PCOS means dealing with irregular periods, unexplained weight gain, excessive facial hair, acne, cramps and whatnot. If you have been dealing with PCOS, you know how physical activity can bring relief in several ways. Trying yoga asanas for PCOS treatment can yield great results and not just help you with your symptoms but also help you release your stress. Apart from yoga asanas, even meditation can help resolve menstrual issues and help you relax. Did you know that meditation has been demonstrated to improve the physical and emotional symptoms of PCOS? So, what are you waiting for? Start your yoga journey today and see the difference for yourself. Check out some best yoga asanas for irregular periods by which you can manage your PCOS at home.
Find your ultimate guide to navigating PCOS here.
14 Effective Yoga Asanas For PCOS Treatment
1. Malasana (Garland Pose)
Malasana can strengthen the pelvic floor and abdominal core while opening the hips. This can benefit individuals with PCOS by increasing circulation and blood flow to the pelvic region, improving metabolism, and aiding digestion.
How To Do It:
- Start with feet spread about a mat’s width apart.
- Bend your knees and lower your buttocks toward the floor to come into a squat position.
- Bring your hands in a prayer position (Anjali mudra). You can allow your thumbs to touch your sternum to help keep the chest lifted.
- Press your upper arms/triceps inside of your knees and stay engaged with your spine straight (elbows press into knees to open the hips).
- Extend the low back and draw the shoulder blades towards one another.
- Remain in this position for up to 5 breaths.
- Come out of it by straightening your legs.
- Repeat the pose three times.
2. Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)
Also known as the cobra pose, this asana helps you promote flexibility in your body and de-stress your system. This is one of the best yoga asanas for PCOS treatment.
Accompany this yoga pose with deep breathing exercises to relieve stress and anxiety, learn about them here.
How To Do It:
- Lie down on your chest with your elbows close to your body, palms facing down.
- On an inhalation, slowly straighten your arms to lift your chest off the floor and keep reclining back. Your navel should be touching the floor.
- Hold the posture for 15-30 seconds and then gradually exhale and come back down.
3. Ustrasana (Camel Pose)
The camel pose causes stretching in your abdominal region. The pull in your stomach signals your uterine muscles which ease your menstrual cramps. This yoga asana for PCOS treatment also stretches the spine which relieves mild lower back pain.
How To Do It:
- Kneel on the floor.
- Arch your back slowly.
- Touch your heels with your hands.
- Hold this for 30 to 60 seconds.
4. Dhanurasana (Bow Pose)
Dhanurasana is one of the best yoga asanas for PCOS treatment. It increases circulation to the pelvic region, releases tension from abdominal organs, and also stretches the neck, shoulders, and leg muscles.
How To Do It:
- Lie face down.
- Lift your hands and feet.
- Join hands and feet above your body and hold them.
- Continue holding for 30 seconds and repeat.
Learn 10 asanas that boost fertility in women here.
5. Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend Pose)
This asana calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression which can be common while PMSing. It also helps relieve the symptoms of menopause and menstrual discomfort.
How To Do It:
- Sit with your feet straight in front of you.
- Exhale as you stretch your body towards your feet.
- Hug your feet with your hands and hold them for one minute.
6. Chakravakasana (Cat-Cow Pose)
The Cat-Cow Pose is also high on the go-to list of yoga asanas for PCOS treatment. Yoga promotes calorie burn in the body by pumping up the metabolism and managing your weight.
How To Do It:
- Get in a tabletop position with your palms down, wrists and elbows aligned under shoulders, knees under hips, and ankles straight back from the knees. You can curl the toes under or tops of the feet down, as the flow moves you.
- Inhale, bend the elbows, lower the belly, and lift the chin and the tailbone simultaneously, moving each of the vertebrae of the spinal column in a wave.
- Reverse the movement on the exhale by tucking the tailbone and chin, and doming the back as you draw the navel toward the spine as the chin tips toward the chest.
- Repeat for the desired amount of times.
Find 5 yoga poses that will help improve your gut health here.
7. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose)
Bridges are not only one of the best exercises for a sculpted butt, but they will also help keep your back healthy and pain-free. It helps eliminate period cramps with ease. Place a block under your sacrum (tailbone area) for added support, especially if your back pain is intense.
How To Do It:
- Lay face-up with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor.
- Raise your hips so your body forms a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
- Pause in the up position, then lower your body back to the starting position.
8. Supta Virasana (Reclining Hero Pose)
The reclining variation of Virasana is an intermediate pose. It helps get rid of menstrual discomfort and helps regulate your menstrual flow as it stretches the abdomen.
How To Do It:
- Placing the palms on the floor beside the buttocks, slowly bend back, placing the right forearm and the elbow on the ground and then the left.
