Yoga can help digestion in several ways, some of which include:
- Creating space in the body to help promote the movement of food through the digestive tract.
- Stimulating the digestive tract through gentle abdominal pressure.
- Perhaps most importantly, through relaxing the body, helping us move further away from the body’s stress response and towards the body’s parasympathetic “rest and digest” state.
When stressed, the body slows digestion to redirect energy towards the perceived threat ahead of us.
The yoga sequence below includes a series of shapes that flow together and promote digestion.
Feel free to use individual shapes or move through them as a complete practice.
1. Child’s Pose
How: Sit on your shins with your feet and knees together. Fold your upper body over your legs with your forehead coming towards the ground or a block. Let your arms rest back towards
your feet.
Hold for 10 breaths.
Why: Gently compress the abdominals.
2. Cat/Cow
How: Begin in a table top position on all fours, shoulders over wrists and hips over knees. As you inhale, arch the spine by dropping the belly down while the tailbone, chest, and chin lift.
As you exhale, round through the spine pressing the ground away from you and tucking the chin to
the chest.
Complete 10 rounds.
Why: Gently lengthen and compress the abdominal organs.
3. Puppy Pose
How: From the tabletop position, keep the hips over the knees and walk the hands forward, so the head and chest move towards the ground (or place the head on a block/rolled-up blanket).
Hold for 10 breaths.
Why: Stretch the belly.
4. Sphinx Pose
How: Lay down on your belly, and prop yourself up on your forearms with your elbows underneath your shoulders and the forearms parallel.
Press down with the tops of both feet to bring energy to the legs. Do the same with the forearms to lengthen the neck out of the
shoulders.
Hold for 10 breaths.
Why: Simultaneously lengthen and compress the abdominal organs.
5. Wind-Relieving Pose
How: Gently roll over onto your back and hug one knee into your chest. Hold either the shin or behind the knee with both hands. Encourage the knee to move closer into the body, bypassing the ribs in the direction of the same armpit.
Do each side for 10 breaths.
Why: Stimulate the nerves to aid movement through the colon.
6. Reclined Twist
How: On your back, hug both knees in toward the chest (hold for a few breaths here). Reach the arms out wide and drop both knees over to one side.
The head can stay looking toward the ceiling or you can bring the twist up the length of the spine by dropping the chin towards the opposite shoulder (if knees go right, head goes left).
Hold each side for 10 breaths.
Why: Relax the abdomen while applying gentle pressure.
7. Constructive Rest
How: On your back, bend your knees and place the soles of both feet down, wider than hip width apart. Allow the knees to fall in towards each other and take your left hand to your chest and your
right hand to your belly.
Hold for 10 breaths and beyond.
Why: This is a deeply restorative shape that allows the body to relax and surrender. With gentle focus on soft, full breaths, the body can relax further into a state of rest and digestion.
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