How to perform:
- Lie down on your back on a firm surface; a bed is fine.
- Bend your knees up, with feet flat on the surface, to relax your abdomen.
- Using your dominant hand, rest the thumb edge of your hand along/just below the sternum and ribs. Use your other hand on top of this as an extra support. You will be using your hands this way like a “scoop” to push your stomach organ down toward your belly button, away from your diaphragm muscle.
- Take a very deep breath and slowly breathe out again, relaxing your abdomen as your air moves out.
- Begin pressing with your “scoop” and following the downward motion of your abdomen, also directing the scoop towards your belly button. You are essentially pushing deep and down to move the stomach away from the sternum, lungs, and heart.
- At the end of the breath, scoop a last hard push and HOLD it while you breathe in and out again a few times.
- Repeat this action two to three times.
Here is a video demonstration.
There are links to other videos about hiatal hernias in the right-hand column of the YouTube page.
