Asanaverse

Type 2 Diabetes

12 Week Yoga Program for Type 2 Diabetes

You have been told to be more active, and the number you are being judged on comes back every three months. What is missing is something specific enough to actually do four times a week, that has been measured against the outcome you care about.

Our yoga teachers built this twelve week program from the protocols that lowered HbA1c in the trials, and from the finding that yoga did more for blood sugar than walking did. Twelve weeks, four sessions a week, alongside whatever your diabetes team has you on.

Four sequences, twelve weeks, four or five sessions a week. Twelve is the most common length in this research and the length of the most thoroughly documented protocol in it.

Length

12 weeks

Practices

52 in total

Rhythm

Four to five sessions a week

Made for

Adults with diagnosed type 2 diabetes, alongside their existing treatment

What the research says

A meta-analysis of 12 randomised trials with 864 adults with type 2 diabetes found yoga lowered fasting blood glucose by 23.7 mg/dl and HbA1c by 0.47 percentage points against control groups. Two larger and more recent analyses point the same way, with HbA1c reductions in the range of 0.6 to 0.7 percentage points, so the direction and the size have now been replicated several times over.

The most useful comparison is the one against walking. A review of 16 trials with 1,820 people ran both against control conditions and against each other. Yoga lowered fasting glucose by 32 mg/dl, post meal glucose by 25.6, HbA1c by 0.73 percentage points and fasting insulin as well. Walking lowered fasting glucose by 12.4 mg/dl and HbA1c by 0.35. Head to head, yoga came out ahead on all three. That is an unusual thing to be able to say about yoga against an established exercise therapy.

The most thoroughly documented single trial names every pose and technique it used across twelve weeks. In its yoga arm HbA1c fell from 8.17 to 6.95 percent and fasting glucose from 144 to 102 mg/dl, while the group on standard medication alone moved from 8.12 to 7.46 percent. Perceived stress and diabetes distress dropped alongside the numbers. Its poses are the ones you will recognise here: Locust, Cobra, Bow, seated twists and Knees to Chest.

See every study and guideline behind this program →

How the program works

3 phases, and you stay with the same practices for the whole of each one. That repetition is the plan rather than a shortage of ideas. A body changes when the same ask comes back often enough, and the trials this program follows repeated for weeks before they made anything harder.

Weeks 1 to 3MoveGet the practice into the week and learn what it does to your own numbers.Weeks 4 to 9BuildReach the dose the trials used, four or five times a week.Weeks 10 to 12IntegrateGet to something you will still be doing four times a week in six months.

Each phase has one main session and the ten minute after meal session available whenever you want it. Open a session below to see every pose and its timing. One thing runs through all twelve weeks: this works because muscles use glucose while they work, so consistency across the week matters more than the length of any single session.

Who this is for

  • ·You have a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and you are under someone’s care for it.
  • ·Whatever medication you take, you are staying on it. This runs alongside.
  • ·You know whether you have retinopathy or reduced sensation in your feet, or you can find out before you start.
  • ·You want something more specific than being told to move more.
  • ·You can find twenty-five minutes four times a week.

Before you start

This runs alongside your diabetes treatment, not instead of it, and nothing here is a reason to change a dose without your team. Three specific adjustments matter: check your glucose before practising if you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, leave out inversions and breath holding if you have proliferative retinopathy, and do balance work at a wall if you have reduced sensation in your feet. The practice guide has the detail.

Read the full safety notes in the practice guide →

The practice

Two practices per phase. Open one to see every pose, its timing and the reason it sits where it does.

Move · Weeks 1 to 3

Start, and Find Your Response

Get the practice into the week and learn what it does to your own numbers.

Three weeks at a lower dose, with the full shape of the practice already in it. The useful thing to do in these three weeks is take a reading before and an hour after a few sessions. Everyone responds a little differently, and knowing your own response is what makes the rest of the program yours rather than generic.

  1. 1.Easy Pose3 min
  2. 2.Cat Pose1 min
  3. 3.Cow Pose1 min
  4. 4.Chair Pose45 sec, twice
  5. 5.Extended Side Angle Pose45 sec each side
  6. 6.High Cobra Pose30 sec, twice
  7. 7.Bridge Pose45 sec, twice
  8. 8.Reclining Pigeon Pose1 min each side
  9. 9.Legs Up the Wall3 min
  10. 10.Corpse Pose3 min
Open the full sequence →

Week by week

Week 1Sort out the three adjustmentsDo you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, do you have retinopathy, and do your feet have normal sensation. Those three answers decide what you change, and all three changes are small.
Week 2Take a reading before and afterOnce or twice this week, an hour after a session. Not to judge the session, to learn your own response.
Week 3Try the after meal oneAn hour after dinner, ten minutes standing. Most people find this the easiest session in the program to keep.
← Back to the type 2 diabetes practice guide

Build · Weeks 4 to 9

The Full Practice

Reach the dose the trials used, four or five times a week.

