Yoga for Good Digestion
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Determined to make positive changes in life? It can start with digestion!
As well as digesting the food we eat, we also digest emotion and thoughts. Yoga can help with all three of these. Many of us can feel stagnant and stuck – stuck where we are, stuck in the loop of our thoughts and stuck with the same feelings and triggers. Yoga movements can create a healthier digestive process for our food, but also gives us space to digest our thoughts and feelings.
Try moving through these exercises, keeping your focus on breathing in and out. Feel refreshed by having a break from constant thinking and worrying. Spending a minute or more in silence at the end, letting go of thoughts, allows your body to process emotions.
Try this every day if you can. You may soon start to notice you feel fresher and lighter – not just physically – but emotionally too.
1. Pencil stretch
On your bed or the floor stretch your whole body and relax five times.
2. Hug knees
Put your hands below your knees and hug them towards you. Hold this for five slow steady breaths.
3. Knee to chest
Put your hands below one knee and hug it towards you. Hold this for five slow steady breaths and then swap sides.
4. Knees to side
Engage your core muscles to protect your back. Drop your knees on one side and then the other. Keep moving them like windscreen wipers. Repeat this process five times.
5. Rest
Time to rest. Can you let go of thinking? Bring attention to your breathing and let thinking drop away. Stay here for 20 breaths in and out or more.
6. Meditation
Sitting, kneeling or on a chair, can you notice each breath in and out? Count each one up to 10 and start again. When you lose track come back to the counting – this gives the mind a rest from thinking. Start with about one minute and if this feels okay you might like to build up the time. If difficult thoughts or feelings flood in, bring your attention back to where you are. Feel the solid surface beneath you.
Determined to make positive changes in life? It can start with digestion!
As well as digesting the food we eat, we also digest emotion and thoughts. Yoga can help with all three of these. Many of us can feel stagnant and stuck – stuck where we are, stuck in the loop of our thoughts and stuck with the same feelings and triggers. Yoga movements can create a healthier digestive process for our food, but also gives us space to digest our thoughts and feelings.
Try moving through these exercises, keeping your focus on breathing in and out. Feel refreshed by having a break from constant thinking and worrying. Spending a minute or more in silence at the end, letting go of thoughts, allows your body to process emotions.
Try this every day if you can. You may soon start to notice you feel fresher and lighter – not just physically – but emotionally too.
1. Pencil stretch
On your bed or the floor stretch your whole body and relax five times.
2. Hug knees
Put your hands below your knees and hug them towards you. Hold this for five slow steady breaths.
3. Knee to chest
Put your hands below one knee and hug it towards you. Hold this for five slow steady breaths and then swap sides.
4. Knees to side
Engage your core muscles to protect your back. Drop your knees on one side and then the other. Keep moving them like windscreen wipers. Repeat this process five times.
5. Rest
Time to rest. Can you let go of thinking? Bring attention to your breathing and let thinking drop away. Stay here for 20 breaths in and out or more.
6. Meditation
Sitting, kneeling or on a chair, can you notice each breath in and out? Count each one up to 10 and start again. When you lose track come back to the counting – this gives the mind a rest from thinking. Start with about one minute and if this feels okay you might like to build up the time. If difficult thoughts or feelings flood in, bring your attention back to where you are. Feel the solid surface beneath you.
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