Yoga for immediate constipation relief is one of the best tools to keep in your healthy living tool kit. When you’re feeling bloated, full, and uncomfortable, getting things moving with a simple, gentle yoga routine can really help. 

To get immediate constipation relief from yoga, I encourage you to try a simple sequence that utilizes gentle breathing and gentle movement. This is an accessible stretching and mobility routine that you can do daily, or whenever your belly needs to feel better, now. 

So, let’s jump in, and don’t worry if you start to hear some gurgling. That means things are starting to move like they should!

Constipation Relief Through Breathing

Before we jump into the practice, let’s first cover how important proper breathing is for our digestion and gut health. In general, you want to breathe into your rib cage and belly and stay out of your chest. We want to see gentle, continual breathing. Holding your breath and shallow breathing makes your whole body tight. And we want to get things moving!

We’ll start this practice with some gently belly breaths that allow you to settle in and see what’s happening in your body. Continue with the gentle, calm breathing throughout the practice (and throughout your day, really!). 

Yoga Practice For Immediate Constipation Relief

Nothing feels worse than a tight, bloated and/or constipated belly. Thankfully, we can use the healing power of yoga and movement to help improve your digest and get you feeling better right away. So let’s jump into the practice. 

We start this practice on our backs, with some gentle breathing and movements to help us relax and stretch the digestion system. 

Next, we roll up a yoga mat to create padding that is approximately 3 inches (don’t worry if you don’t have a yoga mat – you can also use a towel, blanket or small pillow). We’re going to use this padding to create some gentle pressure on the abdomen. 

To begin, you’ll place your rolled up mat just below our bellow button, across our lower abdomen. Then you’ll press yourself up onto your forearms, and, following your (gentle!) breath, you’ll lower your upper body up and down. As you inhale and push up, your stomach pushes into the mat. And as you exhale, let the mat sink into your stomach. This should feel good, and also give you some feedback on what’s going on in your belly.

We close out this soothing routine by lying back on our backs again and massaging our abdomens, starting with small circles on the right side. Pay attention to any areas that feel tender or like there’s hard pressure.

Like always, we repeat all our exercises on both sides of the body. Try paying attention to each side, so you can compare. Is one side more tender than the other? Is it easier to breathe on one side rather than the other? Noticing these subtle differences in the body is one of the many gifts of yoga.  

Also ensure you’re drinking plenty of water, throughout the day, and after your yoga workouts. This has many benefits, including many for your digestion. 

More Yoga Practices for Digestion

This is a yoga routine that you should be able to practice daily or whenever you want instant constipation and bloating relief (noting that you’ll have to modify the belly exercises if you’re pregnant). 

If you’re struggling specifically with bloating, then check out this yoga sequence for digestion and bloating:

And if you’d like a longer yoga practice for digestion, try this:

Finally, remember that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Check out my tips on how to pick foods to fight inflammation in the body and reduce bloating here. You might also enjoy exploring these 4 vital components to cultivating whole health. 

Ultimately, I’m passionate about using yoga to help with digestion, constipation and related issues, because I believe that part of being pain free means having a happy belly. 

If you’re ready to continue to move better, feel better, and play, don’t miss my 10 day pelvic floor and core program.  Namaste.