How Yoga Poses for Stomach Bloating Can Support Gut Health
Yoga poses for stomach bloating have become one of my most trusted tools over the past six years as I’ve worked to restore my gut health. While digestive issues may seem like an uncomfortable topic, they are all too common and deserve open discussion. It’s time to normalize conversations around bloating, constipation, and gas so we can better understand what’s part of healthy digestion—and what signals a deeper issue. Research continues to show how effective yoga can be in supporting those with IBS and other digestive conditions, and for me, these yoga poses have become essential to easing discomfort and maintaining balance.
Understanding the Gut: The Mind-Body Connection
You may have heard it before: “The road to health is paved with good intestines.” While the phrase may sound humorous, the truth is deeply rooted in science. Our gut, often referred to as our second brain, directly reflects our mental and emotional well-being. For instance, it’s no coincidence that anxiety can manifest as stomach discomfort. A thriving gut contributes to long-term health and vitality. On the other hand, if the intestines are congested or obstructed, they can foster harmful pathogens, parasites, and inflammation—leading to chronic issues.
This is why practicing yoga poses for stomach bloating is so vital. These movements not only relieve gas and pressure but also promote overall digestive flow, helping you feel lighter, more energized, and less weighed down.
Why Gas and Bloating Shouldn’t Be Ignored
Excess gas can leave you feeling sluggish, bloated, and awkward—even if it’s a common experience. While many consider bloating a normal side effect of enjoying food, persistent symptoms may indicate underlying blockages or imbalances. If the digestive system isn’t working optimally, it can create a breeding ground for bacteria and disrupt your body’s natural rhythm.
Using targeted yoga poses for stomach bloating can support the body’s natural elimination process. These poses help move trapped gas downward and out of the system, relieving discomfort and aiding in better digestion. When practiced consistently, they also tone and strengthen the digestive tract to prevent future flare ups.
TRAINING TYPE: FLOW SEQUENCE
CATEGORY:YOGA
SUBCATEGORY:MEDICINAL YOGA
PLANNED TIME:10-15 MINUTES
LEVEL:BEGINNER
PROPS:BLOCK
What are the best positions to release gas from stomach ?
This is a series of 11 easy poses that will help to release gas from the stomach. Incorporate them into your daily practice to help strengthen the digestive system so that there is more resilience when these gases start to build up.
Yoga Poses For Stomach Bloating Infographic
11 Yoga Poses For Stomach Bloating
Garland Pose – Malasana
Come into a yogic squat pose, by coming down onto your feet with the heels towards the midline of the body and the toes pointing out. Root down through the pinky toe edges of both of your feet and open up your inner thighs and invite your knees out wide. Bring your hands to heart center and use your elbows to help push your knees out a little bit wider. Drop your tailbone down and lengthen up through the spine all the way through to the crown of the head, gently drawing the chin back towards the centerline of the body.When you bring your knees above your hips, this motion activates the downward movement encouraging gas to leave the body. Whenever you bring the knees above the hips, it tells the body to let everything go. This pose invites gentle compression into the abdomen area which helps to massaging the internal organs.
Low Lunge – Anjaneyasana
Step your feet apart with your right foot forward and your left foot to the back of your mat. Square the hips forward and support yourself up on your fingertips either side of your front foot. Ensure that your right knee is stacked over your right ankle and send your heart forward here. Lengthen through the spine and and open your chest. This Low Lunge Pose provides an intense stretch to the groin, quadriceps, and back of the legs, while working into your balance, opening the back and stretching the length of the spine.
Revolved Side Angle Pose – Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
Plant your left hand down firmly into the mat and reach your right arm up towards the sky, coming into an easy Revolved Side Angle Pose. Keep your hips up and squared and keep the outer edge of your leg engaged. Take your gaze up to follow and breathe in to lengthen and exhaling to twist. Twisting at the core here is working to massage the internal organs which will help to relieve gas.
Standing Forward Bend – Uttanasana
Step your right foot forward and coming into a Standing Forward Bend, so your hips are squared, your feet are about hip width distance apart and your just letting yourself hang heavy here for a moment, releasing your head and your neck and then compressing that lower abdomen here and just hanging heavy.
