one of the other exercises.
Best regards,
Matt
Thanks so much Matt for your quick response! I do think the acute is helping and I will try some of the others today as well.
I have had problems breathing deeply since roughly september (2015) and it has become very uncomfortable. I feel like a weight in on my chest constantly and it gets worse when i excersize. i tried cutting out dairy and gluten, and that has helped a bit, but not completely. Any suggestions?
Hi Charis,
I can’t give suggestions without knowing quite a bit more about you unfortunately. The first thing would be to do the exercises outlined in this article if you haven’t already.
Do them every day for a week and track your progress. Start by rating your current experience on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 being it’s not there and 10 being the worst it could be). Also make a note of the key words to describe it (such as the feeling of there being a weight on your chest).
Do the exercises every day for a week and then rate it again on a scale from 0 to 10. Then find the words that best describe your experience.
Beyond that, there can be several factors influencing this symptom for you so I would need to know more about you before I could make any further suggestions.
Hope that helps.
Matt
After hiatal hernia surgery I can’t take deep breath….
Hi Hugo,
Sadly, that’s not too surprising. By its very nature, a hiatal hernia usually impedes the diaphragm (the main muscle of respiration) from working properly.
To restore your ability to take a deep breath, your recovery should include diaphragm retraining. Of course, your diaphragm doesn’t work in isolation and the bigger picture should also be addressed, i.e. your other muscle imbalances that contributed to the overall problem.
Best,
Matt
Just recently i have had trouble expanding my chest for a full breath which starts to cause some anxiety, for the past week before i had trouble getting a full breath, my lower back would feel like its in an akward position probably due to bad posture and me sitting in a slumped over position would any of these excersises help me expand my chest for a full breath?
Hi John,
The short answer is to have a go at the exercises and then listen to and observe the feedback your body gives you.
You should feel more expanded and better able to take a full breath after you do them, but the only way to know for sure is to have the experience.
Beyond that, it’s difficult to give concrete advice without having seen you and knowing more about you what’s going on with you.
Do the exercises for a few days and then let us know how you got on.
All the best,
Matt
I have problem in take full breaths very frequently,and my yawns as mentioned above by noma always end with no success. Also I don’t know if its related to this issue.. But I have severe knots or trigger points of pain in my back n shoulder area almost all the time… And at the times I have problem breathing this pain also increases.. Althou its there even when I do breath properly. I have been suffering since 5 or so years.. And no one seems to be able to point out why this is happening.
Hi Ash,
What you have described sounds very much like a muscle imbalance issue. Comments from other readers have been more ambiguous and could be related to other issues. Yours though *sounds* like muscle imbalances.
The way to test is simple: do a program of exercises from Pain Free for a few weeks and notice how it affects what’s going on.
Or for personalized programs of exercises instead of a generic set from the book, get in touch.
Either way, begin taking the necessary steps and you will probably be feeling a whole lot better in your body quite soon.
All the best,
Matt
I can’t breath proper ,I feel like yawning all the time to no success its so uncomfortable
I can fall asleep for 3 to 5 hours (max) but always waken with horrendous shortness of breath and panic EVERY day, toss, turn pillows, thrash, get up terrified after an hour and remain breathless throughout most of the day. I do not drink.or smoke.exercise makes it worse. Help!!!!!
Hi Liz,
It’s often tricky to offer concrete advice with only a snippet of information and having never seen you. That said, what you’ve described here sounds like it might be more than just muscle imbalances.
If you’d like to explore possibilities further and get more concrete ‘next steps’, send me an email and we can go from there: info [at] UpwardSpiral [dot] co [dot] uk
All the best,
Matt
I have been having difficulty taking a full breath for some time and feel like it is related to muscle weakness and a mysterious pulled muscle in my chest at times seems to worsen it. I am very interested in the relationship to the Illiopsoasas as I had an episode of acute paralysis of that muscle prior to when the breathing issues began. I seem to have poor endurance of my breathing muscles and and find relief in supine which is odd. 2 years ago I was running marathons/triathlons and able to keep my heart rate at 85% for 2 or more hours. I now get out of breath waking up 3 steps. I have been diagnosed with MS and more recently a MG has been considered. My Illiopsoas are weak bilaterally and also tight. any ideas or advice?
Hi Melissa,
Thanks for your comment. I have sent you an email to address your questions.
All the best,
Matt
Can breathing problems also be caused by emotional issues? I understand that in Chinese medicine the lungs govern respiration (and Qi) and in particular are in charge of inhaling air. They house the emotions of sadness and grief, so maybe anyone having problems inhaling might want to see if grief on any level is the root cause. I did last night and I think it helped. I did some journaling and even though things that happened a long time ago should be over and done with……they are not. Just captured in an undercurrent and hidden from us on a day-to-day basis. So what I did last night was pretty cathartic and I think I’m having an easier time inhaling although not perfect….far from it! I’m going to keep working on myself. Good luck to everyone on here who is struggling with breathing.
Hi Christine,
Yes, breathing problems — as well as many other physical symptoms — can be created by unaddressed emotional issues. We are more than our physical bodies, so there are many aspects that influence us on many levels, ‘stuck emotions’ being one of them.
Great to hear that your journaling was cathartic and has helped with your breathing. Did you do the exercises too? Coming at a ‘problem’ from different angles — the emotional and the physical — can have a wonderful compounding effect.
Thanks for your comment and good luck with your ongoing journey :)
All the best,
Matt
I actually found this to make my breathing issues get worse pretty quickly… So definitely not for everyone, but glad to see its working for others :-)
Hi Glenn,
Sorry to hear your breathing issues got worse after trying these suggestions. As you say, they’re not for everyone, as it does depend on what is going on with each person in terms of the root problem of their breathing issue.
I’m curious in what way your breathing got worse pretty quickly.
All the best,
Matt