Yoga Detox - 8 Easy Yoga Poses to Detox your Body

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Yoga Detox – Try these easy yoga poses to detox and cleanse your body during and after the holidays! Incorporate these into your daily routine to boost your strength and flexibility, and feel brand shiny new.

Yoga Detox – Try these easy yoga poses to detoxify your body!

We are entering the season of overindulgence and you might already be playing with the idea of detoxing afterward. Newsflash: you don’t need to live off celery juice for a week or do a crazy cabbage diet to detox your body after the holidays.

The right yoga routine can also help you detox your body and mind. Through daily yoga, we can help our bodies eliminate unwanted impurities such as carbon dioxide, lactic acid, and lymphatic fluid, and allow blood to flow to the organs.

Generally any yoga routine with many inversions, forward bends and twists will be the most beneficial to your daily detoxing practice.

Don’t have a fixed routine? Now is the perfect time to start! Do these easy yoga poses any time you feel like you need a little mini detox. These positions will improve your digestion, boost your strength and flexibility, while making you feel brand shiny new.

Tip: As you go through the yoga detox moves, use each inhale to lengthen and each exhale to rid yourself of anything you no longer want or need.

1. Downward Facing Dog:

a woman entering the detox yoga position of downward dog

Downward Dog is an example of an inversion movement. Your heart is above your head. Inversions encourage blood to circulate in a different direction and rinse out lymph nodes.

From table position, tuck the toes under, press into the hands and begin to lift the hips up towards the ceiling.
Spread the fingers wide apart with the middle finger facing forward, and the palms shoulder-width apart. Press out through the fingers and edges of the hands
Press the hips up and back, reaching the chest towards the thighs. Lift up through the tailbone to keep the spine straight and long.
Have the feet a hip’s width apart with the toes facing forward. Press the heels into the floor feeling a deep stretch in the back of the legs. Your legs are straight, but you can have a small bend at the knees to keep the back flat.
Let the head and neck hang freely from the shoulders or look up at the belly button.
Breathe and hold for 4-8 breaths.
To release: bend the knees and lower the hips back to Table position, or come all the way down to child pose.

2. Three-Legged Downward Facing Dog

a woman holding the yoga position three legged downward facing dog on a beach

This yoga pose helps you mentally detoxify and stimulates the release of stress, sadness, depression, and fear.

Stretch your hands, and steep your head inward below your heart. Now stretch your hips and legs outward.
Lift your left leg in the air like we did above for the downward dog pose and take a couple of deep breaths.
Repeat the breathing with the right leg in the air. Try this 5 times with each leg.

3. Eagle Pose

a woman holding the eagle yoga position in front of an apartment building

The eagle pose helps to boost circulation and wring out the toxins from the bloodstream and lymphatics. It also stretches the ankle, elbow, knee and hip joints.

Start by standing straight with your legs drawn close together and arms by your side.
Draw your right foot upward, pressing against the left leg. Wrap the right foot on the left leg just above the ankle and bend both your knees so that the inside of your right thigh rests on the left thigh.
Lean forward and cross the right arm over the left arm, with elbows interlocked. Keep your hands together as if you were clapping and breathe in. Retain the pose for as long as you inhale then breathe out.
Revert to the standing position with legs together and redo the pose, this time with the left foot wrapped around the right leg and the left arm rolled onto the right arm.

4. Seated Twist

a slender blonde haired woman performing the seated twist on a yoga mat

It’s common to equate twisting postures with detoxing. Any sort of compression and gentle movement in the torso definitely helps to get things moving in the digestive system. The more we help our digestive system move waste and toxins through the intestines, the better our detoxing.

Sit flat on your bottom with your tush behind you to ensure a long spine.
Keeping the feet together, lengthen up through the top of your head.
Take your right hand to the mat behind you, either on fingertips or with a flat palm, and hug your knees or hook your elbow to the outside of your right knee, as you twist your chest open to the right.
Make sure both glutes stay grounded. The twist should happen in the upper part of your torso and not the sacrum.
Hold this position for at least 5 breaths, lengthening up as you inhale, and deepening the twist on the exhale.

5. Wide Leg Forward Fold

a man holding the yoga detox position of the wide leg forward fold with a city panorama in the background

The wide-legged forward bend helps to boost circulation as it positions the head below the heart. The pose also helps facilitate digestion.

Step your feet about one leg-length apart! The outer edges of your feet should be parallel to the edge of your mat.
Put your hands on your hips and as you inhale, and reach skywards with the crown of your head.
On the exhale, keep the back long and strong as you fold forward, either keep the hands on the hips, place them under your shoulders on the mat, or on blocks.
Stay here, or begin to walk the hands back so that the fingertips line up with the toes and bend your elbows, stacking them over your wrists.
Relax and release the entire back body while keeping the kneecaps lifting to stabilize your foundation.
Stay for 5 breaths, then take your hands back to your hips to come up out of the pose with a long spine.

6. Boat Pose

a woman on a rock holding the yoga boat pose

The boat pose strengthens and tones your abdomen, hip flexors, and spine. It also stimulates the kidneys, thyroid, and intestines which can help relieve stress and improve your digestion.

Sit down with your knees bent, and pull back your spine to touch the ground.
Once you achieve this position, stretch your legs outward.
Pull your upper body to touch your feet. Keep trying until you achieve the boat pose.
Hold this position for 20 seconds, then release your legs. Try this 5 times.

7. Bound Headstand

a blonde woman in black workout clothes performing a yoga bound headstand in the streets of Mumbai

The Bound Headstand removes toxins in the circulatory and lymphatic systems. This pose is typically held for 7 breaths or longer, and focusing on deep breaths clears out carbon dioxide from the lungs.

Tip: If you’re new to this pose, use a wall to help you with your balance and prevent falling backward.

From a tabletop position, clasp your fingers creating a nest for the top of your head on the floor and place your head in the clasp.
Straighten your legs and walk your feet in towards your head. When your body weight is removed from your legs, bend your knees and start to take your legs off the floor using your abdominals.
Take your legs up straight, maintaining control from the top of your head through your core, and out through the toes.
Hold this pose for 7-10 deep breaths, slowly bending your knees and coming down in the same controlled way you went up.

8. Resolved Triangle Position

a blonde woman practicing detox yoga in a park

This pose stretches and opens the chest, lungs, shoulders, and spine, increasing lung capacity. The resolved triangle position stimulates abdominal organs, aiding digestion and circulation, releasing stress and anxiety, and energizing the body and mind.

Begin in a lunge with your right foot forward. Straighten your front leg and hop your back foot in to place your heel on the ground.
Place your left hand on the floor or a block, to the inside of your right foot. Place your right hand to your right hip and encourage your right hip behind you.
Extend your head forward, then turn your torso toward your right leg.
Lift your right arm toward the ceiling.
Keep rooting down through your left heel.
Option to turn your gaze to the ceiling.
Hold for 5-10 breaths, then release back to lunge. Repeat on the other side.

More Yoga Detox Sequences:

If you loved these yoga poses and would love to include some more or step up your Yoga game in general, here are some Yoga Youtube Channels we love:

a pink neon sign spelling the word breath with greenery in the background

Detox is not about starving yourself!

Supplement your daily yoga detox with a healthy balanced diet! Remember that successful sustainable detoxing is not about strict fasting or skipping out food groups.

It is about being mindful and giving your body a rest from some of the toxins we take in on a daily basis.

It also includes listening to your body and taking special care of yourself. Kick back with a glass of Detoxifying Charcoal Lemonade and check out this article for some self-care inspo.