Yoga is a very healthy and complete type of physical exercise, so practicing it will allow us to obtain great benefits on a physical and mental level. To apply this type of practice more specifically, we show you some yoga postures to improve digestion.
Due to the large amount of chemical elements present in food, together with the intolerances that some people suffer from and the stress of everyday life, there is a considerable risk of suffering from heavy digestion. With this type of yoga exercise, we can help our body to digest better.
1. Cat Pose and Cow Pose
In the first of these yoga postures to improve digestion, we will begin by getting on all fours, on our hands and knees, which we will align with our shoulders and hips, respectively. Once we have adopted this position, we will alternate the curvature of our back, so that we put it in a convex shape (cat pose) and concave (cow pose).
In the meantime, we will breathe deeply during the exercise. This will allow us to massage our internal organs, stretching and compressing the intestines, so that the epithelial cells, responsible for the proper functioning of the intestine, receive more blood.
2. Downward-facing dog pose
For this pose, we will start in a plank position, face down and with our arms and legs extended and aligned with our shoulders and hips. Using our core muscles, we will draw our hips back and up. Also, to broaden our backs, we will bend our knees a little to stretch our spine and open our shoulders. In this pose, we can use deep breathing to bring air into our abdomen, drawing the navel area up and in to nourish the intestine.
3. Triangle pose
We will begin the third of these yoga postures to improve digestion by standing up. Next, we will take a wide step forward, stretching the leg that is behind, keeping it straight. Next, we will turn the foot of the forward leg 45º outwards.
Slowly lean your torso towards the forward leg and place your hand on your shin or the floor, while you stretch your other arm upwards. Finally, stretch your head and move your tailbone towards the opposite side. Once you have finished the exercise, slowly get up and repeat with the other leg and on the other side.
4. Extended dog pose
We will begin this posture by getting on all fours, in a similar way to the dog and cow postures. Now, keeping the hips in the same position, we bring our hands forward with our arms stretched out. Meanwhile, we release the head so that it rests on the ground and gravity stretches the heart area. In short, this posture is ideal for stretching the abdomen and relieving possible stomach cramps caused by poor digestion of a large, heavy meal.
Yoga postures to improve digestion are a highly recommended practice that also helps eliminate fatigue resulting from the digestion process.
5. Bridge pose
To adopt this yoga posture, we have to lie on our back and arch our back to compress the digestive organs. In this way, we can stimulate them and encourage the flow of blood to them. This way we can eliminate any type of fatigue due to digestion.
Place your feet flat on the floor, as close to your buttocks as possible, exhale, and push your feet and arms onto the floor as you stretch your knees forward. About 10 deep breaths will be enough as you slowly return to the starting position.
6. Supine turn
Lying face up and lifting the right leg off the floor, while driving the knee towards the chest, we will rotate the hip little by little as we pass the right leg over the left, all without moving or rotating the trunk. In addition, for a deeper stretch thanks to this posture, we place the left hand on the right knee. If we do not use the left arm to apply downward pressure, we will extend both arms to each side of the body. For this posture, it is advisable to be especially relaxed and hold the posture for several seconds while taking deep breaths.