![\"Side](\"http:\/\/mrbiggs.net\/ron\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/abdominal-side.jpg\")
<\/a>Side view of adbominal section – in good and bad posture.<\/p><\/div>\n
Engaging your core is not so much an issue of strengthening your abdominal muscles.\u00a0 It\u2019s an issue of \u201cgetting the gas out\u201d.\u00a0 For example, in a basic issue like a sit-up or a crunch, notice how someone with a distended gut does it from someone with a tight gut.\u00a0 If you\u2019re feeling a sit-up too much in your hip flexors or your neck rather than those delicious abs, it\u2019s because you\u2019re trying to get around that huge gut that\u2019s in the way.\u00a0 But if you feel like you want to poop or pass gas when you do a sit-up, congratulations.\u00a0 You\u2019re on the right track.<\/p>\n
And as one\u2019s yoga practice improves, one\u2019s gut gets tighter.\u00a0 That means a large process of muscles pushing in on the intestines, pushing large amounts of mass and gas through.\u00a0 So, gas and \u2026 other digestive issues are a frequent side effect. \u00a0If pain is weakness leaving the body, gas is sloth leaving the body.<\/p>\n
And this is the basic issue of yoga and gas.\u00a0 It\u2019s a faux-pas, yes.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also a sign that you\u2019re making advances in the battle of the bulge.<\/p>\n
A good pose to look at for help is \u201cdog pooping pose\u201d.\u00a0 Notice how they stand.\u00a0 They look like they\u2019re squeezing on their abdominal muscles, like some toothpaste tube, pushing their tailbone and sphincter away from the body, until the filthy deed comes out.\u00a0 This is basically what we\u2019re looking to emulate in many of these poses.<\/p>\n
<\/a>You can find inspiration in darndest of places.<\/p><\/div>\n
Of course nothing exists without a proper foundation.\u00a0 So we need to talk about leg alignment.<\/p>\n
A classic position in all sorts of yoga poses is the bent leg stance.\u00a0 This applies to all sorts of poses, and chair pose and warrior pose really get into it.\u00a0 In a practitioner whose gut has checked out, they push down on the bent leg primarily from the quad.\u00a0 This is not the proper way to go.\u00a0 The quad gets tired really quickly, and you\u2019ll see them straightening their leg out frequently.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Bent-leg poses: It’s all in the glutes<\/p><\/div>\n
If one activates their inner leg, though, all sorts of muscles start lighting up.\u00a0 Namely, the glute, which pushes the leg down like pushing on a brake, and now bears the body\u2019s weight.\u00a0 Much more efficiently than the quad.\u00a0 The glute lights up, then the groin, the hamstring, the psoas, the abdominal muscles \u2026 *POOT* ah there we go.\u00a0 You can hold that pose for a few minutes now with just a little practice.<\/p>\n
Poses and their effect on gas<\/h1>\n
All poses use the core to varying degrees.\u00a0 Therefore all poses have their effect on the releasing of gas.\u00a0 We\u2019ll go over major poses that affect\/release gas, and good strategies to cycle through them for minimum gas disruption.<\/p>\n
Getting ready for class: basic and warmup poses<\/h2>\n
Showing up gassy in class is always an issue.\u00a0 So there\u2019s some poses you can do to start.<\/p>\n
Mountain pose:\u00a0 This is basically standing up straight.\u00a0 And you can use this as a barometer too.\u00a0 Stand up against a wall.\u00a0 If you can get your feet, butt, shoulders and head to all touch the wall, you\u2019re standing up straight.\u00a0 If you have to crane your head back to reach it, you\u2019re in a slouch.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>How your abdomen affects mountain pose.<\/p><\/div>\n
The basic physic here is to push your feet into the floor by the heels, as if you\u2019re hitting the brakes.\u00a0 Shoulders back, push your hands down as if they\u2019re on parallel bars.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been doing this for a while, you can feel your abdominals tightening already.\u00a0 But we don\u2019t need to worry about that yet.<\/p>\n
Happy Baby:\u00a0 two basic movements here.\u00a0 Pushing your tailbone back and down (dog pooping pose) and pushing your feet into your hands.<\/p>\n
Downward Dog:\u00a0 This is your basic gas-relief pose.\u00a0 It\u2019s indeed a relaxation pose, because your abdominals don\u2019t have to clench to keep yourself upright.\u00a0 The weight of your guts is taken off of them and rests into your chest cavity.\u00a0 This is open to debate, but there\u2019s also the fact that gas is lighter than mass, and in a downward dog (ass-up asana) physics gives it a good nudge out the door.\u00a0 Indeed I\u2019ve found my strongest passings come in this pose, especially after a long, gut-wrenching sequence.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s good to get a couple of these in before the practice starts to get a feel for your guts.<\/p>\n
