Breathwork is a major part of any yoga practice as there are lots of different styles of pranayama that help with various things. Pranayama can be translated as controlling the life force, the prana, within the body. Prana is often related to the breath but it's not – it's the energy within the body, the energy that gives us life, and this energy is linked to the breath. So, to control the life force, we need to learn to control the breath.
Practicing these breathing exercises can help reduce the chances of you catching a cold. By building heat in the body through breathwork, this helps to stimulate your immune system and can help fight off colds and other bugs that surface in winter. It can also help to keep our sinuses clear even before we get a cold and if we do come down with one, these exercises can help relieve sinus pressure we might feel.
Furthermore, by working your lungs like you would your arms or legs in the gym, this can make them stronger and with a link between the respiratory system and immune system, it’s important to keep firing up your lungs to help boost your immunity.
So, grab your best yoga mat and let's get started.
1. Alternate nostril breathing
Alternate nostril breathing is great for clearing the airways and balancing the breath. If you have a cold, this breathing technique can be difficult, although with lighter colds, it can help to clear the nostrils – just make sure you have a tissue nearby!
To practice alternate nostril breathing, sit with your spine straight. Sitting on a chair or on your heels is perfectly fine, too. Bring the index and middle finger of your right hand into your palm. Exhale through both nostrils. Using your right thumb, close your right nostril and breathe in through your left. Using your right ring finger, close your left nostril while keeping your right nostril closed with your right thumb. Hold the breath briefly before releasing your right thumb and exhaling through the right nostril.
Inhale through the right nostril, keeping the left nostril closed with the right ring finger. Close both nostrils using the right thumb and ring finger, holding the breath briefly before releasing your right ring finger and exhaling through the left nostril. This is one round.
Repeat up to six times a day to keep your nose and sinuses clear this winter. You may opt to practice more rounds if you have a cold as the first few will feel difficult while the nose is blocked but in time, this clears allowing a release of your sinuses.
2. Kapalabhati
Kapalabhati is a very different breathing exercise to alternate nostril breathing. While alternate nostril breathing helps keep the sinuses clear and is deemed a calming pranayama practice, Kapalabhati produces heat in the body and is known as a Kriya exercise in yoga – making it a cleansing practice. Following yogic philosophy, producing heat in the body helps to ignite the agni, the inner fire, and this inner fire helps to aid our immune and digestive systems. Practicing Kapalabhati, and stimulating your inner fire, can help keep colds at bay.
A word of warning: this breathing exercise involves the pumping in and out of the abdomen. Therefore, anyone who experiences anxiety or panic attacks may not wish to do this breathing practice.
To practice Kapalabhati, sit comfortably with a straight spine. Place your hands in a comfortable position. The traditional hand gesture, or mudra, is to bring the tips of the index fingers and thumbs together with the back of the hands resting on the knees, palms facing up. Take a few deep breaths before beginning this pranayama.
Once you’ve taken these breaths, begin with an inhale and on your exhale, quickly draw your abdomen to your spine expelling the air out through your nostrils with a sound. This is a forceful expulsion of breath. Relax your abdomen and inhale then repeat the forceful exhale. Do this at your own speed 15 times before inhaling and retaining the breath for as long as you can. Exhale and take a normal breath before repeating this pumping action another 15 times followed by a retention of breath. You can do one final round of 15 breaths before relaxing back into your normal breath after the last retention.
3. Surya Bhedana pranayama
Surya Bhedana pranayama focuses on inhaling through the right nostril and exhaling through the left. In yogic philosophy, the right nostril relates to the Pingala nadi, an energy channel that is related to the sun AKA Surya. By breathing in through the right nostril, it's said that we are awakening the Surya qualities in the body such as heat and warmth. So, to practice this during winter helps to keep those warming qualities within the body and can help stave off colds. Similarly to Kapalabhati, Surya Bhedana warms the body, igniting agni and stimulating our immune system.
To practice Surya Bhedana pranayama, use the same hand gesture with your right hand as alternate nostril breathing bringing the first two fingers into the palm. Close your left nostril with the ring finger of your right hand and inhale through the right nostril. Close your right nostril with your right thumb and exhale through the left side. Repeat this for a few minutes. You can add in a retention of breath after every inhale if you wish to further energize the warming qualities within the body.