How do Yoga Poses Help in Digestive Health?

The poses and asanas involve different movements, bends and twists that can enhance the physiological functioning of different organs in the body. How?  

1.    Gentle Twists:

Gentle twists such as in seated spinal twists and supine twists, your internal abdominal organs get massaged. This encourages the release of toxins from the body. 

2.    Soothing Forward Folds:

Imagine bending forward like a baby. It feels calm right. That's right! Bending forward relieves tension and stress that hampers your digestion process. Forward bends, like the child's pose and standing forward bend pose, provide gentle compression to the abdomen, which encourages relaxation and improved blood flow to the region.

3.    Activate the Solar Plexus:

Some poses engage your solar plexus. Solar plexus is the epicentre of your digestive system. Some poses like boat pose and bow pose activate the abdominal muscles and stimulate digestive organs thus promoting better metabolism and enhanced digestion.

4.   Calm the Nervous System: 

Some poses like the corpse pose and legs-up-the-wall pose are great poses for calming the nervous system. Reducing stress and anxiety helps in improving digestive health.

5.    Align Breath and Movement:

When you practise traditional yoga with the perfect breath alignment, it warms up your spinal plexus. The rhythmic motion aids in peristalsis, the wave-like contractions in your intestines.

So, yes, practising yoga poses is a great way of improving your digestive health and making your gut-brain connection stronger.

The Symbiotic Relation of Breath and Digestion

Have you ever wondered how something as basic as your breath could affect your digestion? 

1. Breath: More Than Just Air

Breathe is more than the air going in and out of your lungs. It is one of the systems in your body that supports your digestive health. Deep breathing can stimulate the vagus nerve, which helps regulate the secretion of digestive enzymes, gastric acid, and muscle contraction.

2. Two Modes: "Go" and "Rest" 

Your body has two modes: "go" and "rest." When you're stressed or worried, your body turns to the 'go mode. But, when you are relaxed and at ease, your body goes into the 'rest' mode. This rest mode is stimulated by relaxed breathing and helps your body concentrate completely on digestion.

3. Diaphragmatic Massage

During your breathing techniques, such as diaphragmatic breathing, the gentle massaging action helps reduce abdominal pain, bloating, constipation and other digestive issues. 

4. The Vagus Nerve Stimulation

There's a telephone-like connection between your brain and the digestive system. This is the vagus nerve. When you engage yourself in slow deep breathing techniques, your vagus nerve gets the message that it is indeed the time to help with the digestion process. It tells the stomach to start producing the right amount of digestive enzymes.

So, the next time, try taking those deep breaths before a meal. You will definitely notice the changes in a few weeks time.

How Mindfulness and Yoga Help Your Digestion

At Nirva, experts always stress on mindfulness in all aspect of life - such as mindful eating, mindful self-care and mindful thought process too. Why? This is because every small negative aspect in your body physiology can be a seed to illness. Moreover, the gut is the base of all health conditions. So, how can mindfulness not have an influence over the digestive system?.

What's Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is not going into a meditative state. It is paying really close attention to what is happening at the moment you are in. It is like eating your favourite snack and enjoying every bit of it without any distraction - like scrolling a phone!

Mindfulness is being fully present, whether you are eating, moving, or just breathing.

How is Mindfulness Connected with the Digestion Process?

Now, let's talk about digestion.

You know well that stress can disrupt your digestion. Stress can also impact the quality of nutrient absorption in your body. To stop this from happening, practising mindfulness can help.

Mindfulness also activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps with digestion by increasing salivary secretions and stimulating gastric juices, digestive enzymes, and bile. 

When you are mindful, you are also aware of your hunger and fullness cues, which will prevent you from overburdening your digestive system.

Efficiently chewing and savouring each bite makes your digestive enzymes work on your food morsels more efficiently.

Mindfulness is just telling your whole body and mind, "Hey, it's time to digest!"

Relaxing Bedtime Yoga for Better Digestion

Why did we choose to give you these quick yoga tips for bedtime? Our experts point out that the digestive system takes a step back at night time. 

"Eating at night can lead to indigestion and heartburn. You must eat at least 3-4 hours before bed to give your stomach time to digest", says Dr Aswathi Krishna, Ayurveda consultant at Nirva.

Due to the body's natural circadian rhythm, where the body prepares for sleep at night, your digestive system is a little too lazy to digest food at the time.

Moreover, hormones stimulate the digestive system, and digestive enzymes like gastrin and secretin reduce at night. Melatonin, which is the sleep hormone, promotes relaxation of organs at night.

So, if you are finding it difficult to digest your food at night, these yoga poses are for you! No, don't worry, these poses will not overburden your digestive system.

Some of the best poses you can practise are;

• Child's Pose (Balasana)
• Supine Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)
• Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)
• Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)
• Corpse Pose (Savasana)
• Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana)
• Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

Note : These yoga poses need modifications from regular steps of practice, for bedtime ritual. The key to bedtime yoga is gentle and slow movement. Connect with our yoga health experts to know what works best for your body.

Take Home Message

Practising yoga and yogic meditation are one of the best things you can give to relax your digestive system. This helps in optimum functioning of your digestion physiology and overall gut health. Practise one hour before a meal or wait for two to three hours after a meal to practise yoga for digestive health.

Learn everything about the dos and don'ts of yoga for digestion from our health experts at Nirva.