Yoga For Digestion: Try These Poses To Improve Your Gut Health

Blogs07 Aug 2024

Yoga is a mind-body practice that touches upon muscular activity, mindfulness, breath work and spirituality. Being over 3,000 years old, the fact that yoga is still relevant and helpful today is proof of its efficacy and health benefits. Practising yoga regularly has been found to promote strength, increase flexibility and endurance, and a better shape while also promoting positive feelings of calmness and compassion. Apart from these benefits, the practice of yoga also has links to better gut health.

In this article, we’ll look at how yoga helps with digestion and gut health and what yoga poses or asanas you can use to improve or support your digestion.

Before we get into yoga for digestion, let’s discuss why we need to focus on our digestion as we age.

Digestion and Gut-related Problems with Age

Having good digestive health is a sign of good overall health too. However, as we grow, our digestive problems may increase. Common digestive issues that adults face as they age are constipation, bloating, heartburn, and ulcers, among others. While some may occur simply due to age, other reasons for these problems could be the usage of certain medications, inactivity, poor lifestyle or chronic health conditions.

Yoga can be a great way to maintain and boost your digestive health as you age. When practised with care and under supervision, yoga poses for digestion can work with medicine to help you improve your digestive issues and come out stronger. How does it do so? Let’s find out.

How Yoga Helps With Digestion

Since yoga affects the mind and the body, here are a few main things yoga can do which may aid digestion:

• Practising yoga poses for digestion regularly stimulates the secretion of different hormones which are required for digestion.
• Yoga may help in stress management and promote relaxation which may rebalance the nervous system and rehabilitate the digestive system.
• It may also improve the circulation of nutrients.
• Constipation yoga asanas can stimulate and strengthen the muscles of the digestive system through twists and compressions.
• Yogic breathing exercises and Pranayama may improve oxygen supply in the body and cellular metabolism.

Yoga Poses for Better Digestion

Here are a few yoga asanas you can try to reap the benefits of yoga for digestion and better gut health. You can do them 4-5 times a week, based on your health, convenience and fitness levels.

1.Wind-relieving pose (Pawanmuktasana)

• Start by laying on your back and your arms and legs relaxed.
• Then lift your knees and bring your ankles closer to your body. Your legs should look like triangles or hills.
• Then use your hands to wrap themselves around your legs and pull your knees towards your chest. This position will tuck your stomach in affect your thighs, abdomen, hips, and more.
• Hold this for a few moments and then release.
• Doing this asana for constipation a few times can help relieve certain digestive issues like bloated stomach, gas, indigestion etc.

2.Cat-Cow Pose (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)

• Position yourself on all fours. Make sure your back is straight and parallel to the ground and your hands are in line with your shoulders.
• To do the cat pose, bend your head down and extend your back while tucking your hips inwards. You will feel your abdomen region get sucked inside.
• Then release and instead of going back to the starting position, push your hips outwards and arch your lower back for the cow pose.
• Alternate between these two for a few turns.

3.Bow pose (Dhanurasana)

• Lay on your stomach and legs with your head slightly up and your hands flat next to your body.Slowly raise your calves and move them towards your buttocks.
• Now, with your hands, hold your ankles as you stretch. Make sure to keep your chest down and your head up.
• Once you have made a bow with your body, it’s time to raise your chest and head upwards. This will cause your arms and legs to rise too, creating a tightened abdomen area.
• Relax after a few moments and repeat this asana a few times for maximum benefits.

4. Seated Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana)

• This asana for constipation may look complicated but it’s fairly simple.
• Sit with legs outstretched.
• Place your right ankle over your left thigh.
• Use your left arm to hold the leg and stretch it. Hold this stretch for a few seconds and release.
• Repeat the same with the left leg and the right hand.

5.Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

• This is a simple asan without twisting. Start by lying on your stomach.
• Place your hands on the mat under your shoulders and lift your upper body.
• This will put pressure on your lower stomach and stretch your back.
• Hold this position for a few moments and release.

6.Child's Pose (Balasana)

• Begin with all fours on the mat.
• Then lower your hips to your ankles.
• Stretch your arms out and bend your head till it is between your arms and your stomach is tucked in.
• Hold this position for 10-20 seconds and return to the starting position. Repeat a few times to get its maximum benefits.

We hope you try these yoga positions for bowel movement with care and under supervision. Make sure to check with your physician or instructor if these poses are right for your body and current health and only then get started on these. While most of the yoga poses for digestion are safe and simple to follow, not doing them correctly can cause injury, discomfort and more.

Conclusion

Digestive issues can be a commonality as we age for various reasons. You may be affected by medication or health issues or your body can simply become slower at digesting and absorbing the same amount of nutrients it used to. Science has found that older adults are more likely to face digestive problems than younger ones. Having a nutritious diet and exercising regularly can help this cause. Yoga for stomach issues is one such practice that older adults can do often to support their digestive health. While the link between constipation and yoga is small and requires more research, yoga can stimulate our digestive system and provide several overall health benefits. So, bring out your yoga mat and get started today!

For more such health-related content, explore Right Shift. We cover topics such as nutrition, ageing, and healthy lifestyles tips. By trying our free tools, you can go through our other articles to expand your knowledge and make your first steps towards a better future. Our health score calculator can assess your health and show you where you stand. This can give you a perspective of how much work is required. You can also explore our free meal plans and choose our digestive health meal plan to improve your dietary habits and boost your health! Try these today to make the right shift!