Cool off!

Cool Off

It's been a hot (and soggy!) summer. If you're like me, you may be happy for your garden but anxious about climate change while dripping sweat and hypervigilant about monitoring your basement for flooding. (Check out this great meditation series on Insight Timer on Eco-Anxiety)

We often practice yoga in a warm environment because it can be nice for our muscles and this summer we've had plenty of natural hot yoga. However, sometimes being too hot can have its disadvantages- we can get dehydrated, we can overstretch our muscles and hurt ourselves, or from an Ayurvedic perspective, our agni (or inner fire) may burn too bright.

Instead, we can use yoga to cultivate balance-not too hot not too cold.
Here are a few practices to cool us off when the heat is turned up too high:

  • Sitali pranayam: The straw or cooling breath

    • Inhale through a curled tongue

    • Exhale through the nose

    • Can't curl the tongue? Inhale with a flat tongue sticking slightly out, mouth open....or try sitkari below :)

  • Sitkari pranayam: The sipping or hissing breath

    • Place the tip of your tongue behind your front teeth

    • Part your lips but keep your teeth together (think big, forced smile :P)

    • Inhale through the teeth

    • Exhale through the nose

  • Visual learner? Follow @mindfuldetroit on Instagram for recent reels on these two breathing practices

  • Connecting with the earth element (I would also say water but we've had too much of that lately here in MI):

    • Think asana (poses) close to the ground, folding forward, or twisting. A practice that is slow, gentle, and restorative (Rather than heating sun salutations (sun is literally in the name!)

    • Visit mountains or if you can’t, add a photo of some to your altar/special space

    • Literally touch the earth!

      • Walk through early morning dewy grass barefoot

      • Get your hands dirty in a garden

  • Aromatherapy: Diffuse peppermint or eucalyptus oil or apply some to your body diluted in a carrier oil (careful too much can burn!)

  • Try some cucumber or mint in your water (as opposed to ice. Ice water isn't recommended in Ayurveda as it can be too cooling and dampen our agni too much)