Yoga and the Digestive System
Here you’ll find the resources and recordings from Week 2 of Yoga for Wellness.
Practice Recording
Practice Recording
Conscious Eating
Like all daily activities, the act of eating can be a much richer experience when performed with full awareness. Often we’re not particularly present whilst we eat, we rush through our meals, scroll whilst eating and even eat on the run. All of this puts pressure on our digestion.
Stress and anxiety lower gastric secretion and digestive prana or energy. Especially avoid eating when you’re feeling stressed, angry or upset. If necessary, you can practice yoga nidra or abdominal breathing before meals. Endeavour to make the act of eating a ritual of self nurturance and a meditation for the senses. Put aside any distractions so you can focus solely on the act of eating. i.e. turn off the TV, put aside the mobile phone, computer and reading material. Sit down and simply focus on the act of eating.
Look at your food, pay attention to the colours, textures, size, etc. Smell your food as it approaches your nose. Feel the temperature and texture as it goes into your mouth and as you chew. Eat in a slow and relaxed way. Let it be a meditation. Take small mouthfuls and chew each mouthful thoroughly. This helps us to slow down and to stimulates the digestive processes in the mouth and the stomach. Take your food with the attitude that it is a health giving gift from nature. Sit comfortably in a way that doesn’t restrict the breath or put pressure on your abdomen. Avoid eating whilst walking, driving, standing or lying down.
Consider how you feel after eating a meal. Notice feelings of low energy, high energy, inspiration, dullness, depression, health or sickness. As we become more aware of our responses to particular types of food we can make wiser food choices. Each person needs to discover for themselves what is appropriate for their health by tuning into their body’s feedback. There is no greater authority than your own body.
Conscious Food Preparation
Purchase and prepare food in a mindful way: with attention, care and love. If you dread going to the supermarket, consider shopping at local growers markets, organic stores or health food shops. The attitude with which we buy and prepare our food is infused into the meals that we consume. Thoughtful food preparation supports healthy digestion. Tasteless, monotonous and badly prepared foods tend not to stimulate the appetite and the salivary and gastric glands to secrete adequate digestive juices.
By eating out often or regularly eating prepackaged foods, you are delegating the cooking of food to others. On a subtle level the tender loving care going into that meal has been reduced. Your senses and mind will always appreciate what you have prepared yourself.
Eat Close to Nature
Avoid foods that are overly refined and processed and instead choose those that are as close to their natural state as possible. Supermarket fruit and vegetables are usually transported great distances and are stored in cool rooms for some time. The closer you can eat foods to their harvest time, the better. Fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season in your local area not only taste better, but are nutritionally better for you.
Digestive Health
Proper digestion is the cornerstone of good health; it is literally the process by which our daily intake of food nourishes our tissues and ultimately, our state of consciousness. Healthy digestion also protects the body against the accumulation of toxins through the elimination of wastes. You can be extremely careful about eating only the purest of foods, but if the stomach and other necessary processes of digestion are not working well, you won’t receive its benefit. Yoga practices massage organs in the body including the stomach, bowels, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, liver, gall bladder, heart, lungs and even the brain. The practices of asana and pranayama help balance the nervous system and, above all, help develop our ability to tune into ourselves.
Tongue Scraping
Tongue scraping is a simple morning practice that helps remove the coating that naturally accumulates on the tongue, supporting oral hygiene, fresher breath and a clearer sense of taste. Because taste and saliva play an important role in preparing the body for digestion, this may also help us engage more fully with the experience of eating. In the Ayurvedic tradition, the appearance of the tongue is viewed as a reflection of digestive health, and tongue scraping is used as part of a daily cleansing routine. It can also be a lovely way to begin the day with mindful self-care.
Proper Elimination
For the body to keep itself clean internally it needs to flush out its wastes regularly. The bowels are sent peristaltic waves to trigger excretion of solids, usually about 20 minutes after eating. The pelvic floor muscles are burdened when we do not eliminate regularly. If the diet consists of too many refined and processed foods, and/or there is inadequate exercise, this can lead to constipation. Another factor can be simply not responding to our bodies call to eliminate waste by ‘holding on’. This can cause permanent habitual patterns of holding on and long term disturbance of bowel function.
Squatting
The best position for defecation and urination is squatting. This was the natural position for elimination used for millennia before the advent of modern seated toilets. Squatting for elimination is still used in many cultures today. Sitting on a toilet seat often encourages leaning forward which can crowd the eliminatory organs, constricting the energy used for elimination resulting in a need to strain. Eliminating in this way is associated with such problems as constipation, haemorrhoids, urinary infections and pelvic floor issues. Yoga asana squatting practices assist in increasing our flexibility to be able to squat on the toilet seat or alternatively you can use a support such as ‘In Lieu’, ‘Squatty Potty’ or even a simple foot stool.
Resources:
The Squatty Potty Simple Toilet Stool
Avurveda, The Science of Self Healing by Vasant Lad, 1984, Lotus Press, USA
Practices of Yoga for the Digestive System by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, 1979, Bihar School of Yoga, India
Yoga, Food & Health by Swami Gurupremananda Saraswati, 1993, NSW
YOGA ASANA FOR THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
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