Do you feel sluggish, bloated, or like you simply have no energy to get through the day? It may be that you need a detox to revitalize your mind and body. In which case, you must consider yoga – a natural and calming way to reboot your body.
Detoxing with yoga poses offers some incredible health benefits that will revitalize both your body and mind. Did you know that specific yoga poses can remove toxins and waste from the body, improve digestion, and stimulate your circulatory and lymphatic systems?
The benefits do not end there. Yoga can balance hormones, improve your sleep pattern and mental and emotional clarity, increase energy, and even aid in weight loss.
Essentially, yoga poses could detox your body by releasing physical, mental, and emotional toxicity. These five yoga poses will get your detox off to a revilitalizing start…
1. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho MuKha Svanasana)
The downward-facing dog is effective at diminishing fatigue, calming the nervous system, and restoring energy to the body.
- Begin on your hands and knees, with your wrists just forward of your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips.·
- Exhale as you slowly raise your hips, pulling your knees away from the floor and straightening your legs, creating an inverted V shape (upside down V) with your body.
- Move your shoulder blades away from your ears, spread your fingers, and press into the floor with your palms and knuckles.
- Inhale and relax while your head hangs between your arms, and engage your quadriceps to redistribute your weight off your shoulders.
- Direct you gaze towards your belly button, and pull your navel up and through your spine.
- Pose in downward-facing dog for five complete breaths.
2. Revolved Chair Pose (Parivrtta Utkatasana)
The revolved chair pose is excellent for improving digestion and the removal of toxins, as well as relieving mental and physical sluggishness.
- Start with your feet either hip-width apart or together (based on personal preference).
- Squat down in chair pose, bending your knees and sinking your hips back as though you are lowering into a chair.
- Take your hands together in front of your heart, and inhale to center.
- Twist your right elbow to the outside of the left knee and exhale (lengthen the spine each time you exhale), pressing your palms firmly together, opening up the chest wide, and looking up.
- Hold the pose for three complete breaths, and then repeat on the opposite side.
3. Forearm Wheel (Urdhava Dhanurasana)
The forearm wheel pose opens up the chest and releases stagnation and congestion in the body.
- Start out lying with your back on the ground.
- Bend your knees with your feet close to your hips.
- Bend your elbows and position the palms of your hands beneath your shoulders next to your ears, and fingertips pointing in the direction of your feet.
- Steady your breathing, inhale, pressing down into your palms and feet, and raise your hips and shoulders from the floor. Pause here before completing the pose to ensure that your elbow is in proper alignment.
- With elbows parallel, gently press the crown of the head into the floor and straighten the arms.
- Ground down through the base of your big toes, engage your back muscles, and lift on an exhale and extend strongly through your arms and legs.
4. Child’s Pose (Balasana)
This yoga move aids in digestion and de-bloating.
- Get into a kneeling position on the floor.
- Part your knees as wide as your hips, and touch your big toes together while keeping the top of your feet on the floor.
- Exhale while you rest your torso between your thighs, and your forehead gently resting on the floor.
- Extend your arms out in front of you, with the palms downward on the floor, and release the fronts of your shoulders toward the floor.
- Hold this resting pose for 30 seconds to a minute.
5. Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
The locust pose helps with digestion and cleansing the body of waste and toxins.
- Lie down on your belly with your legs together and extended out behind you, and position your toes towards each other.
- Place your arms along the sides of your torso with palms facing up, and forehead on the floor.
- Open up the chest by rolling your shoulders back.
- Interlock your fingers behind your back near the tailbone, and lift above the buttocks.
- Inhale and elevate your legs, head, and upper body off the floor.
- Relax your shoulders and engage your gluteus muscles, and focus your gaze forward.
- Draw your shoulders back and the crown of your head away from your toes, lengthening through your spine.
- Hold pose for five breaths and exhale on release back to the floor.
Detoxing done naturally is the right way to go. Get inspired, and challenge yourself to try these yoga poses that will leave your body and mind rejuvenated.