If you’ve ever caught yourself shallow breathing through your chest while hunched over your phone or stuck in traffic, you’re not alone. Most of us aren’t breathing well — even though it’s something we do around 20,000 times a day. Enter crocodile breathing.

It’s a simple, floor-based breathwork technique that looks a little strange at first — but it might be one of the most powerful ways to restore your body’s natural stability, reduce pain, and reset your nervous system. Sounds dramatic, but at Total Health and Rehab, we teach this technique regularly to help clients retrain the way they breathe… and how they move.

If you’re dealing with back pain, poor posture, weak core muscles, or even stress-related tension, crocodile breathing could be a game-changer. Let’s break down what it is, how it works, and why you should probably be doing it — especially if you sit a lot or struggle with mobility.

What Is Crocodile Breathing?

Crocodile breathing is a ground-based breathing exercise that promotes diaphragmatic breathing — aka belly breathing — by using floor feedback and gravity. The idea is simple: you lie face-down, arms by your side or stacked under your forehead, and breathe through your belly. That’s it.

Why the name? Picture a crocodile basking on the ground, completely still, with only the belly and lower ribs gently rising and falling. That’s the visual — and it’s exactly the calm, controlled, and grounded pattern we’re after.

Why Breathing Matters More Than You Think

Breathing isn’t just about oxygen. It plays a role in:

• Core stability and spinal alignment
  
• Postural control
  
• Stress response (fight or flight vs. rest and digest)
  
• Pelvic floor function
  
• Neck and shoulder tension
  
• Movement efficiency
  

When we breathe shallowly — mostly into the chest or upper shoulders — the diaphragm doesn’t do its job. Other muscles, like the scalenes, upper traps, and low back, start picking up the slack. This leads to chronic tension, postural collapse, and even mobility issues.

That’s why at Total Health and Rehab, we often start breathwork before we dive into complex rehab protocols. If your breathing is off, your whole system is compensating.

The Anatomy of Proper Breathing

Let’s take a second to understand what’s happening under the hood. When you breathe correctly using the diaphragm:

• The diaphragm contracts downward, creating space for the lungs to expand.
  
• The belly and lower rib cage expand, not the chest.
  
• The pelvic floor and deep core muscles (like the transverse abdominis) respond to the pressure change, creating stability from the inside out.
  

In crocodile breathing, the floor under your belly forces you to breathe into your back and sides, encouraging 360-degree expansion of your rib cage. It also reduces chest breathing, since your chest is pressed into the ground.

Who Benefits from Crocodile Breathing?

Pretty much everyone — but especially if you struggle with:

• Low back pain
  
• Rib flare or “open” posture
  
• Forward head/rounded shoulders
  
• Chronic stress and tension
  
• Diastasis recti or postnatal core dysfunction
  
• Pelvic floor dysfunction
  
• Core weakness or instability
  
• Neck pain or tight traps
  
• Poor thoracic mobility
  

It’s also a go-to in early rehab after injury, especially for patients who need to reconnect to their body without heavy loading.

How to Do Crocodile Breathing: Step-by-Step

Here’s how we coach it at Total Health and Rehab:

1. Lie face-down on a firm surface.
   
   • Arms either down by your side or stacked under your forehead.
     
   • Legs straight and relaxed.
     
2. Place your forehead down so your neck is neutral.
   
3. Inhale slowly through your nose for 3–5 seconds.
   
   • Focus on expanding your belly into the floor.
     
   • Feel your ribs widen laterally and into your low back.
     
4. Exhale gently through your mouth for 5–7 seconds.
   
   • Think: soft lips, like you’re fogging up a mirror.
     
   • Let your body stay relaxed, no forced tension.
     
5. Repeat for 1–2 minutes, ideally before a workout or after a stressful day.
   

Try doing this daily for a week. You’ll notice improved tension control, better posture awareness, and even calmer energy.

What Makes Crocodile Breathing So Effective?

1. Rewires Your Nervous System

The long exhales stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps shift you out of fight-or-flight mode. That’s huge if you’re stressed, anxious, or constantly “on.”

2. Resets Core and Pelvic Floor Mechanics

Crocodile breathing re-establishes proper intra-abdominal pressure, which stabilizes your spine naturally — no crunches required.

3. Improves Movement Quality

Once your breath mechanics are dialed in, exercises like squats, deadlifts, and even walking feel smoother and stronger. It’s the foundation of functional movement.

4. Relieves Neck and Shoulder Tension

Since you’re not chest-breathing, your upper traps and neck muscles get a break. That alone can change how your neck feels by the end of the day.

Why Most People Are Doing It Wrong (And Don’t Know It)

You’d think breathing is the one thing you couldn’t mess up — but modern life has other plans. Here’s what we see all the time in clinic:

• Chest rises on inhale, belly doesn’t move
  
• Mouth breathing and short exhales
  
• Tension in the neck or jaw during each breath
  
• Poor rib expansion — front only, no side/back breath
  

These patterns not only limit oxygen flow but increase tension in all the wrong places.

If this sounds like you, don’t stress — it’s totally fixable. But it starts with awareness and often requires coaching. That’s where we come in.

What to Do If You Can’t “Feel” the Breath in Your Belly

Some people lie down and just… feel stuck. If your nervous system is ramped up or your mobility is limited, crocodile breathing might feel weird at first.

Try this:

• Place a small book on your low back and focus on lifting it gently as you breathe in.
  
• Use a resistance band around your lower ribs to feel side expansion.
  
• Do a few cat-cows or child’s pose breaths to warm up the spine first.
  

And if it’s still not clicking? Come see us at Total Health and Rehab. We’ll walk you through it hands-on.

How Crocodile Breathing Fits Into a Full Rehab or Fitness Plan

Crocodile breathing isn’t just some new-age thing. It’s a legit foundational drill used in:

• Postural correction programs
  
• Low back pain rehab
  
• Pelvic floor and postnatal recovery
  
• Strength and conditioning warmups
  
• Stress management routines
  

At Total Health and Rehab, we use it as a reset — and often build from there into more dynamic breathwork, loaded carries, and core integration drills.

Think of it like rebooting the software before you start running all the programs.

Final Thoughts: Start with Your Breath

Most people want to jump straight into workouts, adjustments, or stretches — and we get it. But if your breathing pattern is dysfunctional, everything you stack on top of it is just compensation.

Crocodile breathing is low-effort, high-return. It can help:

• Reduce pain
  
• Improve core activation
  
• Restore posture
  
• And rewire your stress response
  

Not bad for lying on the floor and breathing, right?

Ready to Learn Crocodile Breathing the Right Way?

At Total Health and Rehab, we teach you how to breathe, move, and recover the right way — from the inside out.If you’re struggling with posture, core weakness, stress tension, or chronic pain, book a consultation with our rehab specialists today. We’ll assess your movement, breathing, and lifestyle and create a plan that gets you real results — not just temporary relief.