Six weeks at full strength. Standing poses in sets, prone back bends across the front of the body, and twists through the middle. That combination is not a stylistic choice: it is what nearly every yoga trial in type 2 diabetes actually contained, and the legs doing real work is the part that moves glucose.

Week by week

Week 4Learn the standing blockShorter holds this week while you find the shapes. The thighs should be working in Chair Pose. If they are not, sit back further.
Week 5Sets, with rest between themThree sets of Chair Pose with a rest is more useful than one long hold. That is a training principle, not a yoga one, and it applies here.
Week 6Four sessions, not threeThis is the week the frequency matters. The effect of a session on glucose handling fades within a day or two, so the gaps are what you are managing.
Week 7Decide about Bow PoseIt is the strongest back bend in the program and it has a substitute for a reason. Two rounds of Cobra instead is a complete answer.
Week 8Check in with the numbersIf you have an HbA1c due around now, this is a useful point to see it. Bear in mind it reflects the last three months, so week eight results are partly week one’s.
Week 9Notice what you would keepSomewhere in this phase most people work out which two or three poses they would keep if everything else went. That is the shape of phase three.
← Back to the type 2 diabetes practice guide

Integrate · Weeks 10 to 12

The Version That Repeats

Get to something you will still be doing four times a week in six months.

The effect here does not bank. It fades between sessions rather than accumulating, which means the version you can repeat is worth more than the version you can just about manage. These three weeks shrink the session to twenty-five minutes with everything important still in it, because four short sessions a week beats two long ones.

Week by week

Week 10Shrink it deliberatelyGoing from forty-five minutes to twenty-five feels like a step back. It is what makes the practice still exist in a busy month.
Week 11Four sessions in a normal weekNot a good week, a normal one. If four fits into a normal week, it will keep happening.
Week 12Decide what staysPick the sessions and the days. Then look back at the readings from week two and see what twelve weeks did.
← Back to the type 2 diabetes practice guide

The 18 poses in this program

Every pose has its own page with alignment, common mistakes and the energetic effect. Look one up when a shape does not make sense in your body.

Easy PoseCat PoseCow PoseChair PoseExtended Side Angle PoseHigh Cobra PoseBridge PoseReclining Pigeon PoseLegs Up the WallCorpse PoseMountain PoseStanding Forward BendBharadvaja's TwistDownward-Facing DogPyramid PoseWarrior IIIBow PoseReclining Belly Twist
Go to the Asana Lab →

The guide behind this program

Why these poses and not others

The Type 2 Diabetes practice guide explains what each pose does and why it belongs to this goal. It also carries the safety notes and every study this program is built on. Read it if you want the reasoning rather than the plan.

Read the guide →

Frequently Asked Questions

Can yoga replace my diabetes medication?

No. Every trial behind this program ran yoga alongside standard treatment, and none of them tested stopping medication. Any change to a dose is a decision for your diabetes team, and improving numbers is a reason to talk to them rather than to act on your own.

How much does it actually lower HbA1c?

Across three independent meta-analyses, between 0.47 and 0.73 percentage points against control groups. In the most detailed single trial it went from 8.17 to 6.95 percent over twelve weeks. Those are averages across varied trials, so treat them as what is possible rather than what is promised.

Is yoga better than walking for blood sugar?

In the one review that compared them head to head, yes. Yoga lowered fasting glucose by 32 mg/dl against walking’s 12.4, and HbA1c by 0.73 percentage points against 0.35. That is an unusually favourable comparison and it is the main reason this program is built around active poses rather than gentle ones.

Why does this program have standing poses rather than relaxation?

Because working muscle takes glucose out of the blood without needing insulin, and that is the mechanism. In none of these studies did restorative practice on its own move the glucose numbers. The relaxing part is at the end for a reason, and it is not the part doing the work.

Does this work for prediabetes?

Less clearly, and it is worth being straight about. The best designed study in prediabetes ran 24 weeks and found no significant change in fasting glucose or HbA1c, though body mass did improve. The strong evidence here is in people with a diagnosis, which is who this program is written for.

What if I take insulin?

Then check your glucose before you practise and keep fast acting carbohydrate within reach. Activity can lower blood sugar more than you expect, particularly the steady moderate kind that most yoga is. If your reading is below 100 mg/dl before a session, have around 15 grams of carbohydrate first.

Creator of this program

Manish Rana

Manish Rana

Founder of Asanaverse.de. Manish writes about yoga, Ayurveda and meditation, and owes his deep connection to yoga to his Indian roots. With over 1,000 hours of Yoga Alliance Teacher Training, he shares his knowledge with the community.

More about Manish →
Registered Experienced Yoga Teacher, E-RYT 500

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Every program here was built around one complaint and around the trials that studied it. Back, neck, knees, hips, sleep and stress, each one running for as long as the research says it takes.

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