Low Lunge – Anjaneyasana
Take the lunge to the other side. Bring your left foot forward in between the hands and bring your fingertips down to the ground, either side of the front foot for support. Keep your hips engaged and high and squaring forward towards the front and ensure that the left knee is stacked over your left ankle.
Revolved Side Angle Pose – Parivrtta Parsvakonasana
Ground down through your right hand and come into a Revolved Side Angle Pose on the left side. Lift your left hand up towards the sky and use the breath to exhale and to twist deeper. Keep the hips lifted and engaged.
Chair Pose – Utkatasana
Walk your feet together and bring the big toes to touch with the heels slightly apart. Bend your knees, drop the hips down and bring the hands to heart center to come into Chair Pose. Squeeze the inner thighs together and root down through the pinky toe edges of your feet. Pull the lower belly in and reach your hands up towards the sky. Chair Pose is going to build energy and engage the entire body which will enliven your entire system, including your digestive functioning.
Revolved Chair Pose – Parivrtta Utkatasana
Hinge the torso forward and bring your left elbow to the outside edge of your right knee, press the palms in towards one another, inhale and then exhale to twist deeper. Draw the hips down one more inch. Bring the arms back through center, reaching both hands up towards the sky. Inhale and then exhale the hands back to heart center and bring the right elbow to the outside edge of your left knee and squeeze the inner thighs. Press the palms in towards one another, inhale to lengthen the spine and exhale to twist. This pose invites strength into the body as it activates the core and the legs. Twist and compress the abdomen, so that any gas that is trapped inside of the body will be encouraged to move through and out.
Downward Facing Dog – Adho Mukha Svanasana
Step your feet back to come in to Downward Facing Dog. The hips are up towards the sky and melt your heels down towards the mat. Press into the palms and spread the fingertips wide and find some ease in any perceived effort of the pose. Downward Facing Dog improves circulation while stimulating our digestive system which will help to relieve uncomfortable gas buildup in the abdomen.
Wide Legged Child’s Pose – Balasana
Bend your knees and bring your knees down towards the outside edge of your mat and come down to the ground. Bring the big toes to connect and drop your hips down towards your heels. Reach your hands forward and relax your forehead on to the ground. So want to give the belly this unrestricted space so that you can take full breaths in and out. This wide legged position provides extra space so that the belly can be soft and open.
Hero Pose with Block – Virasana
Come back up onto the knees and close the legs and sit down on a block to come into that Hero Pose variation with a block. Remove the extra flesh from underneath the sitting bones bring the hands into the lap, palms facing down.This pose allows you to connect to your body. Keep the eyes closed and take cleansing breaths in and relaxing breaths out. Visualise any stress in the body and specifically in the belly, to melt away as you surrender into this easy pose. Trust that the body knows what to do with this excess gas and let the mind be at ease.
Featured Video: Yoga Poses To Relieve Gas
Yoga Poses for Stomach Bloating -Gas Problems
Gas problems are never fun to talk about, despite how common they are. They aren’t something you typically want to discuss openly, but if not, then how are you then meant to find advice or figure out what is a normal amount of gas to build up in the body!
I can assure you that excessive gas is not something that should be chalked up as being a normal part of eating. It is an indication of obstruction in the body and it will likely serve your body to consider a cleanse.
As you work to detox and purify your colon, yoga is going to twist, compress and help to move gas along. Some of the following poses might seem counter-intuitive, as you put your body into a position where the bum is up higher than the hips, but they do the trick! Spend several minutes in each pose to ensure that you can give the body enough time to respond and release that which is not serving you.
Supine Spinal Twist – Supta Matsyendrasana
This first pose is going to twist, constrict and stretch your digestive system as your work from left to right. This movement wrings out the length of the digestive tract and cuts off circulation momentarily and then when you release the pose there is a fresh rush of blood into the area, which pushes against any obstruction and encourages movement of stagnant gases.
Plow Pose – Halasana
Sending the legs up and then behind the head is going to compress the belly and work to pump any gas that has been built up in the stomach. It is the perfect follow up pose after your Supine Spinal Twist which has stretched and wrung out the digestive system and loosened up any waste matter that is causing gas to become trapped.
