Cool Yoga for Hot, Humid Weather

Feb 12, 2018 | Climate, Restorative | 0 comments

Image of Eve lying on top of two bolsters placed at right angles.

Adapt your practice 

We’re facing a solid week ahead of temperatures in the low 30’s in our region, accompanied by high humidity. (For Americans, that translates to low 90’s.) 

For me, that points to doing my best to stay cool when I do my yoga practice. And I use yoga tools, like meditation, pranayama, relaxation and passive yoga poses, to cool my body and brain.

Consider some of the ways you can support better breathing, for instance, lying supine over bolsters to open your chest. Or doing pranayama seated at the wall with a foam block supporting your sacrum or dorsal thoracic.

The main advantage to working passively is that it requires a minimum amount of effort for maximum benefits. I’ve nicknamed the prop-supported yoga poses ‘flop-asanas’ as you sort of flop over bolsters and blankets. They serve to enhance your breathing, cool your brain and pacify your body’s systems. 

Here are a few cool yoga poses 

These are some of the poses which are user-friendly for times of intense heat and humidity. Hopefully, they will help you to thrive and not just survive.

Supta Baddha Konasana (5-10 minutes)

Supta Baddha Konasana with bolster, blankets & belt

Lie over a bolster. Rest your head on a folded blanket.

Support your knees with blankets or blocks. You can use a belt around your sacrum to bind your legs and feet.

Adho Mukha Virasana (3-5 minutes)

Adho mukha virasana with bolster & blocks

Stretch out over the top of a bolster which supports your torso. Your arms are stretched forward.

Have your forearms resting on another bolster beneath the first bolster, and your hands resting on blocks.

 

Supta Upavistha Konasana (3-5 minutes)

Supta Upavistha Konasana

Lie on a bolster at the wall with your buttocks supported on a bolster

and your legs in the splits.

 

Supported Swastikasana (2-3 minutes each cross of the legs)

x-leg supported forward bend

Sit cross-legged in front of a chair. Lean forward and place your arms on the seat of a chair.

Rest your head on your folded arms.

 

Supta Padangusthasana 1 & 2 (1 minute each stretch)

Supta Padangusthasana 1

Start with your feet at the wall. Hold a belt that is looped over your foot.

First, stretch your leg up vertically. Hold for 1 minute, then switch to other side. Come back to the original side.

Take your leg out to the side at a right angle. After one minute, repeat to the other side. Supta Padangusthasana 2

 

 

 

Savasana with Legs Supported on Chair (10-15 minutes)

Chair Savasana

Lie down in front of a chair with your head on a folded blanket.

Your lower legs are supported onto a chair.

 

(For an equally relaxing pose, click here for  ‘Mountain Brook Pose’. And, click here for the American Yoga Journal’s poses for beating the heat.)

 

Eve’s audio body scan relaxation

Here’s an audio recording for you to enjoy while you are in the yoga relaxation, or at any time.

 

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