12 Sep Yoga Poses for Better Digestion

Healthy gut function and digestion is one of the most important things for overall wellbeing. And while it’s important all year round, it tends to get sluggish during winter as we eat heavier foods and more of it. Here are some of our favourite shapes to create when you need to get your body back on track.

Cat – Cow

This shape is a nice and easy way to warm up the body, but it’s also really beneficial for the digestive system. Come to all fours, tabletop position. On your inhale, drop your belly towards the ground, lifting the heart and the tailbone. Then on your exhale, round the back, tuck your chin to your chest, and drop your tail towards the ground. Continue like this for a few rounds. These forward and back motions compress and then lengthen the intestines, which allows for the body to increase blood flow in that area, helping to maintain healthy gut function.

Puppy Pose   

You can take this shape straight from cat cow. Keeping your hips and knees as they are, walk your arms forward as you start to lower your heart towards the ground. This shape allows the whole front body to lengthen from hips to fingertips. This helps to stretch out the front of the belly and can be very helpful in relieving cramping, especially any discomfort caused from eating a large meal.

Half gas release pose

The name really says it all, doesn’t it? This shape actually compresses the ascending colon (on the ride side) and the descending colon (on the left). This encourages the body to eliminate what it doesn’t need as it stimulates the nerves connected to those processes. It’s also super easy to do. Simply lie on your back, keep your left leg straight and heavy onto the ground, hug your right knee into your chest, then slightly out towards the right ribcage. Then switch sides after about a minute or two.

Supine Twist

This is a nice follow on from half gas release pose. Simply hug the right knee into the chest and then using your left hand, guide it across the body coming into a twist on your back. Then of course take the same shape on the left hand side. Again a nice one to twist the digestive organs helping to get rid of any stuck energy and encourage blood flow.