- Bring the back of your head to the ground while arching the back.
- Place the hands on the thighs. If necessary, separate the knees, and avoid overstraining the muscles or legs.
- Breathing in and taking the support of the elbows and the arms raise the head above the ground.
- Then shift the bodyweight on the left arm and elbow by sliding the body, then slowly coming to the starting position.
9. Shavasana (Corpse Pose)
The corpse pose, or Shavasana, can help in relaxing the mind and keep your cortisol levels in check. Since stress is one of the leading causes of PCOS, this yoga asana for PCOS treatment can help you de-stressing.
How To Do It:
- Lie down flat on your back. Place both your hands on either side of your body with palms facing up.
- Close your eyes and lie still.
- Breathe slowly and as deeply as possible through your nostrils.
- Empty your mind and focus on your breathing.
- Try to lie in that position for at least 10 minutes.
10. Supta Baddha Konasana (Butterfly Or Bound Angle Pose)
This is an excellent restorative pose that completely supports the spine and back body, while gently releasing tension from the shoulders and chest, and opening the heart and the hips.
This pose is appropriate for every level. To modify, use blankets or pillows under the shoulders, under the head at an incline, and under the thighs.
How To Do It:
- Begin seated on the mat with your legs extended in front of you.
- Bend your knees and bring your heels toward you to press the soles together. Your knees will drop to the sides.
- Lean backwards until your back is on the floor. Arms will be supported and open, palms up.
- Close your eyes, and breathe deeply for 3–5 minutes, or longer if you are comfortable.
- Be sure to come out of the pose mindfully, by rolling to your right side and pausing there for several breaths and then up to seated, or in any way that works best for you.
11. Janu Sirsasana (Head-To-Knee Pose)
The head-to-knee pose or Janu Sirsasana stretches your entire back and deeply stretches the back of your legs. This yoga posture helps you calm your mind and emotions and stimulates the nervous, reproductive system, endocrine, and urinary systems, thereby keeping the problem of PCOS at bay. So, don’t worry, start practising yoga asanas for PCOS treatment and make your health the priority.
How To Do It:
- Sit down on a yoga mat.
- Extend the left leg to the corner of your mat, foot flexed, back of the heel down, toes to the sky. The right knee is bent with the foot tucked as close as comfortable to the groin.
- Extend your arms over the legs, breathe in deeply, and exhale, moving the upper body gently toward the left foot, while slowly bringing your right arm in an arc over your head. A strap is nice to create resistance and go deeper into this stretch of the rib cage facing the sky (the right on this side).
- Feel the twist of the torso, the shoulder/hip opener, the gentle massage of the sacroiliac joint, and the movement of kidneys, ovaries, and each internal organ with each deep breath.
- Do 7-12 on each side.
12. Naukasan (Boat Pose)
Naukasan works on the abdominal muscles and organs located in the abdominal cavity. It is also known to regulate thyroid function – one of the effects of having PCOS.
How To Do It:
- Lay down on your stomach.
- Stretch your hands in front of you. Join the palms together.
- Stretch your feet out. Raise the legs and the upper body off the ground while inhaling.
- Balance the entire body on the pelvis.
- Hold for a few seconds and release while exhaling. Repeat 4-5 times.
13. Balasana (Child’s Pose)
Balasana releases lower back tensions, and menstrual cramps and normalises blood flow throughout the body.
How To Do It:
- Kneel down on your mat keeping your legs together.
- Bend forward so that your chest touches your thighs.
- Place your hands in the front or by the sides.
- Hold this yoga pose for 1-3 minutes to experience stress and anxiety relief.
14. Chakki Chalanasana (Mill Churning Pose)
Called ‘moving the grinding wheel’, this posture helps in improving abdominal functions and exercises the uterus and reproductive organs. It helps to promote endocrine functions and hormonal secretions. It is an excellent asana to strengthen the abdominal muscles.
How To Do It:
- Sit with your legs splayed apart. Clasp your hands and outstretch your arms at shoulder height in front of you.
- Take a deep breath in and start moving the upper part of your body to the front and right, forming an imaginary circle with your body.
- Inhale as you go forward and to the right, and exhale as you go backwards and to the left.
- Keep breathing deeply and easily while rotating.
- Make 5-10 rounds in one direction and then repeat in the opposite direction.
Women suffering from PCOS tend to face physical and mental issues and the yoga asanas for PCOS treatment mentioned above can help you keep your weight in check and regulate hormones. Practising yoga and meditation are effective ways that can relax your mind and help in regularising your monthly cycles.
Surprisingly, most women with PCOS don’t even know they have it. Take this quiz to see if you may have PCOS, click here.