Getting into your practice<\/h2>\n
Finally, we get to the center of the shrubbery maze.\u00a0 You\u2019ve prepared, warmed up, and now you\u2019re in the middle of your yoga practice.\u00a0 And it\u2019s going great!\u00a0 So great, that you need to cut one in the middle of a pose.\u00a0 And we get back to the major point here \u2013 your need to release gas is a sign you\u2019re doing the pose RIGHT.\u00a0 You don\u2019t want to back away from that pressure.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s begin by looking at the various major poses, and how to go from a gas-retaining (unhealthy) to a gas-releasing (healthy) version.<\/p>\n
Chair pose: this can really enlighten your use of gas.\u00a0 Like with the situp, a distended gut chair pose is not very effective, and gets tiring quickly.\u00a0 That\u2019s because it relies on muscles that don\u2019t push on the gut to maintain itself, like your quads or the lower back.<\/p>\n
A proper chair pose involve stringent tightening of the core muscles, pushing down on the pelvis much like dog pooping pose.\u00a0 \u00a0A good chair pose also lights up the inner legs and feet like I said earlier.\u00a0 So once you light up these areas, that burrito you ate four hours earlier suddenly makes itself quite apparent.\u00a0 Again, that means you\u2019re on the right track.<\/p>\n
The pose however is right side up, so negotiating this pose might just result in gas shifting rather than releasing.\u00a0 Still, it\u2019s a great place to loosen up those pockets before you hit down dog.<\/p>\n
Temple pose: this is an extension of Chair pose.\u00a0 Bear down like that pooping dog, get out of your quads and into your glutes and groin, and gently clench the sphincter lest you think you were on a French toilet.\u00a0 This is the closest pose to a full squat, which is how humanity has gone #2 for eons.\u00a0 Really, your whole tailbone should feel a downward pressure like you\u2019re hitting the toilet.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Temple Pose<\/p><\/div>\n
Note the figure on the left.\u00a0 Trying to work around gut distention means your body has to rely overly on the quads, pushing the feet outward like a bent tripod.\u00a0 So not only do your quads get tired, you better have a really skidproof mat or your feet are slipping all over the place.<\/p>\n
But the figure on the right, that proper core engagement really frames your glutes to hold you up.\u00a0 Your hamstrings can then keep your shins vertical, making your feet slip-free.\u00a0 Meanwhile your whole spine gets a downward pressure which pushes everything out the tailbone.\u00a0 It\u2019s no secret that this and the squat are how humanity has done #2 since the dawn of time.<\/p>\n
Forward bends:\u00a0 Be careful of what you think you can or can\u2019t do.\u00a0 Usually if you can\u2019t bend down too far, it\u2019s because your gut is hanging out.\u00a0 If it collapses inward like an accordion, as you bend over, you can get a lovely release in your spine and continue to release forward.\u00a0 Keep pushing into your heels like you\u2019re hitting the brakes, and *POOT* there you go!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Forward bending – good and bad.<\/p><\/div>\n
For the figure on the left, you see the extra line approximating the spine.\u00a0 This is because having to bend over a bloated gut generally means you also have to crane your neck up.\u00a0 This is uncomfortable.\u00a0 But if you can get your belly empty enough to really fold over your legs, you can really let your head loose and get a great thoracic\/cervical spine (shoulders\/neck) release.<\/p>\n
Twists:\u00a0 These can really shake the gas up\u2026 if you won\u2019t release gas in this pose, it\u2019ll likely get your next downward dog to expel.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s because they twist your abdominal cavity so intensely that the gas doesn\u2019t get much of a chance to do anything.\u00a0 You will notice though, that if you kept your core tight from previous poses, all of a sudden you can twist a lot more.\u00a0 That\u2019s because it\u2019s much easier to twist when you don\u2019t have to do it around a bowling ball.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll also notice that if you keep that front leg bent from the gluteus muscle like in the above diagram, instead of from the quad, you can still get that gut pressure going.\u00a0 That push in this twist can release gas in some troublesome pockets that other poses can\u2019t reach.<\/p>\n
