Is It Important to Poop Before Yoga?

benefits of cleansing before your practice

To make the most out of a yoga session, you should ideally practice on an empty stomach. To do this, you should adjust your timings of eating and bowel movements according to your yoga schedule.

It’s essential to clear your bowels before yoga practice. The digestive process takes up lots of energy, and practicing yoga alongside it leads to improper digestion while also weakening your yoga performance. You may experience symptoms like feeling gassy or bloated after yoga without a prior bowel movement.

In this article, we will discuss the importance of cleansing before a session. If you’re struggling to achieve that—specific yoga ‘asana’ can even help with constipation issues, so let’s get into it!

Can yoga be done before bowel movement?

Yes, you can do yoga without having to go to the bathroom to defecate. However, it is normal for some people to feel the urge to use the bathroom during or after physical activity, including yoga. If this happens, it is important to listen to your body and go to the bathroom as needed.

If you’ve got the urge to go to the toilet, it must be before you start your session. You should ideally practice yoga on an empty stomach. The body’s digestion process takes up a significant amount of energy, which means there’s less left to fuel your yoga practice if you do it before a bowel movement.

When your digestive tract or intestines aren’t empty, the body sends energy to the tissues down there to help process food and move it along the gastrointestinal system. The body also requires energy to absorb nutrients well.

The best thing you can do is wait until you get it out of your system and begin your session on an empty stomach.

What are common symptoms to have if you practice yoga before going to the toilet?

If you perform yoga before your body is done processing your food, you remove energy from the digestive process.

This means not only will you have a lack of energy supply for yoga, but nutrients from your food won’t be completely absorbed, and food may get stuck in your intestinal tracts instead of moving along healthily.

As a result, you may feel gassy or bloated after performing a yoga session before a bowel movement.

You also won’t be able to effectively perform specific asanas that involve different heavy steps, including a lot of bending and twisting movements.

However, yoga can sometimes stimulate bowel movement, which means even if you don’t feel the urge beforehand, you may feel it during the session.

It’s potentially harmful to hold your poop because it can increase your chances of developing constipation. If you get into the habit of doing it, it can result in long-term colon inflammation, which increases the chances of developing colon cancer.

Moreover, it can also make you lose the urge to poop, potentially resulting in fecal incontinence and other severe complications.

So, it’s best to relieve yourself as soon as possible and then pick up where you left off.

What can you do if you are unable to poop in the morning before your yoga practice?

Here are some of the ways through which you can establish consistent morning bowel timing;

1. Keep yourself hydrated throughout the day and have some warm water right when you wake up. According to Healthline, drinking more water can help relieve and prevent constipation. Drinking hot water can keep your bowel movements more regular; hence, having some right when you wake up can soften stool, setting the stage for a timely morning toilet visit.

2. You must have dinner early, at least 2 to 3 hours before you go to bed. The body slows down all its core functions as it prepares for sleep. Eating right before bedtime hence slows down your metabolism. Food becomes harder to digest while you’re sleeping, especially high-carb meals, resulting in an upset stomach and weight gain over time.

3. Increase your fiber intake at dinner time, as fiber helps speed up the food’s transition through the digestive tract, making it more likely for you to poop in the morning.

4. Start going on a 10 to 15 minute morning walk. As physical activity increases the blood flow throughout your abdomen, it can encourage bowel movement shortly after.

5. Incorporate one of the anti-constipation yoga poses (discussed below) into your morning routine to help you pay a visit to the toilet every morning.

Should yoga be done on an empty stomach?

You must do yoga on an empty stomach. As digestion consumes the body’s energy, it can weaken your yoga practice and performance. Not eating before yoga is therefore considered to be one of the most important rules to be followed.

Moreover, having your intestine or stomach full will take space in the abdomen, impairing your flexibility and thereby making it more challenging to bend, recline and twist your body as some poses require.

Can yoga cause constipation?

