"Yogic postures, breath controls, and diet all remove impurities from the body and cleanse the bloodstream," says James Hewitt in his book "The Complete Yoga Book." One of the ways yoga does this is by encouraging the liver to carry out its detoxifying functions.
Identification
Your liver plays a large role in detoxification of the body by taking what is needed from food and medicine and ridding your body of the rest. Your liver creates bile to take toxins and waste out of the body.
Function
Darshana Weill of the Fruition Women's Health Program says that yoga may encourage toxins and waste to leave the body through the liver, kidneys and digestive system. She explains that many yoga poses encourage blood, lymph and other fluids to circulate through the body, releasing toxins as they go.
Types
According to the "Yoga Journal" website, a number of yoga poses stimulate the liver, by aiding detoxification. Twists such as the "half lord of the fishes" pose and the "revolved head-to-knee" pose support this function, as do some forward bends including "big toe" pose and "seated forward bend" pose. Weill says inversion poses and twists can help fluids flow and encourage fresh blood to rejuvenate the kidneys and liver.
Features
Many American yoga practitioners only scratch the surface of yoga. Classic yoga includes many practices in addition to the poses, including cleansing of the body. Two methods of cleansing are called recti isolation and abdominal rolling, which Hewitt claims "stimulate the liver" and other organs, leading to internal cleansing. Perform recti isolation by focusing on the recti abdominis muscles in the abdomen and squeezing them so they move forward. Lateral abdominal rolling takes this a step further by focusing on the right and left recti by themselves. The author notes that these cleansing methods may take some practice to master.
Considerations
Yoga may help ease liver conditions as well as promote normal liver health. About 4 million Americans have the liver condition hepatitis C. Bikram yoga, which supports general health of the liver, may help people with this condition. The center says this form of yoga could possibly rid the body of toxins because the heated conditions under which it is practiced encourages blood and sweat to flow. The center emphasizes that yoga should be used together with conventional hepatitis C treatments.
References
- "The Complete Yoga Book"; James Hewitt; 1977
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Liver Disease
- "Yoga Journal": Renewable Energy
- "Yoga Journal": Poses -- Liver
- "Yoga Journal": New Hope for Hepatitis C
