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5 Yoga Poses To Detoxify Your Liver

detoxify your liver

The liver is the only organ in the human body that can regenerate itself! Its primary function is detoxification. Other organs like the intestines, kidneys, and lungs work together with the liver to ensure that toxins are transformed into less harmful substances and excreted via urine, stool, sweat, or breath. Regular cleansing of these organs is essential to keep them functioning smoothly. So, how do you detoxify your liver? It’s simple! Correcting your lifestyle is the key, and that’s where yoga comes into the picture.

How Can Yoga Help Detoxify Your Liver? 

Certain yoga asanas stimulate the digestive system and massage internal organs like the liver. They strengthen and make abdominal muscles more elastic, aiding the proper removal of waste materials. Including twist variations in your yoga practice can detoxify and rehydrate your spinal column while releasing tension from poor posture. Proper alignment in these poses can also reduce back pain and improve digestion.

Here are 5 yoga poses to detoxify your liver and improve its function!

1. Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend)
detoxify your liver

  • Sit up with your legs stretched out straight in front of you on the floor.
  • Keep your spine erect and toes flexed toward you.
  • Slowly raise both arms straight above your head and stretch upward.
  • Exhale and bend forward from the hip joint, moving your chin toward your toes, keeping the spine straight.
  • Place your hands on your legs, wherever they reach, without forcing the stretch.

 2. Ardha Chakrasana (Half Wheel Pose)
Ardha Chakrasana can be performed in various ways, each offering unique benefits.

  • Begin in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), raising your hands as you inhale.
  • Place both hands on your lower back.
  • Inhale deeply and gently backbend your upper body, allowing a comfortable stretch.

 3. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

  • Lie down on a mat in a prone position, keeping your feet together.
  • Place your hands on the floor at chest level.
  • Gently raise your upper body, extending and deepening the stretch to create a graceful arc in your back.

4. Shashankasana (Child’s Pose)

This posture is simple and adaptable. Variations can be chosen based on comfort.

  • Sit comfortably in Vajrasana with your palms on your thighs.
  • Inhale and raise your hands straight upward, stretching.
  • Exhale and bend forward.
  • Touch your nose or chin to the ground.
  • Keep your arms stretched out with palms on the ground.

 5. Anulom Vilom (Alternate Nostril Breathing)
Though not an asana, this Pranayama practice is included due to its immense benefits. Proper breathing is vital for bodily processes, and Anulom Vilom ensures optimal oxygen intake.

  • Close your right nostril with your thumb and inhale slowly through the left nostril.
  • Remove your thumb and exhale through the right nostril.
  • Close your left nostril with your middle finger, inhale through the right nostril, and exhale through the left.
  • Repeat this process.

These poses are simple and can be performed at home. However, always practice within your body’s limits and avoid forcing movements. Consult your doctor before beginning any yoga practice, especially if you have pre-existing conditions.

We hope these yoga poses to detoxify your liver help you! Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more on yoga, check out Healthy Reads or join an expert on a live, interactive session on GOQii PRO within the GOQii App. 

#BeTheForce  

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general awareness and educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalised medical guidance or concerns related to your health.

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Important Exercises & Yoga Poses To Be Done During Pregnancy

yoga during pregnancyIn one of my articles, we explored how beneficial it is to follow yoga during pregnancy. In this article, I will highlight the prenatal yoga poses that can help you stay fit during pregnancy and support a smooth post-delivery recovery. Let’s dive right in!

Exercises & Yoga Poses To Do During Pregnancy

Start With Breathing Exercises
Before beginning, practice some mindful breathing:

  1. Sit comfortably, with your knees bent and your shoulders, head, and neck relaxed.
  2. Place one hand on your upper chest and the other just below your rib cage. This will allow you to feel your diaphragm move as you breathe.
  3. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Continue for 3-5 minutes.

1. Cat and Camel Pose

cat and camel

  1. Begin on your hands and knees, with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders.
  2. Round your back towards the ceiling, tucking in your buttocks and slightly lowering your head.
  3. Return to a neutral position.
  4. Let your belly lower towards the floor, creating an arch in your back. Keep your head slightly raised, with your eyes looking forward.
  5. Alternate between these poses.

Tip: Use a folded towel under your knees if they hurt, or place fists instead of palms on the floor for wrist support.

2. Butterfly Pose

butterfly pose yoga during pregnancy

  • Sit with your spine and neck straight.
  • Bend both knees and bring the soles of your feet together, as close to the groin as possible.
  • Hold your feet firmly with your hands and keep your heels on the ground.
  • Place your elbows on your thighs.
  • Inhale deeply and press your thighs downward using your elbows.
  • Exhale as you raise your knees without support and release the pose.

