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Restorative yoga is designed to bring comfort and ease to the body and mind. Whether you’ve had an overwhelming day, feel exhausted, or simply want to release physical tension, it can deliver that desperately needed relief. But for those of us with larger breasts, restorative yoga can sometimes feel the exact opposite as intended—restrictive, squishy, even painful.
If you’re a student, it’s important to remember that no one knows your body better than you. You should feel empowered to try any of these different options and make yourself feel comfortable in any restorative yoga class. If you’re a yoga teacher, it’s essential that you understand when and why someone might experience discomfort in each pose you practice so you can suggest variations.
The following considerations can help you understood how those of us with larger breasts experience common restorative yoga poses and how to help all shapes, sizes, and genders slip into these poses with comfort and ease.
7 Restorative Yoga Variations for Anyone With a Larger Chest
There is rarely a single approach to any pose that works for everyone, so play with and personalize the options below in any way that works for you.
It’s fine to include poses that may be challenging for some of your students but always offer options and refrain from stringing more than one of these challenging poses next to each other.
1. Seated Forward Bends
The challenge: It can be uncomfortable, sometimes even painful, for those of us with larger breasts to fold forward or lie on our front side. Having your body weight compressed into the mat, especially for an extended amount of time, can even be painful.
Folding forward while sitting or standing, causes everything to get compressed and can make it harder to breathe. Also, breathing in this tight and restrictive space can create a considerable amount of heat. And some students may experience feelings of anxiousness and even claustrophobia when they lean forward for extended periods of time.
The fix: When someone cannot relax very far forward because their chest is in the way, one way to alleviate pressure is to widen the legs a little to allow more space to fold forward.
Another option, especially if widening the legs places too much tension on the lower back, is to simply fold forward with the legs still apart or together and place a bolster, pillow, or folded blankets in between or on top of the thighs, underneath the chest or forehead, or even hugged in toward the body. This helps close any space between the stomach and thighs and provides cushioning and support for the rest of the body.
2. Reclined Positions
The challenge: The lower back is a source of tension for a lot of us, but especially those who carry around extra weight in the upper chest. In reclined restorative shapes, it’s important to offer extra support to the lumbar region.
The fix: That support often looks like placing a folded blanket, towel, or slender bolster underneath the hips or in the space where the spine naturally curves away from the mat to help support the body and minimize any strain on the low back. You can also slide a prop beneath your knees as support for your lower back.
3. Reclined Chest Openers
The challenge: In reclined chest openers, such as Supported Fish, there can be extra tension caused by the weight of a larger chest. Remain mindful that sometimes chest openers don’t look as intense for folks with more abundance along their front body.
The fix: Elevating the upper body by placing a bolster or folded blanket lengthwise beneath the spine or crosswise beneath the sacrum can reduce strain on the neck and shoulders can make a profound difference.
4. Twists
The challenge: In twisted restorative shapes, compression can happen on or in between the breasts. It can also be painful when you lean forward and twist because one side of the body becomes more compressed than the other.
The fix: Whether you’re on your back, your belly, or your side, you can modify any twist to be gentler by not turning so far. You can also use props for support between the knees. Even hugging onto a bolster while twisting can alleviate pressure in the upper boy that can be caused by the upper chest area twisting to one side.
5. Prone Shapes (Lying on your Stomach)
The challenge: While lying on your front side, as in supported Sphinx Pose or Child’s Pose, there is extreme compression on the front body.
The fix: It can help to place a bolster or rolled blankets underneath your chest in Sphinx Pose for a softer landing or under your stomach so your chest doesn’t need to rest directly on the mat. Each of these options creates more space for the body to relax and not press directly into the mat.
The same concept applies to Child’s Pose, in which you want to creates a support so that there is more supportive space between your body and the mat. This can look like hugging a bolster lengthwise in front of you as it rests on a block or leaning onto a bolster placed crosswise on the mat beneath your upper chest with a block beneath your forehead.
6. Arm Positions
The challenge: In any posture—whether on your front, side, or stomach—the placement of your arms can make a tremendous difference in comfort. Reaching your arms overhead, especially, can cause strain through the upper chest.
The fix: Depending on the shape, arms tucked in close to the body can cause the body to feel crowded. Encourage students to try various positions with relaxing their arms out to the side or closer in on to the body, similar as in Savasana, to change the amount of strain and tension throughout the chest.
7. Savasana
The challenge: A quick note about Savasana. If you’re choosing Corpse Pose as your final resting shape, take time to set yourself up so that you are truly comfortably.
The fix: Just as you would adjust for a reclined restorative posture, bolster, or towel, under the knees can help bring the low back to the ground and alleviate pulling on the low back.
