Five ways yoga can ease your digestive issues.
Digestive complaints are often at the root cause of many health issues and one reasonably simple way to ease symptoms is by incorporating yoga into your routine. Now I’m not talking about standing on your head or folding yourself into a pretzel (although if they appeal to you then be my guest!), what I’m looking at is the effect of yoga asana and pranayama on the mind, fascia, circulation as well as stimulation of the digestive system. Let’s have a look at five ways that yoga asana can aid your digestion and thus ease discomfort…
Improved abdominal circulation - It could be argued that ANY form of physical movement has the potential to improve abdominal circulation, and you’d have a point, but I think that yoga has an added edge on this one. Consider the basic sun salutation - we stretch up, we fold in half, we engage muscles of both upper and lower body - during this sequence we move through multiple instances of flexion, extension and potentially rotation of the torso and in doing so exert a “squeeze and soak” effect that essentially massages and forces circulation through the entire abdomen. The reason this is so important is that circulation is ESSENTIAL for good digestion. The flow of blood through the digestive system has many purposes, including oxygen delivery for muscle function, efficient absorption and delivery of nutrients, and finally waste removal.
Stress relief - As we know, stress effects EVERYTHING (nervous stomach anyone?) and with yoga the benefit to digestion is twofold: Firstly in a very physical way, yoga can ease muscular tension which in turn allows for more efficient peristalsis as well as reducing the potential for trapped gas and bloating. Secondly, much of yoga’s benefit stems from its impact on the vagus nerve which governs your parasympathetic nervous system and so helps to take your body out of sympathetic (“fight or flight”) mode. When we are in sympathetic mode the body naturally diverts circulation away from the abdominal organs and toward the heart, lungs and large muscle groups. The purpose of this is survival and stems from the primitive need to run away from a predator. However these days we can be stressed from reading an email and the body hasn’t realised the difference, so we aren’t “running off” the stress hormones that are activated, and instead sitting there in prolonged sympathetic activation so as a result: NOT digesting our food properly.
Released fascia - Fascia has become a common buzzword in the health and wellness world, and for good reason, as it impacts the functioning of our whole body. A simple way to picture it is to imagine that you took everything out of your body (bones, muscles, organs, etc) and just left behind the fascia - you’d have an almost transparent replica of your whole body. The fascia in many places is wafer thin but still has a huge effect on mobility, function and movement. This includes the movement of your digestive system and peristalsis (the wave-like way food is moved through the GI tract) and so “stuck” areas of fascia here can have a distinct knock-on effect. Myofascial release is often thought of as something that needs to be tackled with pressure exerted and held on single trigger points, however research has shown that it is also moved and released through gentle movement and manipulation. This makes yoga, and the way that it encourages movement through all directions, perfect to ease tension in your fascia.
Improved respiration - Have you ever considered that just taking a breath effects your digestion? Yoga encourages deep, long, efficient breathing through pranayama and breath-led movements and the effect on digestion is two-pronged. Going back to the vagus nerve and its stimulation to allow parasympathetic activation (which encourages digestion and repair), taking a deep breath can help with this. But the main aspect I’m talking about here is structural - when you inhale, your diaphragm moves downward to 1. create space in the thorax for the lungs to expand and 2. create negative pressure which draws air into the lungs. By doing so the diaphragm moves down into the abdominal cavity, essentially pressing into the organs of digestion and “massaging” them. When we take repeated deep breaths (as in pranayama breathing exercises or during a yoga sequence) this movement physically aids movement of food through the gut and so helps you to digest your food better.
Aids elimination - Modern toilets (especially like those we commonly find in the UK) don’t put the body in an ideal position for evacuating our bowels. Have you ever been to Asia and used a bathroom? There are often squat toilets that are essentially a hole in the floor and while this may sound basic there is huge benefit and postural sense behind this set up. When you are in a deep squat position (that we often practice in yoga as Malasana) it begins to open your pelvis, loosen the hips and tone abdominal organs - easing congestion and constipation. The main benefit with this pose is literally the position it puts you in but regular practice of it (and many other yoga asana) will help to improve pelvic flexibility and circulation, therefore helping you to let it all go!
Now it goes without saying (hopefully) that it is essential to work within your own bodily limits when it comes to any form of movement or exercise and as I always tell my students “if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it!”. Please be gentle with yourself and if in doubt, get in touch with your local yoga teacher with any queries.