Eight Limbed Salutation – Ashtanga Namaskara
The first two poses have encouraged what is blocking the free flow of movement in the body, to loosen and release and it is now time to send the hips and bum up, while lengthening the torso. This might seem a little counter intuitive, seeing as you are wanting what is trapped inside of the body to move down, but this position works!
Extended Puppy Pose
This posture is a little more intense than the previous Eight Limbed Salutation, but provides a deeper variation! It works in the same way, with hips and tailbone up to the sky and at the same time provides a deep stretch for the chest and the shoulders.
How to Remove Gas in Stomach Instantly?
If you have had no luck with any of the tried and tested the yoga poses for stomach bloating from this article so far, then it is likely that there is some serious obstruction in the colon. My first recommendation is to cleanse your body.
Eating a diet of easily digestible fruits and leafy greens will help to not add any more obstruction to the body and you can support this process with yoga and movement, which will ease the release of gas and help to promote intestinal mobility.
Upward Abdominal Lock – Uddiyana Bandha
This technique will stimulate the abdominal organs and massage and tone the core, while working to remove any gas that is trapped. Its involves the pulling in and lifting up of the muscles and it can be used as a part of your sequence or as a stand alone technique to ease digestive distress. Only perform this Upward Abdominal Lock on an empty stomach or ensure to leave a considerable gap after your last meal.
Breath of Fire – Kapalabhati Pranayama
Pranayama and other breathing techniques are a great way to stimulate the internal organs and strengthen the core. For Breath of Fire you can take your right hand to the belly and inhale through the nose. When you exhale, actively suck the belly button back towards the spine. Your focus will be on the exhales which will pump the stomach each time. The inhales will come naturally. This technique is an effective means of cleansing even the most remote parts of the body and the vigorous exhalations are going to help to dispel toxins and waste matter from the body quickly.
Wind Relieving Pose – Pavana Muktasana
This article would not be complete without a shout out to this very simple yogic asana, as it is renowned for being the ultimate gas eliminator. You want to use this pose as an opportunity to work with the breath, to really send it down into the belly. As you exhale, actively use the strength of the arms to pull the thighs down into the abdomen to really compress into the problem area which will help to send this unwanted gas out of the body.
What Are The Best Sleeping Position for Gas?
The digestive system is built in such a way that gas will leave the body voluntary or involuntary, and this involuntary action usually happens while we are sleeping. You simply have to trust in the body and allow it to do its thing, but there are some sleeping positions that can help to promote intestinal fluidity. Studies have been conducted in order to investigate which particular sleeping positions promote better health, including that of the gut and I am going to share the results with you now so you can go to sleep knowing that body will be releasing gas and toxicity while you are resting.
Left Side Sleeping
Sleeping on your left side can boost digestion as the position of the transverse colon encourages the movement of waste matter, which could be causing constipation and gas.
Lying Prone (Flat on Your Front)
This position ensures that the gastrointestinal tract is stretched out which can help to free trapped gas. Lying prone applies mild pressure to the abdomen which can gently massage into this space as you breathe. When you sleep curled up, you are constricting the intestines
Sleeping Elevated
Try propping yourself up on pillows so that gravity can come into play and do some of the work while you sleep. Being elevated will also help with other digestive discomfort, such as acid reflux, as it brings the oesophagus higher than the stomach.
Conclusion: Start Your Gut-Healing Journey Today
The physical body—and specifically the state of your digestion—can be a direct reflection of your mental and emotional well-being. When your mind is calm and at ease, the body naturally becomes softer, more open, and more fluid. This ease supports healthy intestinal movement and overall digestive harmony.
This article has introduced yoga poses for stomach bloating that can help relieve unwanted gas and digestive discomfort. Use them any time for symptom relief, or integrate them into your regular yoga practice to support long-term digestive health. Movement is key—when there is stagnation in the body, that’s when gas, constipation, and bloating tend to show up.
Ready to go deeper and unlock a healthier, lighter you? Click here to access our full course and learn how to naturally support your digestion with targeted yoga and holistic practices.
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..