3. Kegel’s Exercises

This exercise strengthens the pelvic floor muscles.

How to Perform:

  • Sit, stand, or lie down comfortably.
  • Contract your pelvic floor muscles as if stopping the flow of urine for 5 seconds.
  • Relax the muscles for 3 seconds.
  • Perform 5-10 repetitions per session, twice a day. Ensure you breathe normally throughout.

4. Goddess Pose

goddess pose pregnancy

  • Step your right foot back to a stride length and turn your toes out at a 45-degree angle.
  • Bend your knees deeply and lower your hips until they align with your knees.
  • Extend your arms to shoulder height and bend your elbows so that your fingertips point upwards.
  • Engage your core, draw your tailbone towards the floor, and keep your spine long.
  • Hold the pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

5. Warrior Pose

warrior pose yoga during pregnancy

  • Stand with your feet roughly three feet apart.
  • Place your right foot in front of your left foot.
  • Extend your arms out to the sides, keeping them straight and palms facing down.
  • Turn your left foot out to the side and your right foot inward.
  • Lunge forward, bending your left knee, and keep your right leg straight.
  • Hold the pose, then return to the starting position and switch legs.

6. Walking

Walking is an excellent cardiovascular exercise for expecting mothers.

Tips:

  • Start with slow walks if you’re new to physical activity.
  • Walk for 30 minutes, three times a week.
  • Pair walking with other light exercises for better results.

If this article helped you, share your thoughts in the comments below. Explore more articles on Women’s Care here. To keep a track of your pregnancy, you can also download the GOQii App and access the Women’s Care Feature.

For more tips on how to manage your health during pregnancy, reach out to your GOQii Coach by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce 

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general awareness and educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalised medical guidance or concerns related to your health.

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3 Breathing Exercises To Strengthen Your Lungs

breathing exercisesHave you ever thought about the number of breaths you take in a lifetime? On average, we take about 675 million breaths in 80 years. Breathing patterns vary throughout our lives, influenced by age, environment, lifestyle, and health conditions such as COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). For those managing COPD or looking to maintain lung health, strengthening lung function is essential for overall well-being.

Our lungs are responsible for oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange, ensuring that our body functions smoothly. Lung capacity and efficiency are key to respiratory health, and certain breathing exercises can help enhance this capacity. Here are three effective techniques to support lung function and improve breathing, especially beneficial for individuals with respiratory challenges like COPD.

1. Pursed Lip Breathing

This simple exercise helps slow down breathing and completely empties the lungs, which is particularly helpful during moments of shortness of breath—common among those with COPD.

How to Do it:

  • Sit comfortably, relax your shoulders, neck, and close your eyes gently.
  • Inhale through your nose for 2–3 seconds.
  • Purse your lips as if blowing out a candle, then exhale slowly through them for 4–6 seconds.
  • Repeat for about 5 minutes to experience relief and improved lung capacity.

This technique is beneficial during or after physical activity, as it lets plenty of air flow through the lungs, restoring normal breathing patterns.

2. Diaphragmatic or Belly breathing

How often in a day do we pay attention to our breathing pattern? Do you do shallow breathing or deep breathing? The diaphragm is the main sheet of muscle in between the chest and the abdomen that helps in respiration. But, usually, we develop the habit of breathing through chest, neck and shoulder muscles which limits the amount of air filling in and out of our lungs. Belly breathing strengthens the diaphragm and enhances the pulmonary efficiency. Here is the best way to train yourself for diaphragmatic breathing.

How to Do it:

  • Lie down on your back on a flat surface with the knees bent or sit comfortably on a chair with neck, shoulder and head relaxed
  • Place your one hand lightly on your abdomen and the other hand on the chest
  • Inhale deeply through the nose for 2-3 seconds as you fill all the air towards your abdomen
  • Pay attention to the hand on the abdomen moving up while making sure hand on the chest is not moving up
  • Now exhale all the air through the mouth (Pursed lips) while tightening the abdomen inwards. Make sure the hand on your abdomen is moving down
  • Repeat this breathing for 5-10 minutes to get the maximum benefits

3. Alternate Nostril breathing

This is a type of deep and slow breathing in Yoga in which inhaling, and exhaling happens through alternate nostrils.  Long term practice of this breathing improves the total capacity of the lungs while boosting the pulmonary function markers. It is also meant to purify the lungs and the circulatory system throughout the body.

