It might not be the nicest thing to talk about, but it happens to the best of us: constipation. Not being able to do number two can be, well, a big discomfort sometimes, but nothing to be alarmed if it happens every now and then. And luckily, there are a couple of things you can easily do yourself! In this guide, we will talk about some natural remedies for when you are constipated, and as well at some yoga exercises to relieve your constipation symptoms. So here we go!
Natural Remedies for Constipation
In this section, I’ll talk about a couple of things that might get the digestive factory back to work. And best of all is that you won’t even need to spend a lot of money on it as well! Chances are even that you have a lot of these things at home already, or that they are just a walk to the supermarket away.
#1 Eat a Couple of Plums
These days we all talk about the so-called superfoods, but I don’t really get the whole hype. I used a couple of them already but didn’t feel a big difference in my life. I like them though because some of them have a rich and intense flavor. However, don’t neglect the wise advice of your ancestors. And those things are often very easy to find and they are much cheaper as well.
Which brings me to plums! When I was a kid my granny always told me that whenever I wasn’t able to… you know… I had to eat a couple of plums. I always thought it was a bit of nonsense, as it seemed too easy. But I followed her advice and ate them. Even recently the words of my grandmother came into my mind when I was experiencing a 4-day hold up in my belly.
Yeah, it was a bit of a painful ride, and after four days I was weighing the pros and cons between going to the pharmacy or using my late grandmother’s advice… I opted for the latter, thinking that I always had the option to get the quick fix if the home remedy didn’t do its work.
And thank god it worked! I ate about 8 dried plums and my belly was hurting like hell, it got everything moving again! So, a bit of advice to you, when you decide to eat some plums, eat them moderately, or you might get the opposite effect.
And on top of that, plums are rich in a lot of things, like iron, potassium, fibers and more, so it would be a good thing to start including them into your diet anyway. Even if you don’t have stool problems! They are a must for digestive health and can aid in a couple of illnesses.
#2 Drink More Water
This is also an easy one, isn’t it? And this is actually for those who are not drinking enough of this. You know why? Well, constipation in a lot of cases occurs because the guts are dehydrated, hence, making it harder for them to give your food safe passage.
This makes that in the beginning day(s) of your constipation you might want to increase your intake of liquids, to make sure that your guts can do their work properly. A lubrification sort of speak.
#3 Exercise More
Your guts do the same thing when you are lying on your sofa all day, yes, they rest. Making it crucial to keep yourself moving, especially when you are sedentary quite a lot.
Did you remember I said that you can find plums easily in the supermarket? Well, if you need them, and the supermarket is closer than a couple of miles or kilometers, try to walk or cycle there, rather than taking your car. There are easy ways to keep yourself moving and I will talk about that more later in this article when I’m going to discuss some yoga asanas.
#4 Drink a Cup of Coffee (Caffeinated)
Even though a lot of people are saying that coffee isn’t good for you and that it might be addictive, it does help with your digestion. So if you aren’t a big fan of coffee, you can decide taking it just on those days when it might help your systems.
There has been some research done about it and the results were amazing. They found out that drinking a cup of coffee stimulates your gut in the same way as a meal can! The caffeine stimulates the movement of the muscles in your belly, and the rest is history!
And if you aren’t a big fan of coffee, just try to restrict yourself to drink a cup in the morning then. Even if it’s just a small one together with your breakfast. This way, you’ll get a bit of an energy kick in the morning, but you won’t have the sleepless effect in the evening as the caffeine will have left your body already.
#5 Structure in your Diet
This one isn’t much of a way to make sure that your symptoms disappear, but it’s rather a way to make sure you prevent constipation. Another reason why it might occur is that you don’t have steady eating habits. Your guts like to have a bit of a structure so they can process things. Not eating regularly or too much at the same time, might cause that your digestion is going into hyperdrive or underdrive.
Therefore, try to eat at a regular base, try not to skip meals and take a look at what you are eating. We are all aware of the food pyramid, so try to have a look at it again and see if you are lacking something in your diet. If you are missing out on fibers, it might be good to add them as well, as they are a great aid for your digestion.
Also, if you are having a slow digestive system, try to eat smaller portions but eat more often. For example, have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but also try to snack a couple of pieces of fruit in between. This will keep your digestion going.
Yoga Exercises for Constipation
And this brings us to our next point. How can yoga aid you with your symptoms! Well, generally, this belongs to the advice of getting more exercise. I just like to add that along with the exercise, there is a more holistic approach within yoga.
Within Ayurvedic Science for example, they are saying that constipation comes forth out of a dry and cold Vata (air-type). Which can be solved by adding warmth and liquids (tea would be amazing for example). So, within this chapter, we are going to get yourself warm with some yoga exercised that will treat your constipation.
Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar)
The best way to get yourself warm and to get your bowel movement back into action is the sun salutations. They are great for when you are constipated as you will get a lot of movement, which is amazing for your muscles, and at the same time it will kickstart your entire body. Which makes it an amazing flow to do in the morning. And because it’s so widely known, you can find a lot of variations on it, if you’d like to mix it up a bit.
The 11 steps of Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation)
Prayer Pose (Pranamasana)
Stand with your feet hip-width apart on the mat and put your hands together in front of your chest. This is the starting pose, so try to focus on your breathing for a moment. Keep yourself and your breathing aligned with each other, the moment you feel you are ready, you can open your eyes and start the movement.
Raised Arms Pose (Hasta Uttanasana) Inhale
On the inhalation, raise your arms up over your head. You can put the hands together, however, if that gives too much strain on your shoulders, you can keep them at shoulder-width. Another option within this position might be that you do a little backbend, but this is not mandatory.
Hand-to-Foot Pose (Hasta Padanasana) Exhale
On the exhalation, you’ll be bringing your hands towards the mat in front of you. If you feel a big pull on your hamstrings you can gently bend your knees a little. This will also help in the process to get your hands on your mat, if you wouldn’t be able to do this. Your hands can be put in front of your feet, or if you are a bit more advanced you can place them next to your feet.
Lunge Pose (Ashwa Sanchalanasana) Inhale
On the next inhalation, you’ll bring your left leg back. You place the toes of your left foot into the mat, your knee falls on the mat as well. Your right knee bends and you might need to re-adjust your hands so that they’ll be placed next to you. Knee bends a little bit more than a 45° angle, just make sure you don’t overstretch it, especially when you have issues with your knees.
Eight-Limbed Pose (Ashtanga Namaskar) Exhale
Exhale and bring your right leg back as well. Toes and knees are both on the mat, hands are next to your chest and bring your chest towards it as well. Chin comes on the mat as well. Now you normally have to get 8 points touching your mat: 2x toes on your feet, 2x knees, chest, 2x hands, and chin. Hips stay up in the air.
Cobra (Bhujangasana) Inhale
From the last position you can easily transition into cobra. You just have to bring your body forward by rolling your feet onto the upside of the feet, bring your hips onto the mat and raise your upper body. For more details about this asana, you can have a look at this article, where I’ve dedicated a whole section to cobra pose.
Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) Exhale
And then the next on, going from cobra to down dog. Put your toes back into the mat, bring your buttocks up and lower your head. Make sure that your fingers are spread equally and that your index fingers are parallel with the sides of the mat, this is to protect your wrists.
Lunge Pose (Ashwa Sanchalanasana) Inhale
Now, place your right foot back in between your hands, toes of the left leg curl back into the mat and knee stays on there as well. Make sure your lunge is with the same side as you did before, as you don’t want to get confused. You’ll have to repeat later on with your left side as well.
Hand-to-Foot Pose (Hasta Padanasana) Exhale
Bring your left leg in between your hands as well, joining the right leg. Straighten your legs and bend forward with your upper body. If you can, put both hands on the mat. You can do this by bending the knees a little.
Raised Arms Pose (Hasta Uttanasana) Inhale
On the next inhale, you lift yourself completely up again. Here it is not advisable to do the backbend we might have done in the beginning. It’s fine if you are going to do the series a couple of times, but if you just do it once with both sides, it’s better you don’t do a backbend as you won’t be doing a counterpose.
Prayer Pose (Pranamasana) Exhale
On the exhalation, put your hands back together in front of your chest. Start this whole sequence all over again, as you still have to do the left side as well! And of course, you can do the sun salutations as often and as many times as you’d like. Just make sure you always do it an even number to make sure that you equally stretched both sides of your body.
Kapalabhati (Pranayama)
Another great yoga technique that you can use for your constipation problem is some breathwork. Kapalabhati, or the skull shining breath, will work on your abdomens. This will put your bowel movements back in action again to, you know, be able to go to the bathroom again.
I talked about this technique in my pranayama article, where you’ll also find a video instructing the whole technique.
Conclusion
These couple of actions are a great first start to see if they are good enough to kickstart your bowel movements again. I’m sure it’s going to work if you are experience some mild issues, because I’ve used them before as well ;). Especially the prunes are very helpful… don’t eat too much of them though. And if these don’t work after one or two days, please go and see your physician. This also goes for when you are in a lot of pain or when you can’t explain why you are actually constipated.
Nama-stay wonderful everyone!
