It’s that time of the year when bugs are flying around, those pesky bugs. If all the healthy eating, yoga, juicing, positive thinking, prayer, hasn’t managed to stave them off then here are my tips for practising yoga while you are feeling struck down with a winter virus…..

1) Bed – Yoga is all about connecting with and listening to your body. Illness is usually a sign from your body telling you to rest. So just rest, give your usual yoga class/practice a miss when you are feeling really ill.

2) Lemon, honey, ginger and cayenne pepper (and obviously lots of fresh fruit and veg!). One of the Sivananda 5 pillars of yoga (which I will be sharing fully in my day workshop with sound bath on 8th Feb!) is proper diet. This drink really helps blasts bacteria out of the system. Feed your body with lots of healthy comforting food.

3) Drop any feelings of “should do’s” or worries about the future and just practice being. While you are resting and healing, it’s a great opportunity to practice being in the moment.

4) Practice Ahimsa (one of the 5 codes of conduct in yoga philosophy) by being kind to yourself, beating yourself up for getting ill will only prolong the illness. Instead treat yourself as you would do someone you love who is ill.

5) Practice Satya also – truthfulness and being aware of the effects of your actions on yourself (and others), what led you to become ill in the first place? Had you really been looking after yourself or over doing it mentally or physically? See if there is anything to learn from this so you can continue to treat yourself with love after it’s passed.

6) Maintain an inspired state by maybe reading a daily meditation book, listening to heart felt music or watching an inspiring documentary/film.

See, you can still practice yoga even when you are ill 🙂

Once you are better then inversions in your yoga practice help to boost your immune system by increasing your circulation of lymph, a fluid that moves through our body picking up bacteria and virus to then filter out through lymph nodes. Poses like dog dog, childs pose, shoulder/head stand, legs up the wall, wide leg (and closed leg) forward bend and bridge.

Enjoy the run up to Christmas!

Namaste x