Phase 1 · Start, and Find Your Response

Part of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Type 2 Diabetes

10 Minute Yoga Sequence for After a Meal

Ten minutes standing, an hour or so after eating. This is the session with the most direct effect of any of them.

Blood sugar rises after a meal, and moving while it is rising blunts the rise. The reviews of yoga in type 2 diabetes measure this directly: post meal glucose came down by around 25 mg/dl against control groups. Ten minutes of standing work is not a substitute for the longer sessions, but it is the one you can do on a Tuesday evening after dinner, and the timing is the whole point of it.

10 min · Level 1

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When it helps

About an hour after a main meal, on as many days as you like. Ten minutes, standing, with a chair or wall in reach. This runs alongside your diabetes treatment, not instead of it. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, check your blood glucose before you practise and keep fast acting carbohydrate within reach.

Metabolic effect

Working muscle takes glucose out of the blood without insulin. Doing that while blood sugar is rising is the most direct thing in this whole program.

Physical effect

Legs, and one twist through the middle. Nothing that involves lying down straight after eating.

Timing

An hour after the meal rather than immediately after. Comfortable, and still inside the window where it matters.

Ten minutes on your feet

All standing, all legs, one twist. Nothing lying down straight after a meal.

Tadasana

1 min

Mountain Pose

Stand tall, feet hip width, ujjayi breathing.

A minute to set the breathing before the legs start working.

Learn more about Tadasana

Uttanasana

45 sec

Standing Forward Bend

Fold forward with soft knees. Come up slowly.

Lengthens the back of the legs before they get loaded.

Learn more about Uttanasana

Utkatasana

45 sec, twice

Chair Pose

Chair Pose, sitting back, thighs working.

The single most useful pose in this sequence. The thighs are the largest glucose sink you have.

Learn more about Utkatasana

Utthita Parsvakonasana

45 sec each side

Extended Side Angle Pose

Side Angle, forearm on the thigh, back foot pressing down.

A long hold with both legs engaged, which keeps the demand going.

Learn more about Utthita Parsvakonasana

Bharadvajasana 1

45 sec each side

Bharadvaja's Twist

Sit down for this one. A gentle twist, turning from the ribs.

The twist that runs through nearly every protocol in this research, in its most comfortable form.

Learn more about Bharadvajasana 1

Supta Kaptasana

45 sec each side

Reclining Pigeon Pose

On your back, ankle across the opposite thigh.

A quiet finish for the hips after standing.

Learn more about Supta Kaptasana

Savasana

1 min

Corpse Pose

A minute flat, then get up slowly.

Short, because the point of this session is the movement rather than the rest.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 3

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Start, and Find Your Response, the first phase of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Type 2 Diabetes. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

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Integration

On as many days as you like, and it stacks with the longer sessions rather than replacing them. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, this is one worth taking a reading around a few times so you know your own response.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

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