The abdominal area is here ‘divided’ into three portions and the sequence is aimed at contacting and stimulating each of them. The upper digestive tract is where the stomach and liver are. The central part of the abdomen is mainly occupied by the gut; while the lower part is where bladder, rectum, prostate and uterus are. Kidneys and adrenals glands occupy the posterior part of the upper abdominal cavity. Moreover, being aware of research evidences that tend to establish a strong relationship between stress-related psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety with gastrointestinal disorders, I also pay attention to embodied practices that can help balance in the autonomic nervous system.

The rationale of this yog-asana and prāṇāyāmasequence is to indirectly ‘touch’ and stimulate each of these three parts of the abdominal cavity and exert a positive effect on the gut-brain axis thanks to meditative prāṇāyāmatechniques.

The first part of the sequence is composed by #standing #asanas, #utthitasthiti. In the variations of standing asanas that I propose here, the bolster is employed in order to massage the kidneys, adrenals and posterior diaphragmatic area, while creating length and wideness in the stomach, liver and front diaphragmatic region.

The lateral extensions in #parighasana and #anantasana work on softening the intercostals muscles creating more freedom in the diaphragm movements.