Yoga exercises have been practiced for thousands of years due to their positive impact on overall health and well-being, which also includes enhanced gut health and digestive processes. The movement of the yoga exercises helps in stretching the muscles, which stimulates the digestive system and massages the internal organs.
Yoga can help keep your gut healthy by boosting circulation in the body, reducing stress, alleviating gas and bloating, getting relief from bowel disease, and so on.
Yoga Exercises for Gut
Here are the six best yoga exercises that you can include in your workout routine for better gut health.
1. Belly Twist or Jathara Parivartanasana
Belly twists are one of the simplest yoga exercises that support gut health and enhance the digestive process in the body.
Here's how you should do it:
Start off by lying flat on your back with outstretched arms, bent knees, and feet pressing into the floor. Move your hips approximately one inch to your right side before raising your feet and legs together off the floor. Twist your hips to move your bent legs toward the left side. Hold the pose for a few breaths before releasing it into a neutral position. Repeat for the other side.
2. Twisted Chair
The twisted chair is among the advanced yoga exercises for improving gut health as it perks up the digestive organs. This pose will help in flushing the toxins out of your system and speeding up the digestion process in your body.
Here's how you should do it:
Start off in a standing position with your heels apart a little bit and your toes touching each other. Now descend your body downward to sit back on your heels in a manner where you are sitting on an imaginary chair. Now bring your arms to the front with palms touching each other in a prayer position. Rotate your body toward the right side while you bring your left elbow closer to the right knee. Stay in this position for a few moments before releasing and repeat on the other side.
3. Seated Side Bend or Parsva Sukhasana
Seated side bends are among the excellent yoga exercises for your gut health as they help in alleviating gas and preventing bloating in the body.
Here's how you should do it:
Assume a cross-legged position on the floor with your hands on the side touching the floor. Raise one arm straight in the air before softly leaning to the opposite side. Hold for a few breaths before swapping sides and repeating.
4. Seated Spinal Twist
The twisted movement of this yoga exercise will help your gut through detoxification in the body. The seated spinal twist will help in inducing mobility of the body along with massaging the internal organs.
Here's how you should do it:
Assume the sitting position on the floor with your knees bent and thread your left leg in between the heel and butt of the right side in a manner where the left leg is resting on the floor. Bring your right foot closer to the left side of the butt while your right knee is still pointing toward the ceiling. Now, gently rotate your upper body toward your right leg. Repeat. Switch sides and repeat the same.
5. Diamond Pose or Vajrasana
The diamond pose is often included to provide a complete workout for the digestive system as it aligns the organs and clears the process. This yoga exercise enails several benefits, including relief from acidity, reduced knee and back pain, and strengthening of leg muscles.
Here's how you should do it:
Assume the kneeling position on the floor with your legs folded as your pelvis is stacked just above your heels. Place your ankles close to each other with your feet angled in line with the legs. Position your palms on the thighs at the respective sides. Hold the pose for a few minutes before releasing.
6. Yogi Squat
Yogi squats are popular exercises as they achieve proper alignment of the body . Thus, they focus on faster release of toxins by alleviating the excretion process of the body.
Here's how you should do it:
Stand in an upright position with your feet shoulder-width apart. While pressing onto your heels, descend down into the deep squatting position until your butt is just above the floor. Now bring your hands to chest level as your palms are joined together. Hold the yogi squat position for as long as you can.
Bottom Line
The aforementioned yoga exercises will help in supporting your gut health by reducing stress, alleviating bloating, increasing the alignment, and speeding up the digestive process. These yoga poses also provide numerous other advantages such as strengthened muscles and relief from tight muscles.
Considering the benefits, you must include the aforementioned yoga exercises in your exercise routine.