Waking up in the chilly morning itself sounds like a big no. Moreover, yoga poses for winter sounds way challenging or in fact a nightmare. The longer nights and shorter days of winter makes us want to spend more time in warm bed dreaming about the favourite summer outdoor idea. But wait what about the perfect summer body? How do we get it?
Yoga is the best thing to do in winter. It helps to keep us fit and in shape, can be done anytime, anywhere, doesn’t need any equipment and most importantly, you won’t have to leave your warm apartment.
Practising yoga during winter can help us keep stay warm, active healthy and improvise our immune system. So, it is much better to do some yoga in winter rather than shiver and being lazy doing nothing.
Benefits of Doing Yoga in Winter
Staying fit in winter is more challenging than summer. Yoga offers tremendous benefits for anyone and in any season. It helps us adjust our body dynamics with the change in nature. There are incredible benefits of doing yoga in winter, some of which are:
- Can help you beat the winter blahs/anxiety/stress
- Stretches out tight muscles to keep you balanced
- Help relieve arthritis symptoms
- Boost your circulation
- Boost the immune system
- Avoid winter weight gain
- Keeps us fresh and active
- Heats up our body internally for a longer period
10 Yoga Poses To Keep Our Body Warm In Winter
Although almost all yoga poses can be done in winter. However, here are some specific yoga poses for winter which can help you warm up your body and stay healthy.
1. Fierce Pose (Utkatasana)
Utkatasana often termed as ‘Chair pose’ just because the posture resembles like one is sitting on an invisible chair. This fierce pose is one of yoga’s heating, strengthening and stabilizing poses.
It is, in fact fierce, furious and intense, during its practice and in its effects, generating upward-radiating waves of heat and energy in some practitioners.
Benefits:
- Strengthen the hips
- Stretched the upper body
- Massages the abdominal muscles
- Improves stamina and immune system
2. Fish Pose (Matsyasana)
Fish pose is a deep backbend and chest opener that helps to stimulate the lymphatic system. It is openly believed that if you do Matsyasana in water then your body will float like fish.
Traditional texts say that Matsyasana is the “destroyer of all diseases”. 3 sets of Matsyasan helps to fire up the body with heat and energy.
Benefits:
- Stretches and stimulates the muscles of the belly and front of the neck
- Stretches and stimulates the organs of the belly and throat
- Strengthens the muscles of the upper back and back of the neck
- Improves posture
3. Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
This Yoga pose is called bow pose because it looks like an archer’s bow, the torso and legs representing the body of the bow, and the arms the string. It is an intermediate yoga pose similar to backbend and one of the 12 basic Hatha Yoga pose.
It can be performed as a part of your regular practices or within a sequence of back stretches. It is a great way to warm up the body and getting it prepared for deeper backbend stretch.
Benefits:
- Reduces anxiety and improves posture
- Cultivate breathing
- Stimulates Manipura Chakra
- Opens up the neck, shoulders and abdomen
4. Shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)
Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) has often been called the queen of asanas (yoga poses) and is often the first inversion that yoga beginner tackles. It is a part of Ashtanga yoga closing sequences and is considered as counterpart pose of Fish pose.
However, there are serious risks associated with Shoulderstand so it’s important to set up the pose correctly with proper guidance and carefulness.
Benefits:
- Increase circulation
- Builds strength and flexibility
- Improves digestion
5. Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
Locust Pose is a part of backbend yoga pose that can help you excel the backbend yoga pose like Bow pose, Upward dog or Wheel pose.
This is often practised soon after Sun Salutation to help yourself energized and achieve better posture. 3 sets of Locust Pose will help to warm up the body thus is the best yoga pose for winter.
Benefits:
- Strengthen core and back muscles
- Lengthen the spine and open the chest
- Massage the abdominal organs and improve digestion
- Promotes calmness and improve focus
6. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
The downward-facing dog posture is an inversion yoga pose often practised as a basic and widely used Yoga posture and a part of Surya Namaskar. Adho Mukha Svanasana appears in most styles of yoga as either a strengthening pose, a transition pose, or a resting pose.
Benefits:
- Increases the circulation of blood and lymph system and nourishment and revitalization of the cells.
- Regulates the excretory system and maintain internal chemical homeostasis (balance).
- It even helps in eliminating toxins from mouth, eyes, ears and nose.
- It helps in expanding the chest and strengthen the lungs for better respiratory function.
Instructions for Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
7. Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I)
Warrior I is a part of V warrior yoga pose that are a sequence of standing yoga poses and best yoga pose for home practice and beginners. Practising this yoga pose requires strength and focus.
It symbolizes our inner ability to overcome ego and ignorance like the Yogi and Warriors. It stretches the whole front side of the body while strengthening the thighs, ankles, and back
Benefits:
- Stretches the chest and lungs, shoulders and neck, belly, groins (psoas).
- Strengthens the shoulders and arms, and the muscles of the back.
- Strengthens and stretches the thighs, calves, and ankles.
8. Forward Bend (Uttanasana)
The forward bend is a stretching yoga pose often practised as an essential element of Sun Salutations that helps the body for deeper forward bends. The physical aim of a forward bend is to stretch out any tightness in the tissues along the entire back surface of the body.
It gives a good stretch all the way from the connective tissue on the soles of the feet to the muscles along the backs of the calves and thighs. It requires patience and practice to be performed at its fullest expression.
Benefits:
- It will wake up your hamstrings and soothe your mind.
- Stimulates the liver and kidney
- Improves digestion
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
- Reduces fatigue and anxiety
9. Plank Pose (Phalakasana)
This yoga pose may look very easy to conduct but it requires a lot of strength and focus. It can be challenging to balance and often confusing to find the right way to do. The plank can be a great yoga pose for the overall body, to generate heat, tone the body and develop posture.
Plank is an essential component of Sun Salutations and is often used as a transitional pose, in which the breath is not held. It can also be practised on its own to build strength and stamina
Benefits:
- Builds strength in the upper and core body
- Lengthen the spine
- Improves balance
- Tones abdomen
10. Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar)
Surya Namaskar keeps being mentioned time and again in most of our articles. It is because this is probably the best set of yoga poses that suitable for almost any to every situation. Likely, the Sun Salutation process is also very good for stretching, cardio and most importantly, body warm-up.
The process contains a sequence of 12 powerful Yoga poses when done slow can be a great stretching regime and when done fast can be a great cardiovascular workout and body warm-up workout. It is best done in a particular breathing sequence. Practising Surya Namaskar in winter will increase body temperature, improvise blood circulation.
Benefits:
- Maintain cardiovascular health
- Stimulates the nervous system
- Weight loss and management
- Strengthen the immune system and relaxes the mind
Instructions for Surya Namaskar
In Conclusion
These yoga poses for winter will keep your body warm and healthy Moreover, we tend to become lazier during winter, thus practising yoga daily, even for some time will keep our mind fresh and body active.
Practice yoga this winter every day and make people around you wonder how you still manage to stay hot and active even in such a cold and cosy time.
References: Healthline | BestHealthMag | Chopra | Tummee | VeryWellFit
