If you want to have a healthy body, then find out what methods yoga offers for training in the winter. The laws by which the human body lives in summer and winter are different. This suggests that seasonal adjustments need to be made in sports. Now we will tell you what yoga should be like in winter so that you get maximum results.
Features of summer yoga practice
First, we need to understand the peculiarities of yoga classes in summer and winter. Let's start our conversation with summer practice. In summer, nature is active, which in a certain way affects all processes in the human body. In the summer, we are in a good mood, our metabolism is high, as is our tone.
It is quite obvious that the use of warming asanas standing, inverted or balance on the hands in such a situation is completely unnecessary for us. The most useful in this case will be cooling asanas - twisting, forward bending and light backward bends. Also, you should remember that in order to eliminate overheating of the body during training, you need to work in a calm style.
Breathing exercises will also be very useful in the summer. Introduce pranayama in your program, for example, sheetali (cools the breath) and chandra bedana (produces a calming effect). When performing them, you need to focus on increasing the expiratory time.
Yoga classes in winter
So we come to the question of what features yoga has in winter. Since nature falls asleep in winter, you also need to make adjustments to your activities. The body also reduces its activity and to normalize all processes, as well as to strengthen immunity, you will have to make some effort.
In winter, a lot of energy is expended on warming up. Therefore, many people feel sleepy, depressed and discouraged. In addition, in winter, people are more susceptible to various diseases. Based on all of the above, you can deduce the basic rules that you need to use during yoga classes in winter.
Even when exercising indoors, before starting your workout, you should warm up the muscles of the whole body well. To do this, it is worth performing a couple of dynamic complexes, for example, surya namaskar. They help increase blood flow, normalize the endocrine system and strengthen the spinal column.
Active yoga in winter increases your heart rate. According to one of the existing theories, this leads to an increase in the number of white cells in the blood, which actively fight against pathogens. In other words, doing yoga in winter strengthens your immune system and makes you less susceptible to colds and infections. But high intensity can also have a negative effect, since the body's defenses are reduced.
To improve the blood supply to all tissues and organs, as well as to restore vital energy reserves, we recommend the practice of inverted positions and balances on the hands. With the help of twisting, inflammation can be eliminated. Various bends to the side and forward, as well as asanas for opening the chest in combination with restorative postures can activate the immune and digestive systems.
To accelerate blood flow to the thymus (thymus) area, practice asanas that open up the heart muscle area. Recall that the thymus synthesizes special immune cells called T-lymphocytes. They deal with a large number of pathogens as efficiently as possible.
As an excellent means of preventing colds, we recommend using asanas such as "Fish", "Cobra" and "Bridge". Perform them once daily and in a short time you can feel the effect. If your immune system still does not cope with the disease, then do these asanas twice a day. To do this, you will need to spend about five minutes and will reliably protect against colds in the future.
It is very common for people to experience depression in cold weather, and yoga in winter will help to cope with this. To solve this problem, it is possible to recommend performing asanas that can open the chest - ushtrasana, dhanurusana. If your mood has dropped, then hand balances will help, which can restore the reserves of vital energy. Back bends such as setu bandha sarvangasana, bhujangasana and matsyasana are also excellent choices. Remember to make adjustments to your workouts depending on the time of year. As you may have just noticed, yoga in winter is different from summer practice.
Benefits of doing yoga in winter
Let's take a look at what positive effects yoga can bring you in winter.
- Provides warmth to the body. In winter, people become lethargic and flexibility is lost. To fix this, you should do yoga in the winter. By warming up muscles and joints, you have a positive effect on the whole body. As a result, the muscles become less tight, blood flow increases, and spasms are eliminated. The warmth inside your body will help you cope with the cold more easily throughout the day.
- The immune system improves. By doing yoga regularly, you can significantly strengthen your immune system. In winter, we are more susceptible to various diseases, and due to insufficient activity of the body, it is difficult for him to fight against pathogens. Yoga and drinking enough water have a beneficial effect on our immunity.
- The reserves of vital energy are increasing. In winter, the daylight hours sharply decrease, and we feel very lazy. This is due to a decrease in the reserves of vital energy and it is worth doing yoga to restore them. Spending on training only three to four hours during the week, you will burn to activate all processes in your body and get rid of lethargy. Make it a habit after waking up to perform a yoga complex in the winter and the whole coming day you will be vigorous, and your efficiency will increase dramatically.
- Improved sleep quality. It is often difficult to fall asleep in winter and as a result, the body does not fully recover. It is quite obvious that if you constantly break the daily routine, then yoga will not be able to help you. To normalize your sleep pattern, in addition to regular yoga, you need to eat a maximum of two hours before going to bed, go to bed at the same time, and also drink soothing teas.
- Creates a sense of harmony. In winter, we celebrate a lot of holidays and this is an excellent reason to reduce the requirements for ourselves. As a result, people can gain weight without noticing it. Yoga in winter will help you get rid of excess calories through special asanas and find harmony.
- Increases strength, posture and flexibility. Human activity decreases in winter, and we move less. This leads to weakening of the muscles, and the joints lose their mobility. This can result in pain in the back, neck and hip joint. Also, do not forget about the working conditions, which are often uncomfortable, forcing a person to be in unnatural positions for a long time. Through yoga, you can avoid these unpleasant moments.
- Eliminates various restrictions. With frequent stresses that are possible at work, a person quickly gets tired and his productivity drops sharply. The situation is similar with discomfort in the back or neck. All this negatively affects our condition. By doing yoga in winter, you can remove all limitations, both psychological and physical.
- Accelerates lipolysis processes. In winter, we often eat large amounts of food, which is often harmful to the body. As a result, body weight increases and in the spring you have to actively fight fat, but this is not so easy to do. Doing yoga during the winter will help you maintain your weight. In addition, you will not leave the feeling of a healthy body.
Winter yoga tips
It should come as no surprise that yoga classes in winter can also be done outdoors. Note that they are more effective than indoor workouts. Of course, you need to dress warmly, although many asanas require serious physical effort, and you will definitely not freeze. At the same time, with profuse sweating, even a small draft can lead to the development of a cold.
People living in cold regions should start classes ten minutes earlier in winter. This is necessary to conduct a better warm-up, without which the workout cannot be started. Since viral infections spread very quickly in winter, you should try to stay away from people who may be carriers of the disease. Remember that pathogens can be transmitted through the mat, and for this reason, always use only your own.
If you are still overtaken by an illness, then it is better to skip classes. Since you will enable the body to recover faster and will not bring infection to your group of yoga fans.
Despite the fact that the teaching of yoga appeared in India, whose inhabitants are unfamiliar with our frosts, there are asanas that can significantly strengthen the immune system. This primarily applies to breathing exercises. Unfortunately, many people underestimate the importance of these complexes for the body. If you are doing yoga training outdoors in winter, we recommend inhaling slowly and exhaling quickly in 5 portions.
How to start yoga in winter for beginners, see here:
