These four asanas and yogic techniques help to improve digestion and counteract holiday excess; so that we may feel lighter, more luminous while inviting more space for joy.
Pranayama to Reduce Stress
Deep belly-breathing helps to relieve tension in the abdomen, allowing for increased blood flow and aiding in digestion, which in turn reduces bloating.
A simple, yet effective, breathing exercise that helps target belly breathing is Dirga Pranayama, or three-part breath. To practice Dirga Pranayama, find an easy seat with a straight back and a hand loosely placed on your belly. Inhale deeply and slowly, imagining that you are filling your belly, ribcage, and upper chest completely. Then exhale equally slowly, “deflating” the upper chest, ribcage, and belly.
Here is an audio meditation of Dirga Pranayama that I recorded
and
a short video here:
Boost Your Agni
Agni is the Ayurvedic term for “digestive fire” (meaning your body’s capability to break down the food we eat into the necessary building blocks for energy and proper nutrition).
Undigested or poorly digested food results in the body’s production of a toxic by-product called ama, which inhibits immunity and can contribute to out of balanced emotions that are can be destructive to ones health.
“The digestive fire in the intestines (jataragni) is the root of all the digestive fires in the body. As it causes the increase or decrease of the elemental and tissue digestive fires it should be treated with great care.”
– Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita
Bridge Pose:
This pose puts gentle pressure on the kidneys and adrenals to give the body a natural burst of energy and function at its highest potential.
Twist Pose:
Twists aid in the movement of waste through the colon, begin by twisting to the right side. Starting this way targets the ascending colon, helping it to stretch and send waste across the transverse colon. Then, when you twist to the left, your body encourages the waste to continue on to the descending colon and finally into the sigmoid colon, where it becomes ready for elimination.
Corpse pose:
Savasana is a wonderful pose to assimilate and metabolism all that’s preceded; while surrendering and releasing that which is no longer nourishing to the body/mind/spirit.
Video Version Of This Practice: Yoga Poses to Aid Digestive Fire
Note: Best to practice on an empty stomach for optimal experience.
Om Shanti~ Peace
BreathWorks With Joy 