5 Simple Yoga Moves to Beat the Heat Naturally

In addition to hacking your way to keeping cool with some low-impact lifestyle changes, you can also help cool down the actual temperature of your body with the help of yoga—the union of your body with its breath.

These five simple asanas, or postures, are simple enough for basic practitioners but effective for even the most advanced yogins. Best of all, they don't even require a mat. All that's needed is your body, your breath, and some mindfulness. Talk about low-impact and transportable! Take these poses with you throughout your day whether you're in the office, the park, at home, or traveling.

Here's your chance to re-think the use of your energy-zapping AC and repurpose your body putting it to some good green use that's not only helpful and healthy for the planet, but healthy for you too!

Use the poses in this order or pick and choose your favorites—but just make sure to consult your doctor beforehand.

1. Sitali Pranayama

As mentioned in my post on 7 Low-Impact Lifestyle Hacks to Stay Cool and Energized, engage the Sitali breath to soothe and cool down your spine, rejuvenate and detoxify. Simply sit in a comfortable, meditative posture with your spine erect. Curl your tongue like a straw and let it stick out beyond your lips. Inhale into your curled tongue and exhale through the nose. Continue this for five minutes, giving yourself a total of three, five-minute breathing sessions.

Some tips: the tighter the straw, the cooler the air. You can overdo Sitali breathing and actually cool down the body too much so work with giving yourself only 5-7 rounds of breath in the beginning.

2. Half Spinal Twist

In Sanskrit, Ardha Matsyendrasana is a wonderful pose that helps squeeze toxins from the intestines, relieves stiffness in the hip joints and opens up the muscles of the buttocks. A great "cool down" pose, I generally tack this asana on at the end of class, just prior to deep relaxation to help my students cool down their nervous systems.

Reap the benefits by sitting on the floor, extending your left leg out and bending the right leg at the knee so the foot is planted on the ground. Place the foot outside of the left leg's knee and grab onto your right knee with the crook of your left elbow, take an exhale and twist towards your right. Continue your breath and work at your edge. Moving too deeply into the pose can have the counter-opposite effect of cooling and actually over-stimulate your nervous system. Inhale back to center, switch legs and repeat.

3. Paschimotanasana

In Sanskit, this translates to "deep stretching of the western side of the body" as this asana does just so. It opens up your backside but also helps tone the abdominal organs and improve digestion. My own personal practice is incomplete without Paschimotanasana and I use it at the tail end of my practice since it's a great way to cool down and come back to the breath.

Here's how to do it: Sit on the floor with both legs extended out in front of you. Using your hands, remove your flesh from your sitz bones so they're planted firmly onto the floor. Inhale your arms up toward the ceiling or sky, exhale fold forward over the legs. If you are limber, hook your index fingers around the big toes. If you aren't limber, let your hands rest on the floor where they may and feel free to give yourself some bend in the knees. You can also sit up on the edge of a folded blanket if this feels better. Either way, keep internally rotating your legs so the knees don't splay out towards the sides and return to your breath. Go only as far as you can comfortably to avoid injury or strain.

4. Reclined Leg Raise

Otherwise known as "Legs Up Wall" pose or Viparita Karani in Sanskrit, the cooling inversion is a wonderful way to increase circulation in your legs helping to prevent and/or minimize varicose veins. It's also a natural sleep enhancer. Those who suffer from insomnia find great benefit in doing this inversion prior to bedtime. And it's an all-natural menstrual cramp minimizer as well for women who experience bad stomach pain during their period.

The easiest way to enter the post is by coming into a fetal position with your buttocks pressed up against a free wall. This way you can easily swing your legs up the wall with both your buttocks and legs fully supported. Let your arms and hands rest wherever they are most comfortable, close your eyes and focus on your natural breath. Stay here for a minimum of 5-8 minutes. When you exit, come out slowly to keep the benefits of the inversion.

5. Corpse Pose

In Sanskrit, Savasana, is generally the conclusion of the practice. After an invigorating yoga session the Corpse Pose is used to relax, restore and rejuvenate so the body can integrate all of the benefits down to a very cellular level. Here, we'll use it in the same way but with a focus to cool down. When the body is doing nothing other than making a point to do nothing, its temperature will likely decrease.

So lie on your back fully reclined. Let your arms and legs fall where they may comfortably. Slide your shoulders away from your ears, give your tailbone a little tuck and resolve to relax. If you have a hard time relaxing and quieting your mental state, make your naturally moving breathe the focus of your attention. Try to remain still for a minimum of eight minutes. When you exit, roll off to one side slowly and roll up with your head and neck coming up last.