This year has brought to our attention how health and wellbeing is something to both promote and value. And with so many restrictions in place currently, how can we take care of ourselves throughout?
Hot Yoga and Yoga online are fantastic ways you can support your immune health. And this article shows you how.
Stress and anxiety: Yoga soothes our nervous system
Stress and anxiety can increase our chances of becoming unwell. When our nervous system is in overdrive often and for long periods of time, it compromises our immune system. Practicing Hot Yoga or Yoga online at home decreases our stress hormones and calm our nervous system. This helps the immune system to do its job clearly, without constant signals to attack and defend. What we can find is that inflammation and mucus decrease and symptoms vanish.
Supports lymph system and lymphatic drainage
Our lymphatic system describes our white bloods cells, which travel throughout the entire of our bodies catching viruses and diseases that may have entered.
A physical Yoga practice, even a beginner online Yoga class, stimulates the movement of lymphatic fluid. This means the white blood cells can travel around more effectively and do a better job of finding and removing harmful toxins.
Some Yoga practices are especially useful in stimulating lymphatic drainage. Yoga classes that offer twists, inversions or dynamic movement can stimulate the lymphatic system effectively.
Gut Health: Yoga improves digestion and gut health
Did you know that 70% of our immune system lives in our gut? And the immune system is only separated from the microbiome by a wall as thick as 1 cell. This means a happy gut equals a happy immune system.
When we practice Yoga twists, postures that stretch the gut and that strengthen the abdomen, we stimulate our abdominal organs.
As well as what we choose to eat (if you are looking to learn more about what we can eat to support a healthy gut microbiome, this book is a fantastic resource), stimulation and relaxation of the gut are very important factors in gut health. Hot Yoga and Yoga helps greatly!
Pranayama for Lung health: Improved breathing means stronger lungs and increased oxygen uptake
Yoga offers a variety of simple and extremely useful breath practices (Pranayama) that strengthen the lungs and maximise your breathing capacity. Strong lungs means strong bronchial passages. Which helps us to ward off viruses, colds and the flu.
It doesn’t stop there, specific cleansing practices (Kriyas) offered in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (an ancient Hatha Yoga manual that we study deeply in our 200 Hour Yoga and Hot Yoga Teacher Training courses) help us support immune health. The practice of Kapalbhati increases the resistance of our abdominal tract. And Neti increases the resistance of our sinuses.
Physical vitality: Muscles and joints
The cold wintery air can cause dry skin, stiff joints and a chill in our bones. Yoga classes online warm us up. This helps us lubricate our joints with synovial fluid whilst also stabilising our muscles through strengthening practices.
The great thing about all of this? You can be a complete beginner to Yoga, Yoga online and Hot Yoga and still enjoy all of the above benefits. Moreover, Yogafurie’s Yoga classes online offer beginners yoga classes online as well as more demanding and intermediate yoga classes online to begin, learn and develop your Yoga.
If you’re interested, try this free online Yoga class offered by Yogafurie, home of Bristol Hot Yoga and Yogafurie online.
