Can yoga asanas help you boost immunity? Do the results are quick or slow-paced? Do the effects are long-lasting? Can I perform yoga asanas during the summer heat? The answer is yes!
Thinking about the sickness and low energy scorching heat, humidity and changing weather are the main reasons to blame. But try to observe the ones who regularly practice yoga rarely get sick or feel low in energy. Because a regular practice of yoga asanas effectively develops the immune system of the body to fight against external environmental factors, viral or bacterial infections. A variety of yoga asanas helps build strength, enhances oxygen supply & energy levels, lowers stress & anxiety levels, induces positivity and freshness.
During summer due to high temperatures body gets dehydrated, losing vital minerals causing weaken immunity. This causes vulnerability to sickness, tiredness, body ache, headache, diarrhea, fever, and inflammation. Perform following yoga asanas especially beneficial to regulate the body temperature, blood circulation, calming inflammation, and developing a healthy immune system.
1) Easy pose
This comfortable seating pose in a relaxed position is good at regulating almost everything in your body. This yoga asana helps you relax your mind and body, calm the nervous system and bring down the stress, anxiety thus giving your relief from the chain of unnecessary thought process. This is the most preferred yoga pose used for practicing cooling meditation, helping you to drive deeper into a relaxing state. You can also add the Sitali breath (inhaling through curled tongue) technique along with it to further cool down your body.
2) Cat/Cow pose
We tend to hold tension in our body due to overheating caused by summer. This holding of tension blocks the energy chakras further leading to holding heat in our body. Practicing yoga asanas such as Cat/Cow pose have a cooling effect on our body that relieves tension from the neck, arms, spine, and central nervous system. It allows you to release heat from these spots and open up your energy centers, ultimately regulating your body temperature and keeping you cool.
3) Pigeon pose
Along with the neck and spine, hips are also the hotspot for holding the tension and blocking the energy. This trapped energy in our body can be freed with the help of hip-opening yoga asanas such as pigeon pose. Hip opener yoga asanas allow you to release the negative energy and unblock the flow of positive energy, thus releasing the fatigue and diminishing the problem of low enthusiasm.
4) Shoulder stand
This is the favorite yoga pose for many yogis due to its wide benefits. This is one of the best yoga asanas you can try to regulate body temperature. It makes sure the blood flow to each and every part of the body, improves digestion, calms the nervous system, increases oxygen supply to the brain (low oxygen supply is a common problem in summer due to dehydration), strengthens internal organs.
5) Wind-relieving pose
This is a great yoga asana to aid in digestion, build core muscles. It helps us to balance the weight we tend to gain during the summer due to sugary drinks. Digestion is a burning process of calories that brings up the temperature of the body. Blocked digestion or difficulty in digesting further escalates the body this yoga asana is known to open up the chest, lungs, shoulders, hips and stimulates digestion.
6) Forward bend
It is a great option to practice yoga in summer with this asana. As it doesn’t require your body to warm up to do this asana. Just inverting your body and bending it forward relaxes your nervous system and regularizes your metabolic rate at the optimum level, thus not over-heating up your body in the process. This helps you to control body heat.
7) Downward facing hero pose
This yoga asana is used as a rest pose in a heating vinyasa class. But there is much more in it than simple rest. It is an excellent back and shoulder stretcher thus unblocking the tension and energy there. It removes the soreness in the muscles and thus reduces body pain. Use the modification suggested by your yoga teacher if you can’t go to the full extent of the asana.
8) Head-to-knee forward bend
This is the best option to end your yoga asana session with this pose to cool off your body temperature. It has the ability to switch on the parasympathetic nervous system thus cooling your body. Additionally, it stimulates the liver and kidney, allowing the body to flush out the toxins from the body.
The summer heat tends to increase the body temperature and thus damage your vital organs and ultimately weakens immunity. So it is very important to keep your body cool during summertime through the increased fluid intake, modifications in diet & exercise. Practice these cooling yoga asanas to keep yourself cool and fresh throughout the summer season.