Yoga For Digestion: Poses That Help Aid Digestion

Yoga into your routine can be beneficial for occasional digestive difficulties. Any practice that promotes relaxation can help alleviate stress, which can, in turn, positively impact digestion. Additionally, including yoga poses that target and mobilize the abdomen can further support digestive health by stimulating the digestive organs and improving circulation in the abdominal region.

How Yoga Can Help Digestion

Here’s an overview of how yoga can positively impact digestion:

Certain yoga poses target the abdominal area, gently compressing and stretching the digestive organs. Poses like twists, forward bends, and gentle backbends can stimulate peristalsis, which promotes relaxation and digestion.

Poses that involve twists and inversions encourage circulation to the digestive organs, enhancing their function by delivering oxygen and removal of toxins and waste products.

Yoga encourages the release of muscular tension through stretching and relaxation techniques, allowing for smoother digestive processes and alleviating symptoms such as bloating and discomfort.

Yoga emphasizes mindfulness during meals. Practicing mindful eating creates a deeper connection with food, improves digestion, and makes you less likely to overeat or consume foods that can aggravate digestive problems.

Yoga Poses For Digestion

Here are some great yoga poses to try for digestion relief or other specific digestive issues.

1. Naukasana (Boat Pose)

Naukasana strengthens abdominal muscles, helps to reduce belly bat. which improve the function of digestion. It also improves blood circulation.

• To practice Naukasana, begin by lying flat on your back with arms by your sides and legs extended.
• Inhale and lift your chest and feet off the ground, balancing on your sitting bones.
• Extend your arms parallel to the floor, keeping them in line with your shoulders.

Benefits

1. Boat Pose strengthens the abdominal muscles, including the digestive organs, and improves digestion by stimulating the abdominal region.
2. It helps in proper blood circulation.

2. Setu Bandhasana (Bridge Pose)

When we talk about yoga for digestion Setu Bandhasana is recommended by many yogis therapist. As you look at the below image you will see that it is working for stomach organ. It’s Derived from Sanskrit word Setu meaning Bridge, Banda meaning lock, and Asana meaning posture. Benefits of this pose are as follows:

• Start by lying on your back with knees bent and feet hip-width apart, heels close to the buttocks.
• Inhale and lift your hips toward the ceiling, pressing into your feet and engaging your glutes and hamstrings.
• Hold the pose for several breaths, focusing on expanding the chest and opening the front body.

Benefits-

1. It strengthens back muscles and provides stretch to the chest, neck, and spine.
2. Regulates functioning of the Thyroid gland and improves blood circulation
3. Bridge Pose stretches the abdomen, stimulates digestion, and improves blood circulation to the abdominal organs, promoting optimal digestive function.

For more:  Yoga poses | Setu Bandhasana Yoga (Bridge Pose)

3. Trikonasana (Triangle Pose)

• Begin in a standing position with feet wide apart, toes pointing forward.
• Turn your right foot out 90 degrees and align the heel of your right foot with the arch of your left foot.
• Inhale and extend your arms out to the sides at shoulder height.
• Exhale and reach your right hand toward your right ankle, shin, or the floor, while extending your left arm toward the ceiling.
• Hold the pose for a few breaths, then repeat on the other side.

Benefits-

1. Provide relief from constipation.
2. Triangle Pose stretches and strengthens the sides of the body, including the abdominal muscles, while also stimulating digestion and improving circulation in the abdominal region.
3. Trikonasana Activates better functioning of kidneys.

4. Bitilasana (Cow Pose)

Bitilasana Derived from Sanskrit words, Bitila meaning Cow and Asana meaning Pose, it is similar to Marjariasana and works in conjunction with the cat pose.

Benefits-

1. It massages belly organs and stimulates kidneys and adrenal glands.
2. Brings relief in stress and helps in achieving calmness of mind.

5. Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend)

Paschimottanasana Derived from Sanskrit words, Paschima meaning West or Back, Uttana meaning Intense stretch and Asana means Pose. Popularly known as seated forward bend pose.

• Sit on the mat with legs extended and feet flexed.
• Inhale and lengthen the spine, then exhale and fold forward from the hips, reaching for the feet or shins.
• Relax the head and neck, allowing the spine to lengthen with each breath.

Benefits-

1. Stretches entire back side of the body from heels to the neck.
2. Forward fold helps in the calming nervous system, boosts cognitive functions and regulates emotions and provides ease in depression.
3. Seated forward bend massages the abdominal organs, stimulates digestion, and relieves gas and bloating.

6. Marjariasana (Cat Pose)

Derived from Sanskrit words, Marjari meaning Cat and Asana meaning pose, it is popularly known as Cat Stretch Pose. It involves a combination of forwarding bends along with back arches.

• Start on your hands and knees with wrists directly under shoulders and knees under hips.
• Inhale, arch the back, and lift the head and tailbone (cow pose).
• Exhale, round the back, and tuck the chin to the chest (cat pose).
• Continue flowing between cat and cow poses, synchronizing movement with breath.

Benefits-

1. Makes your vertebrae mobile and flexible.
2. Improves movements in your cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine which releases tension trapped in them.
3. Massages digestive organs improving digestion.
4. Cat-cow stretch gently massages the spine and abdomen, promoting flexibility and relieving tension.

For more: All about Marjariasana Yoga (Cat Stretch), Steps, Benefits, Precautions

7. Balasana (Child Pose)

Derived from Sanskrit words, Bala meaning Child and Asana meaning Pose, it stretches lower back as well as arms. To perform correctly, face the body to the floor in the fetal position (hence the name). It is also known as Garbhasana and Shashankasana.

• Kneel on the mat with toes touching and knees hip-width apart.
• Sit back on the heels and fold forward, extending the arms in front or alongside the body.
• Rest the forehead on the mat and breathe deeply, allowing the abdomen to soften and relax.

Benefits-

1. It helps in achieving physical, mental and emotional relief that we have during childhood by calming the nervous system.
2. It is quite useful in relieving neck, shoulder, back, and hip strain and makes the body flexible.
3. Child’s pose gently compresses the abdomen and promotes relaxation, which can help relieve digestive discomfort.

For more: Balasana (Child Pose) Yoga | Steps | Benefits | Precaution

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Conclusion

These yoga poses can help alleviate digestive discomfort, enhance digestion, and promote overall digestive health. Always listen to your body and practice with mindfulness and awareness.