To those who are skeptical of yoga for digestive health: I challenge you.
As a yogi who has been practicing for 20 years and teaching for more than five, I have earned some insight into the powers of detox yoga. Over the years, it has turned into one of my favorite classes to teach, even leading to turning friends, family and students into believers of body detoxing through yoga.
With the right routine, you can detox your body and your mind, giving yourself a full body cleanse. Although yoga can be a low impact sport, there are a few important dos and don'ts to follow to ensure that detox yoga is done safely and effectively.
How to Detox the Body: Do's
When done properly and safely, yoga for detox can have amazing impacts on your body by stimulating the circulatory, digestive, and lymphatic systems, helping rid your body of waste and toxins.
Always ease into postures and warm up your muscles before doing any deep yoga positions.
A flow with a series of twists can help remove toxins. Add twisting yoga postures into your at home yoga routine to stimulate digestion and the thyroid gland, build muscle, and get the digestive track moving.
Be aware of your overall health. Consuming healthy foods and staying active will not only make for a more enjoyable detox class, but will also help you achieve a place of natural body detoxing.
Yoga truly helps clear the body and mind. Remember that detoxing is not just physical, but also mental. By adding a detox routine into your lifestyle, you will increase your energy and passion for life, improve sleep patterns, balance hormones and feel wonderful every single day.
If you’re interested in cleansing your body, try out this flow of yoga poses for detox
Detox Yoga: Don'ts
Practicing yoga can lead to a cleansing body detox, but there’s a few important steps to take to stay safe.
Don’t overdo it. Start slow and work your way up to the more difficult poses.
Don’t rely on a yoga detox sequence to cleanse your body from a weekend of poor eating and excessive drinking. Yes, it is true that detoxing gets the digestive system going and helps rid body waste, but those poor choices eventually take a toll on the body which can lead to injury while practicing.
Don’t forget to drink lots of water after and between detoxing. The process of moving toxins out of the cells through the blood and out as waste, or urine, involves water. If you don’t get adequate hydration, toxins cannot be eliminated and can continue to collect.
Breath also plays an important role in detoxing. Don’t forget to breathe! Holding your breath can lead to cramping and pulling of muscles. As you do these moves, use each inhale to lengthen and each exhale to wring yourself out like a sponge, getting rid of anything you no longer want or need.
Last of all, don’t believe the skeptics. Body detoxing can be achieved if you take it slow and listen to your body!
About the Author
Lisa Solomon’s love and devotion with yoga began over 20 years ago, and she has continued to grow in her practice ever since. She found her true passion when she began instructing yogis and knew this was what she was born to do.
