Long days, golden sunsets, hazy skies and frangipanis – summer conjures up a delicious mix of memories, scents and images. It is the ultimate yang season where the heat of the day pulses into the evening to create the perfect ambience for parties, connections and celebrations.
it’s also a time where our diaries are full of engagements and end of year events, work deadlines, Christmas, and New Year. An increasingly busy time which then gives way to the collective sigh of the long January holidays…!
In Traditional Chinese Medicine summer is the time when the meridians of the heart and small intestines – which help to balance the fire element.
It’s a time to practice cooling pranayama and to quieten the mind to help balance the busyness of the season.
In Ayurveda the dosha pitta is believed to be aggravated so it is important to avoid feeling over-heated and flustered so check out our cooling summer breathing practices and yoga poses.
A breathing practice for summer
Sit on a Zabuton (Japanese meditation cushion). This cushion will provide comfort and encourage a good posture and aid deeper, easier breathing. LINK: https://www.yoga-king.com/meditation-products/zafu-zabuton-meditation-cushions.html
Just as the breath can energise the body it can also help to cool and calm. Do this breathing practice at the end of a workout or when you need to beat the heat!
Sitali (cooling) Breath:
Imagine you are sipping in through an imaginary straw and if you can, curl up either the sides of the tongue or create a cylinder or tube shape with the tongue.
On your inhale draw the breath over the surface of the tongue. The saliva and moisture in the mouth will cool the air, which in turn helps to cools the blood.
Then close the mouth and exhale through your nose.
Continue for a few more rounds. When finished you may notice your mouth feels a little dry, so take a few sips of water to rehydrate.
Two Summer yoga poses
You will need a yoga mat, bolster and blanket
LINK: https://www.yoga-king.com/props.html
Melting heart
This is a beautiful pose to calm the mind, soothe the heart and release tension in the upper body.
It is also known in Yin as Anahata (heart) Asana.
Come into the pose from all fours in Cat position – and gently ease onto your forearms, placing your forehead on the ground and your hips above your knees. If comfortable, extend your arms out – placing the hands (palms down) towards the top corners of your yoga mat (or if you prefer onto two blocks), then externally rotate your shoulders and feel your heart sink towards the earth, creating a gentle stretch across your torso.
Remain here for around 3-5 minutes and ease out if you feel at all uncomfortable.
Crocodile (Makarasana) pose
This is a wonderful shape to invite the body into stillness, it helps to regulate blood pressure and soothe a busy mind.
Lie on your belly and place your hands on top of one another, palms facing down (elbows out wide).
Gently rest your forehead on the back of your hands.
Place your feet about mat width apart with the heels turned in and the toes turned out.
You may also like to place a blanket over your lower back or under your feet.
If comfortable gently rock the hips from side-to-side and then come into stillness, enjoying the full weight of the body supported by Mother Earth.
Enjoy at least ten long, slow breaths in and out through the nose.
Release gently and slowly.
Summer is a time to…
Walk barefoot on the sand and watch your footprints washed away by the waves…
Enjoy a big slice of watermelon – or have fun making watermelon and fresh mint ice blocks
Crack open a coconut – coconut is cooling and a fabulous way to pacify pitta (the hot dosha!)
Summer quote
“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.”
Henry David Thoreau (American poet)