How to Use Twisting Poses in Yoga to Improve Digestion

Digestion begins with chewing food thoroughly and taking time to eat. This sounds old-fashioned, and it is: yoga and ayurveda date back 2,000 and 5,000 years, respectively. As sister sciences, they can help modern-day folk use the classical yoga poses (asanas) to help improve digestion.Ayurveda believes agni fire in the belly helps us to digest food. High noon is when agni the strongest. For that reason, the largest meal is eaten at noon, and lighter meals at breakfast and dinner. Ama, or toxins, are believed to accumulate in the body if food is not digested.Twisting asanas wrings out the internal organs and helps food move from the small intestine to the large intestine. The ilocecal valve is on the right side: to improve digestion, always twist to the right first, then the left.

Things You'll Need

• Yoga mat or towel

Instructions

1. Lie flat on your back with your feet flat and hip-width apart on your mat. Make sure your knees are over your ankles. Move both knees to the right, stacking your legs, so that your knees, ankles and feet are stacked. Extend your right arm alongside you out to the side, so that the back of your right shoulder is flat on the mat. Drape your left hand over your legs and turn your head to the right. Hold for five to eight breaths. Repeat to the left side. Rest.

2. Proceed to Jathara Parivartanasana, an active lying twist. Remain lying flat on your back and place your arms out to your sides, so that your palms are anchored on the floor. Extend your legs straight up, flexing your heels and bringing the inner edges of your feet together. Draw in your lower abdominal muscles to stabilize your low back.

3. Lower your legs to the right as you turn your head to look left. Exhale and bring your legs back to the starting position, and draw your legs to the left as you turn your head to the right. Continue for 10 to 12 rounds, maintaining the action of pressing your palms in the floor and keeping the lower abs engaged. Rest.

4. Roll up to sit for a variation of Marichyasana C from First Series, Ashtanga yoga. Sit on your hips and extend your legs straight out in front of you. Root your left heel into the floor as you bend your right knee and place your right foot on the mat. Your right knee should be over the ankle.

5. Bring your right hand behind you, placing your palm to the floor (on the fingertips if you cannot flatten the hand). Extend your left arm and, bending at the elbow, cross it over your right knee. Elongate the spine from the sitting bones through the crown of the head, and move your chest to the right. Resist the twist with your left arm. Keep your chest well-lifted and the center of your low back moving forward. Remain for five to eight breaths. Repeat for the left side. Rest.

Tips & Warnings

• For any twisting asana, it is important to lengthen the spine first before moving into the twist.

• If you have neck or low-back injuries, work with a certified yoga teacher who has training in injury management. Avoid deeply twisting postures while pregnant, or if you have diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome.