Yoga for Kidney and Liver Health: Simple Practices to Support Your Detox Organs
Your liver and kidneys are vital players in the body’s detoxification process, and when they’re not functioning optimally, symptoms like fatigue, high blood pressure, acne, and even weight gain can emerge. This article will introduce you to gentle yoga for kidney and liver health and lifestyle habits that can help support these essential organs, bringing your body closer to balance and vitality.
Why Focus on the Liver and Kidneys?
The liver is responsible for processing everything from hormones to environmental toxins. When overloaded, it can struggle to detoxify efficiently—leading to a buildup of waste in the body. Issues like weight gain, hormonal imbalances, and even emotional irritability may be linked to liver stagnation.
The kidneys, often overlooked, are your body’s filtration system. They remove waste and excess water from the blood, expelling it as urine. When your kidneys aren’t filtering well, toxins can circulate through your system, affecting your skin, mood, energy levels, and immune function. Yoga for kidney and liver health can provide much-needed support to restore balance.
My Personal Healing Journey
When I first faced health challenges, I focused solely on gut health—eliminating foods, experimenting with diets, and using colon-cleansing herbs. While that helped, it wasn’t enough. The real shift happened when I started addressing kidney filtration and liver support through yoga and naturopathic practices. Healing isn’t about treating one part of the body in isolation. True wellness means supporting the whole system—and that includes your detox organs.
The Importance of Kidney Filtration
Functional medicine experts like Dr. Robert Morse and Dr. Mark Mattson emphasize the kidneys’ vital role in chronic health conditions. As Dr. Mattson puts it, “If you have a dirty pool, what do you start with first?… the filters.”
If you’re dealing with ongoing health issues, it’s worth considering whether your kidneys are doing their job efficiently. Without proper filtration, the body’s waste system becomes clogged—no matter what healing path you follow. Incorporating yoga for kidney and liver health into your routine is a gentle and effective step toward deeper detox.
Yoga Poses For Kidney and Liver Infographic
These poses form a gentle and supportive practice of yoga for kidney and liver health. They are designed to stimulate circulation, massage internal organs, and help your detox systems function more effectively.
Featured Video: Yoga Postures For Kidney & Liver Health
Yoga for kidney and liver health isn’t just about movement—it’s about supporting your body’s natural detox processes through mindful breath, intentional poses, and stress reduction. Whether you’re healing from an infection, dealing with fatigue, or simply wanting to maintain wellness, these postures can help.
Yoga for Kidney Infection
A healthy kidney is a filtering kidney, and by this I mean that it is doing its job of excreting waste and toxicity from the body. When the kidneys are down we can run into all kinds of health crises, one of them being infection. Practicing yoga for kidney and liver health regularly can aid in preventing these issues by encouraging circulation and function in your detox organs.
Restorative Yoga for Kidneys
Gentle, restorative poses are going to be more conducive to healing than any kind of intense workout, but you definitely want to keep the body moving to help activate the organs. That’s why restorative yoga for kidney and liver health is such a powerful tool. You want to ensure that all of the body’s elimination channels are kept open and free from blockages, and the kidneys are no exception.
Yoga Poses For Kidney and Liver Infographic
Bound Angle Pose – Baddha Konasana
Bring the soles of the feet together and remove the extra flesh from underneath the sitting bones to remove arching of the spine. Sit up tall and extend the hands and arms up towards the sky to begin. Inhale to lengthen the spine, and then exhale start to reach the arms forward, bringing them down, eventually coming down to rest them on the mat. Focus on lengthening the spine and then drop your heart forward. Use the breath to go deeper into the fold of this pose and focus on lengthening all the way through the back of the head and neck. Let the head by heavy and surrender as the hips open simultaneously. This folding of the body stimulates the kidneys, as well as the lower abdomen area.
Seated Forward Bend – Paschimottanasana
Come down to sitting and remove extra flesh from underneath the sitting bones. Send the legs out long and flex the feet back. Reach the arms up towards the sky, lengthening the spine and side bodies. Start to hinge at the hips and bring the torso down, continuing to reach the arms forward, eventually bringing them down. Surrender into this fold, with the heart towards the knees and release the head and neck. Allow the hands to rest down on the mat or grab for the feet, legs or wherever is comfortable. Use the breath to lengthen the spine and with every exhale fold deeper. This forward fold, compresses the abdomen which actively stimulates the internal organs promoting their efficiency and supporting detoxification.
Boat Pose – Paripurna Navasana
Come to sitting in the center of the mat and bend the knees up. Take the hands to the back of the thighs, lengthen up through the spine up to sit up tall. Start to activate that core by lifting the legs up parallel to the mat, open the chest and focus on opening the collarbones. Take the gaze forward and start to straighten the legs. There is the option to release the legs and extend the arms straight out, otherwise continue to hold on to the back of the legs. This pose is going to strengthen the core and work deeply into the abdominal area and get the kidneys and the liver fired up. Work with the breath and find some ease in the perceived effort of this posture.
Cat-Cow Pose – Marjaryasana-Bitilasana
Start in a neutral table top position and have the shoulders over the wrists and hips in line with the knees. Engage the core by drawing the belly button back towards the spine. Inhale and drop the belly down towards the ground, send the hips up, shine the chest and heart forward, to come into Cow Pose. Press into the palms to create space between the ears and the shoulders to lengthen the neck. Start to round the back, curling the spine to come back into Cat Pose.Alternate through these Cat and Cow poses, working to lengthen and then stretch the abdomen. Be as dramatic as you can be in each pose, pressing firmly into the hands, pulling the shoulder blades apart in Cat and really arching the spine in Cow Pose. This alternating movement is going to massage the internal organs.
Downward Facing Dog – Adho Mukha Svanasana
Press down into the hands and the feet and send the hips and tailbone high for Downward Facing Dog. imagine your body to be an inverted V shape and start to peddle out the feet, bending one knee and then the other. Release any tension in the neck and head and draw the shoulders down away from the ears. Use this Downward Facing Dog as a momentary transitionary pose to create space in the body. Find the breath and let the belly be soft.
Standing Forward Bend – Uttanasana
From Downward Facing Dog, walk the feet towards the wrists and come into a Standing Forward Bend, with the feet hip width distance apart. Place a soft bend in the knees, release the hands to the mat and send the tailbone up towards the sky. Actively press into the toes and root down through the heels and release the head down. This pose stretches the entire back side of the body from the heels through to the crown of their head. To deepen into the hamstrings try straightening the legs a little more and continue to drop the torso down. This compression is going to stimulate the liver and kidneys by creating some gentle movement inside of the body to help detox and purify.
Chair Pose – Utkatasana
Come back to standing and connect the big toes, keeping the heels slightly apart. Bend the knees and come down into an imaginary seat. Squeeze the thighs and send the arms up towards the sky, palms facing inward. Relax the shoulders down away from the ears and continue to lengthen through the spine as the hips melt down towards the ground. Chair Pose is a great strength building pose, working deeply into the legs but also toning through the core and the internal organs. The posture provides gentle pressure to the liver and kidneys and will get them stimulated which will help to aid the digestive processes.
Revolved Chair Pose – Parivritta Utkatasana
Staying low in Chair Pose, bring the hands to heart center and hinge the torso forward and then bring the left elbow to the outside edge of the right knee to come into Revolved Chair Pose. Point the fingertips towards the face, press the palms together and lengthen the spine.
Use the breath to take the twist deeper and continue to drop the hips down. Inhale and come back through center and then twist to the other side, bringing the left elbow to the outside edge of the left knee. Continue to send the hips down, press into the palms. Bring the hands back to center and forward down, straightening the legs and allowing the torso to hang heavy. Use the breath to keep lengthening the spine up in Revolved Chair Pose and use the exhales to twist deeper. Connect to the gentle movement inside of the abdomen at the core and use this twist to massage into the internal organs.
Extended Hand to Big Toe Pose – Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana
Start to ground the left foot into the mat and lift the right knee up towards the sky, bringing it parallel with the ground. Extend the right arm towards the right foot, and use the first two fingers to hook the right big toe. Bring the left hand to the hip and then start to straighten the right leg towards the front of the mat and then gently open it out towards the side. Release the hip and send the left arm out long to come into Extended Big Toe Pose. Find the balance and the breath and then gently re-bend the knee, come back through center and then relax the foot down. Change sides. This pose actively tones the abdominal muscles which stimulates the digestive system, liver and the kidneys. All this is going on in the body, whilst the balance is being challenged and strengthened.
Featured Video:Yoga Postures For Kidney & Liver Health
Yoga for Kidney Infection
A healthy kidney, is a filtering kidney, and by this I mean that it is doing its job of excreting waste and toxicity from the body. When the kidneys are down we can run into all kinds of health crises, one of them being infection.
To really get the kidneys back to full functioning, some radical shifts to diet and lifestyle may be necessary and yoga can help to support your detox protocol and get them back online. Give these gentle postures a try and move with care and awareness. Half Lord of the Fishes – Ardha Matsyendrasana Twisting at the core like this is great for stimulating the kidneys, as it works to move out stagnant blood and waste. At the same time, this posture stimulates the liver so it is a great pose to support your detoxification protocol. Cobra Pose – Bhujangasana. As you send the chest forward and up and compress the low back, you are stretching the kidneys and encouraging obstruction to clear. Add this pose into your daily practice to continue to invite space and help to keep kidney stones and waste build up at bay.
Restorative Yoga for Kidneys
Gentle, restorative poses are going to be more conducive to healing than any kind of intense workout, but you definitely want to keep the body moving to help activate the organs. You want to ensure that all of the body’s elimination channels are kept open and free from blockages and the kidneys are no exception. Try these gentle poses and focus on sending the breath down into the problem area. Child’s Pose Such a simple pose, it’s hard to believe that anything is happening in the body at all, but this restorative Child’s Pose is going to gently stretch the kidneys while calming the mind, which is essential for the organs to function effectively. As the body relaxes and releases stress, the internal organs are invited to do the same and their energy can be exerted towards doing their job more effectively. Wind Relieving Pose Spend time rocking left, right, back and forth here, on the low back to massage into the kidneys to stretch and stimulate them. This pose is great for gastrointestinal complaints in general as the thighs compress down into the digestive tract and usually when the kidneys are down, there will likely be issues with the gut. Spend as long as you can here, sending the breath down into the belly, and squeezing the thighs down with each exhale. Sphinx Pose – This gentle backbend is not only therapeutic for the spine, but it is a great way to strengthen and stretch the abdominal organs, including the kidneys. The more you practice this pose, the deeper its effects on the kidneys will be so add it into your regular practice.
Kidney Filtering
The kidneys act as a filter and remove toxic build up from the body, as well as excess water which is excreted as urine. They work along with the body’s other means of elimination and are a crucial part of our wellbeing. If the kidneys aren’t filtering, we can run into trouble and the body can enter into a state of dis-ease, from anything from mild acne to cancer. Yoga for kidney and liver health helps keep these filters operating at their best.
When I ran into my own health crises, I remember that it took me a good few years before I even acknowledged the importance of the kidneys and their role in my overall health and healing. It was just my gut that was suffering – or so I thought – so my main focus was on eliminating foods, trying different diets and adding in cleansing herbs, all to try and clean the colon.
Focusing on the gut alone did not allow me to heal and one of the best things I have come to understand through my own experience, is how everything is connected. You can’t heal parts of the body in isolation, you have to work on the whole system and even if you go about this systematically, which I recommend you do, you are going to have to look at each of your essential organs in turn. The body has several channels of elimination and the kidneys are one of the most important in removing waste from the body. If the kidneys are not filtering out toxicity, then there is the risk of the body going into a state of dis-ease.
If you are suffering from any kind of chronic health complaint, there is a high chance that the kidneys are not functioning at 100% and it doesn’t matter what path you choose to heal yourself, if the kidneys are not filtering, then you are not healing.
Natural doctors such as Dr Robert Morse have been working with patients with chronic health conditions that have bewildered allopathic medicine and what they have found is that kidney filtration is one of the keys to wellbeing. Dr. Mark Mattson, Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging, also stresses the importance of kidney filtration; “If you have a dirty pool, what do you start with first?….the filters” – Dr Mark Mattson
Conclusion
Lifestyle Tips for Healthy Detox Organs
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For the Liver:
Keep your diet low in unhealthy fats and processed foods. Incorporate liver-loving foods like dandelion greens, turmeric, and beets. -
For the Kidneys:
Instead of flooding your system with water, focus on hydrating through high water content fruits (like watermelon and cucumber) and leafy greens. These nourish the kidneys gently and efficiently.
Adapt these two lifestyle habits and then support yourself further with the yoga poses that have been shared with you in this article and you will be doing amazing things for your health.
A liver burdened by toxins and kidneys that aren’t filtering properly can compromise your whole system. The key to radiant health lies in supporting your body’s natural elimination processes. By incorporating yoga for liver and kidney health, along with simple dietary adjustments, you’re setting a strong foundation for healing and longevity.
About
Charlie Hanna
Charlie is a Yoga Alliance certified Hatha, Yin Yoga & Meditation teacher with a psychology degree in her back pocket. She is currently on a mission, chasing sun and Read More..
