In the Ayurvedic healing system, attracts likes and opposites balanceduring this chilly season. Meanwhile, stoking your inner flame with twists and invigorating postures will help to bring Kapha’s heavy and moist qualities into greater balance.
While you might feel tempted to go into hibernation mode during winter, it can be beneficial to get your heart pumping and create some heat from within.
There is a few yoga asanas that can help you fully enjoy the spirit of the season.
1. Adho Mukha Svanasana
From all fours, tuck your toes under and lift your hips into an inverted “V” shape. Pedal your feet and sway your hips a few times to settle into the pose, and as you are ready to find stillness, lift your seat a little higher as you stretch down through your heels. Allow stillness to spread throughout your nervous system as you hold the pose for as long as you like.
Winter time benefits:
Downward Facing Dog both invigorates and calms the nervous system, making it a perfect posture for finding harmony. It creates a sense of integration and balance between the right and left sides, as well as between the upper and lower body.
2. Ashta Chandrasana
Step your right foot forward into a lunge, keeping your back leg strong and straight. Come upright with your hands on your hips as you find stability and balance between your legs. Feel free to widen your feet from right to left to find greater solidity in the pose. Lift your hips points toward your lower ribs, so as to create greater freedom in your lower back.
When you are ready, stretch your arms overhead, while drawing the heads of the upper arm bones back into their respective shoulder sockets. Relax the shoulders, face, and eyes, as you gaze out over the horizon line. Hold for several breaths and then repeat on the second side.
Winter time benefits:
In general, standing poses build stamina, heat, and strength. Crescent Lunge, in particular, teaches you to face life with an open heart, directly and honestly. As you work to face your hips and heart straight ahead, you get clear about your direction in life, while remaining grounded and secure in the present moment.
3. Parivrtta Ashta Chandrasana
Return to Crescent Lunge with your right leg forward, and bring your right hand to your right hip. Keeping as much length as you can in your torso, begin to twist vertically to the right, allowing the upper body to tilt forward when you can’t go any further. Hook your left elbow outside your front thigh, and bring your hands to a prayer position.
Press your hands strongly into one another, drawing the shoulders onto your back body, and rotate your torso toward the right thigh. Sense the spiral of energy moving around your spine and use your breath to spread that energy all the way up and down your body. Draw the navel in toward your spine as you take several breaths in this shape. Repeat on the second side.
Winter time benefits:
Revolved Prayer Lunge provides a powerful massage for the internal organs, which can be beneficial during Kapha season when digestion can sometimes be lagging. The deep twisting action stimulates elimination, and counteracts the sluggishness of a Kapha imbalance.
4. Trikonasana
Begin in a wide standing posture. Turn the right foot out at a 90-degree angle and ensure the outer edge of your left foot aligns with the short edge of your yoga mat. Press your feet evenly into the earth, activating your legs and drawing the muscles in toward the bones. Lift your arms to shoulder height and extend out through your fingertips.
Feel the sacred triangular shapes you are making with your legs and in the space between your bottom arm and front leg. Breathe into the whole body while feeling a strong sense of integration at your center. Squeeze your legs together to come up and out of the pose, and then repeat on the second side.
Winter time benefits:
Practicing Triangle pose in winter helps to balance your entire system physically and energetically. Almost all of your muscles are working in this pose, yet the shape promotes balance, calm, and a deep sense of peace.
5. Ardha Matsyendrasana
Sit on the ground with both sitting bones rooted evenly. Bring the sole of your right foot to the floor outside your left thigh as you bring your left foot around so the heel is in contact with your right hip. Interlace your fingers around your right shin and lengthen your spine as you inhale deeply. As you exhale, twist to the right, bringing your right fingertips to the floor behind you.
Your left hand can either keep hugging your shin, or you can cross your elbow outside your leg for added leverage in the twist. Turn your gaze to look over your right shoulder. To exit the pose, unwind your spine as you inhale, and slowly release before taking the second side.
Winter time benefits:
This seated twist massages the digestive organs and promotes healthy elimination, while at the same time calming the nervous system. It stimulates lymph flow and the immune system, which is helpful during cold and flu season. This pose also opens the rib cage for deeper breathing and respiratory health.
6. Savasana
Lie down on your back and lengthen through your legs. Roll your legs in and out from the midline a few times, letting them naturally fall open and rest. Draw your shoulder blades onto your back, flipping your palms face up and open across your chest. Close your eyes with your head in a neutral position. Take a deep breath and release any effort to control your breath. Sense the natural intelligence of all the systems in your body as you rest here for five to 20 minutes.
Winter time benefits:
Savasana is extremely calming and balancing for the entire system, and it aligns with the energy of winter that calls for rest and restoration.
7. Sirsasana
Interlace your fingers and cradle the back of your head on the floor. Press down so much with the elbows and forearms that the shoulders lift away from the ears and there is minimal weight in the head and neck. Tuck your toes under and walk your feet in toward your head. Strongly engage your core muscles and tuck your knees into your chest as you lift your feet off the floor. Slowly extend both legs straight up to the sky, creating a long line of energy from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes. Hold for a few breaths or several minutes, coming down as mindfully as you went up.
Winter time benefits:
When done in proper alignment, it strengthens and aligns the arms and shoulders, while bringing circulation to the face, neck, and brain. Headstand reverses the effects of gravity on the lungs and internal organs, bringing greater vitality and a boost to the immune system. Energetically, Headstand is meditative in nature, yet energizes and increases stamina.
8. Bakasana
You can always place a pillow or bolster under your head just in case you do fall. Rock in and out of the pose a few times before holding for as long as you can.
From a forward bend, squat down with the feet together and the knees apart. Place your hands firmly on the ground, just as they were for Downward Facing Dog, with a firm base of support beneath the webbing between your thumbs and forefingers. Lift your hips high, place your knees into your armpits; allow your shins to rest on your upper arms like a shelf. Keep squeezing your feet energetically toward the midline as you shift your weight forward and lift your feet off the ground. Looking forward will help prevent you from falling forward.
Winter time benefits:
Crow Pose builds strength and stamina and gets your heart pumping. Focus on being simultaneously grounded and light in your energy, and see if it becomes easier to take flight.
Nothing can be compared to the feeling of snuggling in a blanket on a chilly winter morning. Waking up lazily to a cup of hot coffee, sipping it while enjoying the mist outside the window, or chewing on nuts and dates in the evenings. Winter brings with it all these luxuries and more. However, it is also involuntarily accompanied by dry skin, chapped lips, body ache, cold, cough, viral infections, and joint pains. Not to forget a general dull and gloomy feeling, which is an unsolicited gift of the weather outside.
Benefits of practicing yoga in the winter
1. Yoga keeps you warm.
In the cold climate, you can start your day with a few yoga poses. Doing so will help you keep warm and prevent joint aches.
2. Yoga helps boost immunity.
Cold, cough, and viral fever are common in winter. Practicing breathing exercises helps clear any chest congestion and boosts your immunity.
3. Yoga uplifts your mood.
Doing certain practices of yoga for winter helps reduce the blues that come along with this season. These include breathing exercises and meditation. Both of these can help you feel calm, free of stress, and happy.
4. Yoga helps maintain weight.
During winter, you may gain weight as your appetite increase and you may indulge during social events. To keep a check on this, make yoga your priority.
5. Yoga improves your sleep quality.
Winter is the time when you feel more cozy than usual and practicing yoga can actually enhance your sleep.
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