12/02/2025
Yes, I do! I almost always teach cat/cow in the traditional way; "inhale-lengthen front body, exhale- navel to spine and curl in." There are lots of reasons that makes sense to me. BUT I also always believed that there are no hard and fast rules, as long as people are moving and breathing mindfully. That said, I just experimented with the opposite breath pattern for cat/cow and .... wow, interesting! Inhaling into flexion opens my upper back in a wonderful kind of way and exhaling into extension just feels like an amazing way to let go of tension. Will definitely be experimenting more with this in our classes this week!
Question: in cat/cow, do you practice/teach to *inhale in cow* (the backbend) and *exhale in cat* (the rounded spine)?
I definitely used to always teach cat/cow this way myself, but I reconsidered, based on these insights from the brilliant Magnus Ringberg (yoga teacher, physiotherapist, sports medicine researcher):
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“Another way that yoga teachers can influence beliefs is in the idea that specific movements 'go with' a specific breath.
For example, it’s commonly taught that when we extend our spine (backbend), we should always inhale, and when we flex our spine (round it forward), we should always exhale.
A perfect example of this is cat/cow pose, in which teachers commonly cue to 'inhale into cow' and 'exhale into cat.'
What sort of beliefs and ideas can we create when we insist on a specific pattern of breathing and synchronized movement as being the one correct way?
Can this lead to beliefs around movement behaviours such as 'when I flex my spine I must always exhale?'
Now I could see that in an instance in which someone is in pain, coordinating specific movements with specific breaths like this may be a helpful strategy to connect them to their body and to calm their nervous system down - particularly in the early phases of treatment for pain.
But as a general rule for movement, does pairing specific movement directions with specific breath phases potentially limit our movement options?
In reality, we can move our spine in any direction, whether we breathe in or breathe out - or whether we hold the breath, for that matter. And I believe it’s beneficial to build up tolerance by creating variability of movement and breath without any restrictions.
Additionally, does teaching that there is a correct and incorrect way to pair breath with movement encourage people who do not breathe this way to think that they’re doing it wrong, and is this helpful?"
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➡️ I personally don’t think there is a “right/wrong” way to go here. But I *do* think there’s huge value in reflecting on the questions raised here about how we practice/teach the breath in yoga, and why!
For more on this very thought-provoking topic, check out Magnus’ full special guest article on my blog!
👉 https://jennirawlingsblog.com/blog/questioning-the-way-breathing-is-taught-in-yoga
