When I eat the wrong thing, eat too much, or feel extra stressed, my IBS Symptoms flare up. And, over the holidays, I did a lot of all of those things. This year, however, instead of taking to my bed or curling up on the bathroom floor, I had an awesome new tool in my toolbox—yoga! I discovered yoga thanks to my amazing daughter and, since I started practicing yoga regularly, I have seen many benefits to my overall health and well-being—including significant benefits to my IBS symptoms in particular. When a recent clinical study confirmed, “Yoga may be as effective as pharmacotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, exercise, and the low FODMAP diet to reduce IBS symptoms, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and stress in patients with IBS,” I was convinced yoga should be considered an important part of managing IBS.

There are a few yoga poses, in particular, that are calming to your gut and that’s what I’m sharing with you here. Don’t worry, you don’t have to find a yoga studio and sign up for classes right away, just follow the guidance in this article to add some yoga moves to your day and you might just find you feel the benefits—and you’re hooked!

My friend Alexandra Edwards is an amazing human being and practitioner of movement medicine and owner of Monterey Bay Contrology in Monterey, California. Ali was kind enough to sit for pictures of some of the poses that are good for your gut so you can see exactly what you’re going for. Whether you’re having IBS symptoms or not, I hope this article inspires you to give yoga a try.

Sun salutation (Surya Namaskar)

Sun Salutation is a series of yoga poses performed in a sequence to create a flow of movement. Watch the video below to see the combination of movements that make up the complete sequence.

Start standing up with your toes touching and your heels slightly apart. Take a breath in and raise your arms to the ceiling, exhale, and fold forward touching your hands to the floor

Take another breath in and raise up halfway with your fingertips on the floor or lightly touching your shins. Exhale, and return to forward fold.

Bend your knees, place your hands on the floor below your shoulders, and then step your left leg back into high lunge. Next, step your right leg back so you are in a plank position. Hold this pose for a breath or two or flow right through it to the next part of the sequence.

Bend your knees and go through the following Chaturanga sequence (Chaturanga: from plank position, exhale, lower yourself down to the mat evenly as though doing a push-up, as you breathe in, straighten your arms while leaving your hips on the floor to move into upward facing dog; breath out and move into downward facing dog) hold for a breath, step your left leg forward into a lunge, then step your right leg forward to meet your hands in forward fold at the top of the mat, inhale and stand up lifting your arms toward the ceiling, bring your hands to heart center (prayer) to finish.

Do this same sequence on the opposite side, then do each side again once more. Two full sequences are a great way to stretch and massage your belly.