The growing age of fast food and a deteriorating lifestyle could be one reason why your stomach always keeps you irritated. It can be extremely annoying to always feel bloated, full and uneasy, especially when you can focus on better things but aren’t able to. As the wise men have once said “Bad digestion is the root of all evil” and it can’t be more right. We try to curb this problem by taking in a lot of medicines and appetizers that might have significant side-effects. And to be honest, to fight this problem in the long run, intake wouldn’t be as beneficial. This is where yoga comes in for your rescue.
We often talk about how yoga offers a calming effect to the mind, helps in restoring body equilibrium, so on and so forth. But one of the benefits that are so evident and ever-present and yet ironically isn’t talked about as much as its ability to help you with digestion. Yoga constitutes a myriad of postures that stimulate your internal organs, especially your digestive system. To help you understand better, we will discuss below the top 5 yoga postures for better digestion; how to do them and how do they facilitate digestion.
1. Mayurasana
How to do it:
- Begin by standing on all your fours and place your hand in such a way that your fingertips face towards you.
- Bring your hands underneath your belly button and try to make a connection all the way up to your elbows.
- Lean a little forward to engage your core. Keep your gaze forward.
- By keeping your arms together, try to lift your upper body, extend your legs at the back one at a time so that you enter a plank-like position.
- Try to maintain a balance by bringing up one leg up in the air at a time. Continue until you are able to lift both your legs up at the same time.
- Hold that positions for a few breaths, based on your comfort level, then slowly come back to a sitting position.
How does it help?
As you balance yourself, the blood supply to these organs comes to a halt for a moment. So when you release the pose, fresh blood and oxygen come rushing towards these organs thus resulting in faster and better digestion.
2. Savasana
How to do it:
- Start by lying flat on your back and close your eyes. Keep your legs apart, arms on your side and palms should be open facing upward.
- Slowly start breathing and bring your focus to different parts of your body, one at the time, slowly relaxing them and relieving them of any kind of exertion or tension.
- After 10-15 minutes, when you have fully relaxed your body, gently bring yourself in the sitting position and then slowly open your eyes as you breathe gently.
How does it help?
When you lie down in a calm and still manner, you allow your body to relax as much as it can. By bringing your focus to each body party, the body starts the process of internal healing. This improves the blood flow and naturally facilitates the proper breaking down of food.
3. Pavanamuktasana
How to do it:
- Begin by lying on your back and your arms and legs extended.
- While exhaling, bring one of your knees towards your chest. Extend the other leg long on the floor and hold this position for one minute.
- Repeat the same position with your other knee. When you are done with both the legs separately, bring both the knees together towards your chest. Then slowly release them after a minute and extend them on the floor.
How does it help?
This pose is extremely helpful if you’re facing gastric issues. It allows a free movement of the trapped substance and therefore relieves you from any uncomfortable feeling.
4. Paschimottanasana
How to do it:
- Sit with your legs stretched out in front of you.
- Start breathing slowly and raise your arms over your head. Stretch them so that you can feel the tension in your muscles.
- Now bend forward and move your chin towards your toes. Stretch your arms towards your toes as well, but make sure that you don’t too beyond your level of comfort.
- Place your head on your legs and hold this position for a few breaths.
- Release the pose and come back in the sitting position.
How does it help?
The pose allows a certain kind of compression to take place around your digestive organs. Like in Mayurasana, this stops the flow of the blood in the area, so when you let go of the pose, it creates a new and faster flow towards the organs allowing them to function faster and better.
5. Ardha Matsyendrasana
How to do it:
- Sit with your spine completely straight and your legs stretched out.
- Lift your left leg in such a way that you are able to place the heel next to the right hip.
- Now place the right leg next to the left knee by taking it over the knee.
- Slowly twist your waist and neck and place our gaze on your right shoulder. Hold this pose for a few seconds and simultaneously breathe slowly.
- Repeat the steps with the other side and then bring yourself back to the sitting position.
How does it help?
Twisting poses are the perfect ones to help you with digestion. This pose allows the flow of fresh blood towards your digestive system and also stimulates them to ensure that the flow of the food and breaking up of it is smooth and efficient.
Now you know what to do when your stomach gives you a hard time!
