Do you want to find out how to do yoga when sick? Here is the answer. Go through the article to have complete information.
Yoga can help you fight sickness by increasing your immunity, even if you aren’t feeling well. The best news? I’ve organized this sequence to include supported, restorative postures that use little energy. You can lay back and let the posture do the work once you’ve got the proper equipment.
The following exercises will help you stretch your muscles, support the lungs, and make breathing easier. In addition, supportive inversions, such as Supported Shoulderstand and Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose, will help to move your blood and lymph fluids so that your own body can heal.
When you have a cold, you might still benefit from yoga.
When you’re unwell, there are a few guidelines of thumb to follow while practicing yoga.
It’s OK to practice yoga if you have a cold and your symptoms are limited to the neck (sneezing, congestion). However, it’s probably best to do so from home rather than at the yoga studio.
However, if your neck symptoms are mild or only bother you when you lie down, you may prefer to avoid getting on the mat altogether. The most significant thing is to rest and allow your body’s energy to go towards healing if you have a fever, the flu, a stomach sickness, or feel rundown.
What Yoga Postures Are Best to Practice While You’re Sick?
While avoiding the studio is preferable to risking infecting other yogis, a few postures are ideal for home practice while recuperating.
Like all Eastern and Western techniques, Yoga is a powerful immune-boosting technique. Yoga promotes natural immunity by lowering stress hormones that weaken the immune system. Aloe vera is a powerful disinfectant that purifies the body, oxygenates it, and stimulates our internal organs, ensuring their optimal function by maintaining optimum health.
When you’re feeling well enough or wish to increase your immune system’s strength, try some of these yoga postures.
Alternate Nostril Breathing
It all starts with the breath, as it does with everything else. Pranayama practices can be beneficial in clearing one’s sinuses, relaxing one’s body, and relaxing the mind.
Technique
Form the fingers of your right hand into Vishnu Mudra, curling your index and middle fingers toward your palm. Close both of your nostrils with your thumb and use your ring finger and fifth finger together to close your left.
Exhale through the left nostril as you close the right one. Inhale through the left, seal it, and exhale through the right. Inhaled deeply but slowly out of both nostrils simultaneously. This is a single round.
Continue for ten rounds, breathing smoothly and deeply through alternating nostrils with both nostrils open.
Downward Facing Dog
When you’re congested, inversions don’t hurt your head much, and they aid in the circulation of white blood cells throughout the body while also draining the sinuses.
Technique
Knees should be beneath the hips and wrists under the shoulders.
To raise your hips and straighten your legs, curl your toes under and push back through your hands.
Keep your feet hip-width apart, pull up and through your frontal hip bones to engage your thighs, and extend down the outer edges of your feet and heels.
Keeping your fingers outstretched, pull your shoulders wide as you let the chest fall back toward your legs.
Keep your lower abdomen lifted and your diaphragm open to breathe deeply.
Cobra
The arm in this posture opens the lungs while also stimulating the thymus gland, which is located on the chest’s center. It can also be quite pleasant after days of being hunched up on the sofa or curled up in bed!
Technique
Place your arms straight out before you and turn them palms up. Start with the soles of your feet on the floor, pressing into the ground.
Bring the palms to the mat, clasping your elbows to your sides.
Engage the abdomen and legs, firmly pressing the feet and pubis into the floor.
Only lift your chest and head to the height where you can maintain a connection between your pubis and your legs on an exhale.
Deepen your stretch by drawing an elegant, even arc in your back. Then, for five breaths, maintain this posture and breathe deeply.
modification-On each inhale, lift the chest, and on each exhale, lower it back to the floor as you continue moving through your day while trying to improve one tiny area at a time.
Seated Spinal Twist
Hip openers and twists stimulate the spleen and lymph nodes in the groin and armpit and underarm lymph nodes. They also massage internal organs, assisting with the digestive process by cleansing the body of impurities.
Technique
Bend the right leg, bringing the right foot over the left knee. If this is too forceful, keep the right foot on the floor by grasping the inside of your left leg and pulling it close to your sit-bone. If the left knee is over the right knee, bend the left knee and bring the left foot near to the right buttock. If that’s more comfortable for you, keep it straight.
Hook the left arm outside the right knee and lift the palm or wrap the arm around the calf in a hug. The sacrum is placed on the floor behind the right arm.
Your upper body resembles a spiral. As you breathe in, extend your spine, and as you exhale, rotate your chest to the right using your arms to assist you go deeper into the twist.
Repeat on the other side. Again, 5 to 10 breaths should be adequate.
Shoulder Stand
All inversions assist lymph fluid in moving about the body and stimulating all internal organs, allowing them to function at their best. If the shoulder stand is causing too much strain on one’s sinuses or chest, legs up the wall (Viparita Karani) are another option.
Reclined Butterfly
The extended-leg forward bend propels blood to the head, arms, and back. In addition, it relieves sinus pressure by stretching the chest and hips and elevating the upper body. This restorative pose is ideal for savasana.
Wrapping Up
Make sure you modify your approach to fit the needs of your body. For example, a restorative session may be a wonderful method to ease back into your yoga routine while simultaneously strengthening your immune system.
Can I do yoga if I have a cold or the flu?
If you have a cold or the flu, it is best to avoid yoga altogether. This is because yoga involves close contact with other people, which can spread the illness. In addition, the physical exertion involved in yoga can make symptoms worse. If you must practice yoga while sick, wash your hands thoroughly and avoid touching your face and follow the tips mentioned in this article.
Is it OK to do yoga if I have a headache?
Yoga is generally safe for people with headaches. However, certain yoga poses may trigger headaches or make them worse. If you have a headache, avoid poses that involve headstands or inversions. These poses can increase the pressure in your head and make your headache worse.
Can I do yoga if I have a sore throat?
If you have a sore throat, it is best to avoid yoga altogether. Some yoga poses involve lying on your back, which can put pressure on your throat and make your symptoms worse. In addition, the physical exertion involved in yoga can make symptoms worse.
Can I do yoga if I have a fever?
If you have a fever, it is best to avoid yoga altogether. This is because the physical exertion involved in yoga can make symptoms worse. In addition, close contact with other people in yoga class can spread the illness. If you must practice yoga while sick, drink plenty of fluids, follow the tips above and try gentle yoga.