5 Yoga Poses For Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Try these easy and effective yoga poses at home to get relief from IBS symptoms

Try these yoga poses if you suffer from IBS 

(Photo: iStock)

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) can be really painful, uncomfortable, and unsettling.

People with IBS have to suffer from various signs and symptoms like bloating, gas, diarrhea, and constipation. Few people may experience all or a few of these symptoms.

Exercise can be really challenging during those days when you experience those symptoms. But yoga can be easy, smooth, and relaxing on those days. It helps stretch the stomach muscles and helps you get rid of these symptoms.

Try these 5 yoga poses at home:

1. Cobra Pose 

This stretches your abdomen, chest, and shoulders. It strengthens your spine and may soothe sciatica. It helps the muscle groups: hamstrings, gluteus maximus, deltoids, triceps, and serratus anterior. It also helps in managing stress.

Follow the steps:

• Lie on your stomach and place your hands under your shoulders and your fingers facing forward.

• Draw your arms to your chest and your elbows should not go out to the side.

• Press into your hands and slowly lift your head, chest, and shoulders.

• Lift partway, halfway, or all the way up.

• Slightly bend your elbows.

• Let your head drop back to deepen the pose.

• Release back down to your mat and breathe out.

• Bring your arms by your side and rest your head.

• Slowly move your hips from side to side to release tension.

2. Downward Facing Dog Pose 

This is one of the traditional yoga poses in which you bend forward. It can be restful and rejuvenating.

This pose can help relieve back pain and IBS symptoms. It helps manage imbalances and improves strength.

The pose focuses on muscles like the hamstrings, deltoids, gluteus maximus, triceps, and quadriceps. You should:

• Get on all fours.

• Your hands should be aligned under your wrists and your knees under your hips.

• Press into your hands, tuck your toes, and lift up your knees.

• Move your sitting bones slowly up toward the ceiling.

• Slightly bend your knees and lengthen your spine and tailbone.

• Your heels should be slightly off the ground.

• Press firmly into your hands and distribute the weight on both sides of the body.

• Pay attention to the position of your hips and shoulders.

• Your head should be in line with your upper arms and your chin tucked in slightly.

• Hold this pose for at least 1 minute.

3. Bow Pose 

This is an easy and quite effective pose that strengthens the abdominal muscles. According to the Yoga Institute, it is an effective pose to maintain healthy skin and adds a glow as well. It puts pressure on the abdominal portion and helps in detoxifying. It is an advanced pose; so do not push your body too hard.

• Lie flat on the stomach, use a soft surface or a yoga mat.

• Bend your knees slowly.

• Slowly extend your arms backward and try to clasp the ankles.

• Now gently raise the chest off the floor, as far as you can go.

• While using the tension between the arms and legs, lift the thighs and upper body off the floor.

• Hold the pose for a few seconds, then release.

4. Cat-Cow Pose 

The cat-cow pose is a gentle, simple pose that includes backbend stretches and helps mobilize the spine. This pose helps stretch your torso, shoulders, and neck.

This yoga pose focuses on various muscle groups like erector spinae, rectus abdominis, triceps, serratus anterior, and gluteus maximus.

You can follow these steps:

• Go on all fours.

• Your wrists go underneath your shoulders, and your knees will be placed underneath your hips.

• Make sure you balance your weight evenly on all fours.

• Breathe in and look up, let your stomach drop down toward the mat

• Breathe out and tuck your chin into your chest, draw your navel toward your spine, and your spine should be arched towards the ceiling.

• Maintain focus while you practice this pose.

• Focus on releasing tension in your body.

• Hold the pose for at least 1 minute.

5. Shoulder-Stand Pose 

A shoulder stand is one of the first poses that a trainer might ask you to try if you suffer from thyroid problems. It's an inversion pose and that is why it stimulates blood flow to the glands of the upper body.

It is believed that this yoga pose has a positive effect on the efficiency of the thyroid. Your chin tucked into your chest for this yoga pose is believed to benefit thyroid function.

You can try this at home by bending your elbows and placing your hands on your lower back in such a way that your fingertips point up toward the ceiling. Place your elbows on the ground, shoulder-width apart. Make sure your elbows do not splay out to the sides. When you get comfortable, slowly lift your thighs in a vertical position while keeping your knees bent.