If you’ve ever entered your yoga class feeling somewhat, um, backed up, you may be surprised to appreciate that you just don’t walk out of it the identical way: There just may be something concerning the practice that—while calming your mind and soothing your muscles—also revs up your digestive system.
“It’s very likely that yoga students will experience effects on the GI tract, and it’s completely normal and natural,” Valerie Lucas, registered yoga teacher and YogaSix senior master trainer, tells SELF. She knows the sensation all too well, which is why she says she skips the pre-class breakfast burrito so she doesn’t find yourself running out in the course of it.
All this explains why yoga could be a helpful alternative for people coping with constipation too. While there’s not a complete lot of research on the subject, there’s some evidence to suggest that it may well help ease the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Jill German, MDdirector of the Yale Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders Program and a registered yoga teacher, tells SELF. According to a small 2014 studywhen young adults with IBS took a few yoga classes every week, they reported improvements in constipation (plus in other symptoms like pain) over the course of six weeks.
It’s tricky to pinpoint a selected feature of yoga that’s responsible, Dr. Deutsch says. “It’s likely a mixture of things,” she says, declaring that the practice can include each asana (movement) and pranayama (breath work).
The first part is clearly huge. For one, movement generally can speed up your gut motility, or how quickly waste moves through your GI tract. “We understand that a body in motion implies that of its parts are in motion,” Dr. Deutsch says. This might explain why you suddenly need to poop after taking your dog for a walk within the morning, or in case you sometimes need to head on to the toilet after getting back from a protracted run.
Digging somewhat deeper into yoga specifically, “there’s no data to say that there’s one particular pose you have to be doing for gut health generally,” Dr. Deutsch says. But, she says, yoga practitioners and teachers and those that work in ayurvedic medicine point to some particulars that they are saying can “improve overall gut health, function, and motility,” she says.
For example, “twisting poses might be helpful,” Dr. Deutsch says. “The GI tract moves from the fitting lower abdomen up and around to the left lower abdomen in a circle, so it makes logical sense that a twist or circular motion can potentially help stimulate or improve movement through the GI tract,” she explains.
Other poses that involve folding or bending forward can gently compress and release the stomach and colon, Kelly Turner, registered yoga teacher and vp of coaching and experience at YogaSixtells SELF. “This internal massage can assist move things along, so to talk, which is why it isn’t unusual to listen to the occasional flatulence in a yoga class,” Turner tells SELF.