Yoga doesn’t cause constipation at all—it does quite the opposite. It can help relieve constipation and digestion problems. Some yoga poses are particularly effective at manipulating your digestive tract to help ease constipation symptoms by encouraging it to pass gas or stool.

For instance, the ‘Cobra pose’ can stimulate the digestive muscles to promote the secretion of digestive liquids that help with stool excretion.

The ‘forward bending pose’ massages the intra-abdominal viscera, which helps clear obstructed bowels. Both these poses have been described in the latter part of the prose.

The different stretches and movements involved in specific yoga asanas put pressure on the lower abdominal part of the body, and other areas associated with it, which helps put pressure to clear the intestine, assisting in the smooth removal of the stool.

The famous “wind-releasing pose” is also a great example.

Here’s how you can do it:

Lay down on your back and lift your legs to 90 degrees from the ground.
Bend your knees.
Pull your thighs into your abdomen, keeping your knees and ankles together.
Wrap your arms around your legs.
Take hold of your elbows or clasp your hands together to pull your legs into your abdomen.
Lift your neck and bring your chin onto your knees, or tuck it into your chest.

Hold this position for about 20 seconds with rests in between, gradually increasing the duration up to one minute. If it gets too tiring, keep your head on the floor if you wish. You can also do the pose with one leg at a time.

This yoga pose is meant to help relax your hips, thighs, buttocks, and abdomen. As the name suggests, it’s best to help you clear your digestive tract as well. Which brings us to…

3 yoga asanas that can help you deal with constipation issues

You can perform various types of yoga asanas to deal with constipation. Let’s look at the three most popular and helpful yoga asanas that can help with constipation.

Bhujangasana

Bhujangasana, also known as the Cobra Pose, involves a unique stretch that helps the digestive muscles secrete digestive liquids, which further aid in the smooth excretion of stool.

This asana also strengthens the digestive muscles and helps clean the digestive tract.

The steps involved in this asana are:

Lie down on your stomach and join your legs together
Stretch and raise your upper body while keeping the pressure on your palms
Palms must be placed on the ground near your chest
Take a breath and stretch your neck backward as much as you can—hold that position for a minute
Lastly, come back to your original position.

Repeat this 2-5 times for effective results. If you feel the need to relieve yourself in the midst, feel free to pause the session for a quick bathroom break.

Paschimottanasana

This difficult name has a much simpler substitute; the ‘Forward Bending Pose.’

It’s highly effective for treating constipation and improving digestion as it massages the intra-abdominal viscera, naturally providing relief from any obstructed bowel movement.

Not only does this body help with constipation, but it also puts the entire body to work, so it’s also a pretty hefty workout.

Following are the steps involves in this asana:

Sit straight and stretch out your legs with your toes pointing upwards
Take a deep breath and lean on your legs
Keep your spine straight and slowly bend onwards
Rest your head on your legs and exhale while trying to touch your toes
Hold in this position for a little less than a minute
Repeat 2- 3 times

Salabhasana

Salabhasana is another pose to try if you’re struggling with constipation. It is also known as the ‘locusts pose,’ or the ‘grasshoppers pose.’

It strengthens the lower body and focuses on engaging it through effective spinal stretches.

Following are the steps involve in this asana

Lie down on your belly and take a deep breath in
Place your hand’s side by side with your legs, with your chin on the ground
Inhale as you lift your legs and upper body
Hold the position for 20 seconds, then exhale as you bring them down to the initial position.
Repeat it 3 to 5 times, and you should start feeling the urge to poop right around the end.

Conclusion

It is not necessary to have a bowel movement before practicing yoga, but it can be beneficial to have an empty stomach during physical activity.

This can help you feel more comfortable and prevent any potential distractions during your practice. However, it is ultimately up to the individual and what they feel most comfortable with.

If you feel the urge to go to the bathroom during your yoga practice, it is important to listen to your body and take a break as needed.

Yoga is an incredibly healthy exercise, not just for your spiritual health but also for your physiological well-being. However, it comes with specific prerequisites that need to be met for it to work ideally.

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