Navasana (Boat Pose): one of the basic core activation poses, and I think one of the best sit-up style exercises out there.\u00a0 This is an inevitable gas-releaser.\u00a0 If you are to be forgiven for one major ass-trumpet, it\u2019s in this pose.\u00a0 But let\u2019s dissect this a bit futher.\u00a0 There\u2019s two ways to do a sit-up: the wrong way, with the hip-flexors, and the right way, with the rectus abdominis i.e. six-pack abs.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Boat pose – good and bad.<\/p><\/div>\n
If you do it with the hip-flexors, you\u2019ll feel them burn-out pretty quickly.\u00a0 This is because they\u2019re not meant to do heavy lifting.\u00a0 But, if you have a big gut in the way, your six-pack abs have to relax to give it space, so your body has no choice but to use the hip flexors.<\/p>\n
But \u2013 get that gut down enough, and activate your six-pack, brace with your side abdominals to get that toothpaste tube pressure \u2013 and you\u2019ll get a huge pressure in on your gut\u00a0 *POOT* oh wow!\u00a0 You feel light and airy!\u00a0 You could hold this forever!\u00a0 Ironic considering how much air you\u2019ve let out.<\/p>\n
Inversions:\u00a0 Shoulder stands are the safest if you want to avoid gas.\u00a0 Watch out for handstands, especially if you get a violent kick-up, because the jerk can involuntarily release gas.\u00a0 Otherwise, these tend to be advanced poses.\u00a0 You\u2019re generally not going to get into most of these without your gut already tight in place.<\/p>\n
Shavasana: \u00a0While this one isn\u2019t so intuitive, often the deep relaxation of this pose really offers the intestines a chance to relax and let the gas pass through.<\/p>\n
When\/how to release?<\/h1>\n
Ultimately, you want to release when you can.\u00a0 And you want to release in small doses, unless you\u2019re in a friendly environment.\u00a0 The two big no-nos are loud noises (this totally disrupts the class in a fit of laughter) and stinky gas.\u00a0 The latter is easily dealt with \u2013 don\u2019t eat junk food.\u00a0 The former is a bit harder.<\/p>\n
But then how do we do it discreetly?\u00a0 Well, on a positive note, the need to release gas means you\u2019re activating your core muscles \u2013 and this means you have control over how much they push.\u00a0 The trick then is to use your core muscles to mindfully release the gas slowly.<\/p>\n
The ideal release of gas involves a gentle opening, along with a slow controlled release of gas, which makes little to no noise.\u00a0 Enough noise that the person next to you may hear it, but they\u2019re not sure if it was their imagination, and they\u2019re not sure where it came from.\u00a0 We\u2019re looking for plausible deniability here.<\/p>\n
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Off the mat: Where do we go from here?<\/h1>\n
Here we want to send off the reader with sound advice for how to manage their gas, along with the knowledge that it\u2019s always going to be a thing.\u00a0 The issue is being mindful of it.\u00a0 We will also discuss diet, since we\u2019ve established that this plays a major role in how effectively your abdominal muscles function.<\/p>\n
Sitting<\/h2>\n
Why don\u2019t we start with seated pose?\u00a0 It seems like the simplest pose, but it\u2019s actually one of the most complicated.\u00a0 And when you try to maintain it for hours, it\u2019s easy to see why the gut checks out and you slouch.<\/p>\n
The slouch seems obvious, but for this we should actually start with the legs.\u00a0 A sloucher generally lets his legs hang loose.\u00a0 The feet should actually be firmly planted off the floor and handle some of your body weight.\u00a0 If we go back to that diagram of the bent leg, the same applies here.\u00a0 Your glutes should be engaged as if you\u2019re trying to get up out of the chair.\u00a0 Engaging these will tighten your core, push back your shoulders, and if you can get it going just right \u2026 *POOT*<\/p>\n
<\/a>Seated pose.<\/p><\/div>\n
There.\u00a0 Now you\u2019re sitting up straight.<\/p>\n
Slouching<\/h2>\n
As implied from the picture above, a corollary of sitting is slouching.\u00a0\u00a0 And there\u2019s no shortage of discussion about slouching.\u00a0 The problem is that it takes none of what we discussed into account \u2013 people just assume you can just winch your joints around with enough willpower and FOOM you\u2019re a model sitter.<\/p>\n