Postures & Mudra to Reduce Body Heat & Help You Cool Down.

With the summer season in full swing and high temperatures raging throughout the day, it is imperative to maintain a healthy lifestyle now more than ever. With the #HealthySummerWithActivLiving campaign, let your mental and physical well-being take precedence over heat-induced lifestyle conditions.

Summers make us sluggish, and the discomfort is real. While you try to prioritize fitness, abundant sweating and heat exhaustion can get to you, resulting in dehydration, sunburn, and stomach problems. Here is where yoga can play an essential role in helping you cool down during peak summers.

What you need to know:

Importance of yoga mudras
2 yoga mudras to cool down in summer
2 yoga postures to cool down in summer

Instead of standing in front of an air conditioner all day, you can resort to naturally cooling yoga poses. The best time to schedule your yoga practise is early in the morning, as it is the coolest time of the day. If the temperatures are soaring, avoid breathing exercises like Kapal Bhati (cleaning the sinuses) and Agnisara (abdomen contractions). Use calming pranayams with breathing practises such as Anulom Vilom (controlled breathing), Bhramari (humming bee technique), and Ujjayi (controlled breathing). These yoga exercises will render a cooling sensation in your body. Yoga mudra comprises simple hand gestures, and they aim to be in touch with your inner energy.

Importance of using yoga mudras

It is an age-old practise of using yoga to channel energy through hand gestures or mudras, which further helps in quelling pitta or heat in extraordinarily hot temperatures. Your one hand’s individual fingers represent the five elements of nature (air, water, fire, earth, and wind). Yogic mudras use a homunculus map or a biological map to manage powerful healing reactions in the body.

Here are a few benefits of yoga mudras:

Yoga mudras help regulate the body temperature by channeling the energy to the right body parts. The mudras designed to cool down the body help reduce excess heat and maintain the body’s internal temperature.
Mudras help to enhance energy flow through the body. This can help to reduce stress, anxiety, and tension, which can all contribute to feeling hot and bothered during the summer months.
Some mudras are designed to promote relaxation and reduce stress. When you are relaxed, your body temperature naturally drops, helping you to feel cooler and more comfortable.
Certain mudras can boost the immune system, which can be vital during the summer months when the body is more susceptible to heat-related illnesses.
Yoga mudras have been practised for thousands of years and are known to have many health benefits. Incorporating mudras into your yoga practise can improve your overall health and well-being, helping you feel better during the hot summer months.

2 yoga mudras to cool down in summer

Jal mudra (water hand gesture) –

Since time immemorial, several yogis and our ancestors have practised this yoga mudra to reduce body heat. Sit in a meditative position with your eyes closed. Touch the tip of your little finger to the tip of your thumb on both hands for 3-5 minutes. Extend the three middle fingers on each hand and rest the back of your hand on your knees. Relax and focus on the sensation of your fingers touching. The water element of this yogic pose is said to bring about a calming and soothing effect.

Prana mudra (seal hand gesture) –

Touch the tip of your ring finger and little finger to the tip of your thumb on both hands to control the heating condition of your body. Extreme heat can cause irritation and anger. Therefore, practising this mudra relieves mental tension, restlessness, and frustration.

2 yoga postures to cool down in summer

Shavasana (corpse pose) –

This is one of the most relaxing yoga poses. Lie down on the ground with your hands and feet apart. Inhale and exhale deeply. This yoga posture relaxes your nervous system and helps you cool down by lowering your body temperature, using gravity to bring the blood back to your heart.

Prasarita Padottanasana (standing wide-legged forward bend) –

Stand with your feet wide apart on your yoga mat as much as your lower back and hamstrings allow. Bring your hands down to the ground. This pose stretches your calves, hips, hamstrings, and back, and also relieves stress, anxiety, mild depression, and neck and shoulder tension. The idea is to get your head below the heart in order to reduce hot-headedness, a common phenomenon in summer. On excessively hot days, try to exhale through your mouth to dissipate the internal heat.

Individuals tend to face many stomach and digestive problems that can drastically disturb the body’s equilibrium. Excess heat can lead to diarrhea, acidity or heartburn, indigestion, vomiting, irritable bowel syndrome and sometimes the loss of hunger. This is why many people prefer drinking cold beverages instead of consuming food, especially if it’s heavy and not easily digestible. All these things lead to severe acidity and bloating. Here is where eating food items that have a cooling effect on the stomach becomes important. Practising these yoga postures and mudra to reduce body heat internally is crucial as well.

Hold the yoga postures for long periods as it helps you cool down mentally and physically. Have an even longer meditation and relaxation session to cool down properly.

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