Yoga Glossary · Muscles
Intercostals
The small muscles between the ribs that lift and open the ribcage as you breathe.
The intercostals fill the spaces between the ribs in two thin layers. The external intercostals lift the ribs up and out during an inhale — the bucket-handle motion that widens the ribcage — while the internal intercostals help draw the ribs down on a forceful exhale. They make the ribcage a moving, breathing structure rather than a rigid cage.
Breath-focused practice is intercostal practice: side-bending and twisting poses stretch the intercostals on one side so breath can move into areas that usually stay quiet, and three-part breath deliberately fills the chest region by region. Stiff intercostals are one reason deep twists can feel breathless at first.
In practice
- A side bend with a slow inhale lets you feel the rib spaces open one by one.
- In twists, breathe into the less-compressed side — the intercostals there have room to work.
- They assist the diaphragm; they do not replace it. Most breath volume still comes from below.
Poses that lengthen it
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The Yoga Glossary is an educational study reference. Definitions are standard yoga and anatomy knowledge in plain language; nothing here is medical advice.