How to Do it:

  • Sit straight on a flat surface with relaxed shoulders and neck
  • Start with deep inhalation and slow exhalation couple of times or for a minute
  • While folding the index and middle fingers of the right hand, make Vishnu mudra to close the right nostril with right thumb and left nostril with ring finger
  • At first, close the right nostril and slowly exhale through left nostril
  • Keep the right nostril closed and slowly inhale through the left nostril and feel all the air going upwards while filling all the air deep down till the abdomen
  • Once you inhale all the air possible, pause briefly for 2 seconds
  • Now close the left nostril with the ring finger and release thumb to open the right nostril
  • Exhale out all the air through the right nostril with a pause of 2 second at the end
  • As your still closing the left nostril, inhale slowly through the right nostril letting all the air into right side of the body with a short pause of 2 seconds at the end
  • Again, close the right nostril and open the left nostril to exhale all the air out

This is considered as one round of alternate nostril breathing. Continue this pattern for 5-10 minutes to get the maximum benefits.

Enhancing Lung Health with Breathing Exercises

Consistently practicing one or more of these breathing techniques on an empty stomach can help build lung strength and may aid in boosting immunity. These simple yet effective exercises can support your lung function, whether you’re managing COPD or simply aiming to breathe better.

Find more breathing exercises, meditation techniques and yoga here. You can also get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach by subscribing to Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general awareness and educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalised medical guidance or concerns related to your health.

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5 Powerful Ways Of Meditation

powerful ways of meditationWe know that meditation is very very good for health, especially mental health. But sometimes, we get confused about what exactly to do. So here’s a guide to help you begin. Try these powerful ways of meditation to improve your health and wellbeing! 

Powerful Ways Of Meditation 

1. Concentrative Meditation
As the word suggests, you are supposed to concentrate on one point so you won’t think about other things. When thoughts are scattered, it creates no impact, but sharp attention is a powerful tool. One way to do it is to focus on your own breathing cycle. See how you inhale through the nose, how you feel inside the body and how you exhale. Another way is to focus on sounds like any word or phrase or the sound of a bell. You can also focus on a candle’s flame. Sit in front of the candle, look at the flame and close your eyes. Behold the picture of the flame in front of your mind. When the picture fades, open your eyes and repeat the process.

2. Contemplative Meditation
Instead of trying to stop thinking, contemplative meditation includes focusing on a single thought. Instead of too many different thoughts, it’s thinking about one subject and one thought with complete awareness of the thought. For this, you can contemplate any sentence from a religious scripture or contemplate objects like a flower or a tree. Think about the shape of a particular flower.

Another way is asking a question to yourself, believing in your inner instinct and waiting for an answer to come up. The questions can be:

  • What am I looking for?
  • What is it I am resisting?
  • Knowing I will die, how should I live?
  • What is my greatest mission?
  • What do I love?
  • What do I have fear of?
  • Who am I?

3. Witness Meditation
Watch your thoughts as if it’s a movie. Let the thoughts come, simply observe them, but do not react or try to reject. Be neutral. This is called being the witness of your thoughts. What does it do? It reduces your attachment from your thoughts. You no longer feel pain with those repetitive thoughts. This is a great technique to let go of resentment from the past.

4. Chanting Mantra
Chanting mantras repeatedly is one way of meditation. Mantra is a sanskrit word. Man means mind and Tra means release. Mantra is supposed to be a set of words which releases your mind from all it’s anxieties. It has been said that chanting mantras provides spiritual growth. But make sure you are paying attention, because that is all what we want. You can chant OM or Gayatri Mantra.

5. Movement Meditation
If you think you can’t sit at one place and focus, practice meditation through body movements. Self defense practices like Tai chi and Qigong are used as a form of meditation for a very long time. Yoga is one excellent example of movement meditation. Yoga involves being fully aware of your breathing and understanding the basic nature of self. But not only this, we can also practice meditation through simply walking or dancing. Just be attentive, pay close attention to your steps, body movements and surroundings.

Next time, when you sit to meditate, you can try something new. Keep it mind, sometimes we might get a little restless but be patient. Don’t get frustrated. Slowly get back to your point of concentration.

We hope these 5 powerful ways of meditation help you! Do leave your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. For more on meditation and yoga, check out Healthy Reads or for further guidance, speak to a certified expert by subscribing to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce 

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general awareness and educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalised medical guidance or concerns related to your health.

From Terminal Illness To Complete Wellness! Ananda Mukherjee Health Story

As we observe World Cancer Day under the powerful theme ‘United by Unique’ (2025-2027)**, we are reminded that every individual’s journey with cancer is distinct, yet united by shared resilience, hope, and the collective fight against this disease. This theme places people at the centre of care and their stories at the heart of the […]