Constipation Relief with Yoga | Cleaner Colon with these Stretches

Author: Randeep Singh / go to all articles on Yoga cure

Yoga for Constipation – Causes and how to treat it

Constipation is the condition when the movement of bowels doesn’t follow nature’s rhythm, of ingestion and excretion; the contents of digestion stay within the body for longer, than they should due to various causes.

What should one consider as a normal bowel evacuation number in a single day. Yoga for constipation help relieve this condition and help improve one’s overall health.

It actually depends on the number of times one takes one’s meals in a day: if one eats twice in a day the bowels must also evacuate twice. As per nature the food ones ingested must reach the last leg of the digestive process, movement of bowels, within the next 24 hours so that no traces of it remain inside the body after that duration. In order to understand this one can observe the eating and defecating habits of a child.

One of the reasons is deficiency of enough fiber or bulk in the food that was ingested, fiber is necessary for the food particles to move along the alimentary canal. If the contents of the intestine move slower than normal the colon can absorb excessive water from them rendering the stool so formed without enough lubrication to move ahead at a normal pace.

Sometimes the valves in the intestine (ileocecal valves) which are responsible for the forward movement of the digestive content lose their efficiency for doing so (caecal constipation), the force of the peristalsis process needed to steer the digestive contents forward and also the pressure in the colon gets emancipated, in certain cases the increase in the girth of the waist restricts the free movements of the diaphragm.

One’s life style habits are responsible for these conditions to emerge within the digestive tract; eating in hate, not chewing for the recommended duration, using only cooked food, repetitive diet items, non-vegetarian food, milk diet, ingesting very hot food or drinks.

Other reasons can be excessive fasting, wrong standing and sitting posture, Spicy food, Over weight, consuming food at irregular intervals, habituated to stimulating drinks, drinking less water or drinking it at the wrong times, Wrong sleep patterns, erroneous breathing habits, sedentary lifestyle, defecating in a short duration, using purgatives, depression and taking long baths.

Certain medications and the process of aging are also responsible for the presence of the erratic movements of the bowels, or constipation.

Constipation can be either temporary, or coexistent with some other body condition or permanent in nature. Some of the general symptoms of constipation are straining while attempting to pass the stools, cramps in the stomach, stomach pain, loss of appetite and feeling like one will just throw up.

Yoga for constipation

Sometimes due to reasons unknown the muscles of the intestine lose their tone and become less efficient in pushing the stools towards evacuation. Yoga asanas for constipation work by strengthening these muscles so that the process of peristalsis returns to normal.

The nervous system has a close connection with the digestive organs; weak and agitated nerves can impair the functioning of the alimentary canal. It’s no hidden fact that food eaten with a happy mood is more easily digested and ultimately eliminated more effectively than the one taken with depressed and sulking feelings. Yoga stretches for the cleaner colon stretch the anterior muscles of the abdomen which helps maintain the normal functions of the colon.

All the yoga exercises for constipation which involve stretching of the frontal abdominal muscles stimulate the peristalsis process which prevents constipation.

Apart from healing constipation the yoga for constipation also throw checks on hepatic torpor, tendency to gain weight and any instances of rheumatism. Yoga for constipation works by providing extreme amount of intra-abdominal pressure as in most of the Yoga poses for constipation the entire body is made to be held in the required pose only by the abdomen, or the entire body is thrown on the abdominal region.

Constipation gets cured through yoga as it strengthens the nervous system: all the spinal muscles get alternately contracted and relaxed as the spine is kept curved backwards in most of the exercises employed to relieve constipation. This activates and keeps the associated nerves in a healthy tone and form throughout the body.

Constipation cure through yoga is achieved by doing some Yogic pranayama exercises, the Pranayama which are helpful in keeping the colon healthy stimulate the intestine by their action on the navel region. These breathing exercises which cure constipation help by returning the normal rhythmic movements of the diaphragm by exercising it well with deep breathing movements.

Diaphragmatic breathing plays a crucial role in providing effective and long lasting constipation solutions to its patients. The lifting, sucking in of the diaphragm towards the spine provides the required massage to the digestive organs; this also increases the flow of blood in the affected regions within the abdomen.

Yoga for Constipation involves inversions or the inverted postures where the head is placed lower than the legs. This works as a very effective constipation treatment as it helps any prolapsed abdominal organs move back into their natural, original position. The head low position aided by the gravity drains the venous blood from the abdomen which relieves any congestion in the abdominal viscera.