Yoga For Digestion

Use breath and movement to soften any knots in the digestive system, ease fullness, and get your digestive fire burning brightly. We'll do twists, breathwork, and other shapes specifically designed to support a healthy digestive system. It's the perfect tune-up to do in the morning or a few hours after a heavier meal. Please modify in any way that supports your body and energy. Consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program. It is not designed to prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease.

Transcript

Hi everyone.

Today we're going to do a practice to support the digestive system to help relieve bloating such as a fullness and just allow the digestive system to work smoothly,

Easily and helpfully.

So let's begin laying on our bellies.

We're going to start in a crocodile pose and in that crocodile you'll have the hands,

One on top of the other forehead resting on the hands and then the elbows nice and wide.

And then draw a deep breath in through the nose and on the exhale breathe out through the mouth.

Now breathe in through the nose nice and full.

And exhale through the mouth.

Continue to breathe like this feeling the belly press into the earth.

Feeling all the body getting closer to the ground with each inhale and exhale.

And here you get to feel some of that pressure against the belly.

And that feedback with the belly pressing into the ground is helping to bring a tension to the breath and blood and nourishment to that part of the body.

You may be called to mind what it is you are aiming to digest here.

Perhaps it's specific food but perhaps we're digesting an emotion,

Something that you saw or heard or felt.

It's like the intention of digestion fully completely.

Let's take one more breath in here.

And one more deep exhale.

We'll stay on our bellies here but move with the arms so we're going to take the hands next to the rib cage just underneath the shoulders letting the elbows point up to the sky.

Getting ready for baby cobra so let's roll the shoulders back and down.

Pull the elbows a little closer together and then lift the heart up off of the mat so that the elbows pull back towards the heels,

The crown of the head pulls forward for a full inhale and a full exhale.

Have a sense like the hands and the elbows are pulling back in space so that the heart can pull forward.

Maybe you feel here the belly pressing into the earth with the inhale and moving away from the earth on the exhale.

Two more breaths here.

Stretching through the front body.

On your next exhale you'll lower the upper body down to the earth and then we'll press into the hands coming through hands and knees to find a child's pose.

So in child's pose here today let's draw the knees close together the hips towards the heels and then you can fold the body forward and down.

Now perhaps your forehead reaches the earth and if it doesn't you can take blocks or books or even your fists underneath the forehead.

If this pose is feeling really uncomfortable for your knees if it's too much flexion on the knees you can roll up a blanket or towel and place it behind the knees to support you.

We hear you feel some pressure the thighs into the belly.

I'm going to use that feedback to help create some muscular action through the belly through the digestive tract.

Feel the lengthening happening through the back body as the front body contracts.

One more inhale and a long exhale.

Send the arms out forward if they aren't there already.

Let's press up getting through the hands and knees and then take it back to downward facing dog.

Shifting the hips up and back hands shoulder distance feet hips width distance put a little bend into the knees so that you can feel the hips pull back in space maybe you know a little contact between the thighs and the belly.

They'll be happening way up at the upper thighs way up at the low belly but that contact will happen.

Press forward forward forward into the hands to find this length.

For a deep breath in and a long breath out.

Gaze forward here at the hands walk the right hand just a little closer to the left hand so my right hand is moving more towards the center line of the mat and I'm going to step I'm going to set my right foot to the outside of my right hand so right foot steps to the outside of the right hand and I'll bring the left knee down to the ground at this lunge.

The hands pressing into the ground heart draws forward feel the crown of the head reach forward and then we'll twist here placing the right hand on the top of the right thigh pretty close to the knee press into that right leg to create your twist.

Now I'm going to really bring a lot of activity into that right hand pressing into the leg to help me rotate the heart towards the right maybe the gates even lifts up towards the ceiling and then bring the attention to the belly feel that twisting action here in the belly for another inhale and another exhale.

So we bring the right hand down to the ground let's step back through hands and knees and then press back to downward dog lifting over there breath in and breath out left hand moves more towards the center line of the mat gazing forward step the left foot to the outside of the left hand right knee down to the ground we take a moment here feeling the hands drive back in space the head the heart drawn forward open heart and then left hand to the top of the left thigh close to the knee press into that hand to create your twist and make sure you feel here that the left knee isn't pulling out to the side but rather the left knee is directly on top of the left ankle and the heart is rotating one more breath in and then on the exhale release the left hand down to the ground to the inside of the left foot now here let's tuck the right toes lift the right knee and we'll step to the outside of the right hand coming to malasana yogi squat so toes are turning out heels are turning in i'm going to bend the knees nice and deep to sit into a squat here you come as deep as it makes sense to in your body if you need a block underneath the hips or just staying more lifted in the legs please feel free and we're going to bring some movement here to really wake up the digestive system so we're going to think about our inhale to be this squatting shape my hands are going to be on the earth and as i exhale i'm going to press into the feet straighten the legs and breathe out through the mouth nice and fast so slowly inhale to bend the knees sitting the hips down lifting the heart exhale quickly through the mouth straighten the legs a few more times like this bend the knees a few more times like this bend the knees on the inhale strong exhale through mouth inhale to bend the knees exhale to straighten three more inhale exhale fold and two exhale fold and one bend the knees exhale straighten nice stay here in this forward fold you can walk the feet close your hips with distance you can have a nice bend into the knee so you can really feel the upper body relaxing down the back nice and long the head heavy maybe you feel here as you fold this lifting up that happens through the belly as it hollows out here and you fold over your legs another breath in another breath out we'll step the right foot back and bring the right knee down to the ground and then bring the left knee down to the ground next to the right we're going to sit back onto the heels here so the tops of my feet are on the earth i'm sitting on the heels and again if this is not good for your body you can place some padding underneath the hips or between the thighs and the calves so that you can not have the knees in such an intense shape but here with the hands on the thighs feel the tailbone drop towards the earth the shoulders roll back the length through the back body we inhale steady through the nose and exhale long through the mouth and exhale long through the mouth inhale steady through nose and exhale long through the mouth do another round like this and then we're going to move to a counted breath we're going to inhale to a count of four exhale to a count of six if at any point this isn't working for you please do release that breath practice so we'll take one more inhale exhale completely inhale two three four exhale two three four five six in two three four out two three four five six four five six in two three four out two three four five six in two three four out two three four five six last one two three four out two three four five six and here breathe steady in and out through the nose naturally we extend that exhale as we just did extending the exhale longer than the inhale we allow the parasympathetic nervous system to activate that's activating our rest and digest system that tells us we can relax through the body find ease to the body and that is going to ultimately aid our digestive system and when we're caught up in a stress cycle the body cannot process it turns off that sort of processing in order to stay with the emergency that your body feels that it is in so whether we are digesting food emotion sights or sounds knowing that we need to find knowing that we need to find a restful place as much as possible to help support that processing feel free to stay here as long as you'd like even up to 10 to 15 minutes this is a great posture to support the digestive system when you're complete with your practice feel free to get up move around and move on with your day thank you so much for practicing with me today namaste

Reviews

Wonderful, just what I needed to help my digestion.
Thank you 🙏🏼

I changed it around a bit but i liked it very much!

Was greatly inspiring. I am rehabilitating after a neck injury and i found this to be gentle. However, i would have loved teachers voice to go a bit slow.

Great guidance and flow, very helpful to the digestive system. The sound quality is low, it's a pity though it does give you an opportunity to process annoying external details!

Thank you very much. The perfect start to any day.