Besides medical attention, addressing life style is of paramount importance. With the fast-paced life that we lead, finding time to address ‘life style’ can be a challenge. And here yogasanas and exercises play a vital role.
Yoga can do more than just relax your body in mind, especially if you’re living with diabetes. Certain poses may help lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels while also improving circulation.
Here are few specific asanas to tackle diabetes better:
Kapal Bhati: Sit comfortably with your spine erect. Place your hands on the knees with palms open to the sky. Take a deep breath in. As you exhale, pull your stomach. Pull your navel in back towards the spine. Do as much as you comfortably can. You may keep your right hand on the stomach to feel the abdominal muscles contract. As you relax the navel and abdomen, the breath flows into your lungs automatically. Take 20 such breaths to complete one round of Kapal Bhati Pranayama. After completing the round, relax with your eyes closed and observe the sensations in your body. Do two more rounds.
Supta Matsyendrasana: Lying-down body twist massages the internal organs and improves digestion. This posture also exerts pressure on the abdominal organs and is hence very helpful yoga posture for people suffering from diabetes.
Dhanurasana: Lie on your stomach with your feet hip-width apart and your arms by the sides of your body. Bend your knees and hold your ankles. Breathing in, lift your chest off the ground and pull your legs up and back using your hands. Look straight ahead and smile! Stabilize the pose by paying attention to your breath. Once stabilized, the body is taut as a bow. Continue to take long, deep breaths as you relax in Bow Pose. But don’t get carried away! Be careful not to overdo the stretch. After 15 -20 seconds, exhale and gently bring your legs and chest to the ground. Release your ankles and relax.
Paschimottanasana: Inhale the arms up over the head and lift and lengthen up through the fingers and crown of the head. Exhale and hinging at the hips, slowly lower the upper body towards the legs. Reach the hands to the toes, feet or ankles. To deepens the stretch: A) Use the arms to gently pull the head and torso closer to the legs. B) Press out through the heels and gently draw the toes towards you. Breathe and hold for 3-8 breaths. To release: A) slowly roll up the spine back into Staff pose. B) Inhale the arms back over your head as you lift the torso back into Staff pose.
Ardhya Matsyendrasana: Ardhya Matsyendrasana is also known as Half Lord of the Fishes Pose, is a seated spinal twist that lengthens and strengthens the spine and stimulates the digestive system. The pose gets its name from the Sanskrit words, Ardha, meaning half, Matsya, meaning fish, Indra, meaning ruler, and asana, meaning pose.
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