FROM THE OUTSIDE, it is well known that a regular yoga practice is excellent for improving strength and flexibility. Internally, yoga is also seen as a great approach for helping to reduce stress levels as well as managing anxiety. Yoga is seen as a healing modality as it has an extensive list of scientifically proven benefits. One area of health that is often overlooked when it comes to yoga is the role that it plays in relation to digestive health.
Bowel movements are not a dinner table conversation but warrant a detailed look into how digestive health is influenced by your overall lifestyle. Everyone can agree that when your digestion is working well, you tend to feel better from within. But when you suffer from conditions like constipation or heartburn, it affects your daily quality of life. When it comes to digestive health, there are many factors that affect it, ranging from water consumption and types of food eaten, to sleep, exercise, and stress. One connection that is well known is that stress exacerbates most health problems including digestive ailments.
Increased levels of stress can cause a variety of digestive discomforts ranging from heartburn and bloating to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). There are two main sides of your autonomic nervous system, which is your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is the one that is most active when you are stressed as it puts your body into “fight-or-flight” mode. This is when your body places all its energy and attention into survival mode. Whereas your parasympathetic nervous system, when active, is in “rest-or-digest” mode. This means that when you are under high levels of stress, your body is so busy with keeping you going and in survival mode that it neglects the need to focus on digestion or the resting part which is also where the body recovers and heals.
The practice of yoga through the breathing exercises, physical postures, and meditation helps to place your body primarily into the “rest-or-digest” mode. Yoga takes you away from the stress and helps to relax your body so that it can effectively aid in digestion. Ayurveda, which is considered to be the sister of Yoga, emphasises the importance of digestion for good health. Any sign of an imbalanced digestion, such as bloating, flatulence, belching, diarrhoea, constipation, heaviness, or cramps should not be ignored and be taken very seriously. A healthier digestion means a healthier body thus yoga supports Ayurveda.
Aside from the connection that yoga reduces stress and therefore helps the body focus more on digestion, there are a few yoga asanas or postures that have a more direct impact on the body. For starters, at least two rounds of sun salutations are a great way to improve circulation which helps with improving peristalsis (movement of the intestines to help with elimination). In addition, here are some more poses that are known to help improve the gut:
- Cat-cow pose (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)
- Camel pose (Ustrasana)
- Child’s pose (Balasana)
- Squat pose (Malasana)
- Knees to chest pose (Apanasana)
- Supine spinal twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)
- Cobra pose (Bhujangasana)
- Bow pose (Dhanurasana)
This list is not exhaustive but these are the asanas that are known to have a more direct benefit to the digestive system. Many of these poses, such as child’s pose, presses down on the abdomen, and deep breathing within cat-cow pose also helps to massage the internal organs, which thereby stimulates digestion and can alleviate bloating and constipation.
Yoga helps to reduce the levels of cortisol (the body’s main stress hormone), while improving circulation through the movement of the various postures and the breath. At the end of every yoga class, there is time set aside for relaxation through corpse pose (Savasana). Beyond the physical postures of yoga, Savasana is really the time to let go and release any stress or tension the body may be holding. This time, while being at one with your mind and body, allows the two to really connect through the breath so that your body can continue to remain in the parasympathetic mode.
There is emerging research that yoga can be an excellent supplementary therapy for those with IBS. In fact, when examined mores closely, the Vedic scriptures state that IBS is a result of both the mind and body and that the brain and gut are intimately connected. Therefore, yoga may indeed be an effective tool for managing digestive ailments and help improve the symptoms. More specifically, those yogic stretches that engage the lower abdominal muscles are even more valuable when it comes to managing digestive health.
The research into the connection between yoga and gut health is on-going, but there is no doubt that yoga holds a valuable key in improving the digestive system. Yoga is not just for the outward physique or for the mind, but it can also benefit the internal organs by reducing stress and allowing the body to focus on the other day-to-day functions such as digestion.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4438173/
https://www.artofliving.org/us-en/yoga-health-and-wellness-yoga-for-digestion
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/yoga-posture-for-digestion#Precautions
https://greatist.com/health/benefits-of-yoga
Varsha Khatri, MA, SYT, MCMA, MFNTP
Bio: Varsha Khatri helps her clients achieve their health goals by combining the science of nutrition and health with the knowledge of Ayurveda. She is a qualified Nutritionist, Senior Yoga Teacher, and an Ayurveda Consultant. She is the author of Think Healthy Choose Healthy.
www.illuminatedhealth.com
