How Regular Yoga Activity Can Help You With Your Sinusitis
Living in Goodyear and Suncity West, AZ means constantly dealing with grass and weed allergens. It gets even worse if you have Juniper, Olive, Mulberry, or Mesquite trees near your residence. Constant inflammation, difficulty breathing, pain and tenderness around the eyes, nose, and forehead, lack of focus, fatigue, and general discomfort can make your days and nights feel longer. People suffering from these allergies often turn to medical products for relief. But yoga and some and improving breathing.
How Yoga Helps with Sinusitis
Yoga has many physical, mental, and health benefits. It’s known to reduce strength and increase energy and vigor. Studies have also found that Yoga has sinusitis benefits like improving the functioning of respiratory muscles and reducing nasal congestion. Studies have also shown that engaging in yoga increases the presence of interleukin-2 and other inflammatory markers to help limit inflammation caused by allergies.
Here are a few simple yoga poses to get you started and help make breathing easier while reducing the effects of sinusitis.
Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana)
The seated forward fold pose is a great pose that straightens the spine and helps with sinus drainage. It helps ease fatigue, stress, and anxiety. It can also calm the brain and soothe the headache you might be experiencing. To do the Paschimottanasana pose;
- Start in the staff pose (dandasana). Sit at the edge of a folded blanket, press your heels away from your body and place your fingertips on the floor beside your hips.
- Inhale while keeping your front torso long, exhale, lean forward from your hips, and lengthen the spine to fold toward your legs. Ensure you don’t round your back.
- Lift and lengthen your torso slightly with each inhalation, and release more into the forward bend a little with each exhale.
- Stay in the pose for 1-3 minutes, then come up, release the feet and inhale while lifting your torso.
Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)
The cobra pose helps to promote airflow and breathing by opening the chest and ribs. Here’s how you can do the cobra pose correctly:
- Lie on your belly with your feet at hip distance. Your hands should be beside your ribs.
- Extend the big toes straight back and press down with the ten toenails to activate the quadriceps.
- Rotate your inner thighs towards the ceiling to broaden your lower back.
- Press down with your hands lightly to lift your head and chest, then roll your shoulders back down.
- Keep the back of your neck long and focus on lifting the sternum instead of your chin.
- Straighten your arms while keeping your shoulders away from your ears with a slight bend in your elbows.
- Exit the pose by relaxing your back.
Cow Face Post (Gomukhasana)
The cow face is another pose that can help with drainage, and it also supports cervical vertebrae and straightens the neck.
- Start in the staff pose (Dandasana). Cross your right leg over your left and stack the knees bringing your left heel outside your right hip and vice versa.
- With the knees stacked and centered, press down heavily with your sitting bones.
- Elongate the spine and lift out of your lower back.
- Inhale and rotate your right arm to the side, so your palm faces back with the thumbs pointing down.
- Exhale as you bend your elbow and bring your right arm behind your back with the palm facing out and the upper arm pulled in close to your body. Your elbow should point towards your sacrum, and the right fingers point toward the base of your neck.
- On the next inhale, take your left arm out to the side and up to the ceiling with your hand facing the midline.
- Bend your left elbow and reach your hand down toward your neck. Bring the elbow close to your face and towards the ceiling with the hand reaching down the spine.
Plow Pose (Halasana)
Halasana is a more complex pose that strengthens the spine and shoulders. It also clears out the phlegm in the throat. You can perform halasana against a wall for extra support.
- Start by stacking three blankets with the edges lining up. Place the stack near the front of your yoga mat so the edges line up near the middle of the mat.
- Sit at the front of the mat, lie back over the blankets to support your torso, then adjust your position so that the tops of the shoulders are just over the edge and the back of the head rests on the floor. Lie face up so that the front of your neck is long and there’s space between the back of the neck and the floor.
- Bring your knees towards your chest. Straighten the legs towards the ceiling.
- Support yourself with both hands at your low or mid-back with the strength of your abs. Lift your hips off the floor and roll up until you’re supported by shoulders. Stack the hips above your shoulders.
- Lower your legs backward over your head slowly until your toes reach the ground behind you. Rest the toes on the ground with the feet flexed.
- Release the hands and place your arms on the floor, palms down and hands clasped. Press down with your outer upper arms and shoulders to create more lift along the spine.
- Hold the pose for five breaths.
Lion Pose (Simhasana)
The Lion pose is breathing-centric. It focuses on clearing the throat and strengthening the respiratory muscles.
- The pose begins with kneeling on the floor and crossing the front of the right ankle over the back of the left. The feet should point to the sides, then sit back with the perineum snuggling down onto the top of the right heel.
- Press your palms against your knees, fan them, and splay the fingers like the sharpened claws of a lion.
- Inhale deeply through the nose while simultaneously opening your mouth wide, stretching your tongue out, and curling its tip down. Open your eyes wide, contract the muscles on the front of your throat, and exhale the breath slowly out through your mouth. The breath should pass over the back of the throat with a “ha” sound.
- You can roar three times, then change the cross of the legs and repeat.
Alternating Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama)
This simple breathing technique reduces congestion and improves airflow. It’s a breathing technique where you alternative deep breaths through each nostril.
- Start by sitting in a comfortable Asana and make a Mrigi Mudra
- Close your nostril with your thumb and inhale with the alternate nostril, then close the nostril using your ring-little finger. Open and exhale slowly through the right nostril.
- Switch to the other nostril. This is one cycle. You should repeat for 3 to 5 cycles.
Bellows Breathing (Bhastrika Pranayama)
This dramatic breathing technique strengthens the diaphragm and clears the nose and throat.
- Start in the cross-legged position. Keep your spine erect to improve the technique’s effectiveness and the diaphragmatic movement.
- Make a fist and fold your arms, placing them near your shoulders.
- Inhale deeply, raise your hands straight up, and open your fists.
- Exhale forcefully, bring the arms down next to your shoulders and close your fists.
- Repeat for 20 breaths
Closing Remarks
Yoga is an excellent supplement in helping you deal with sinusitis’s effects and managing some of your sinus symptoms. If you’ve been dealing with sinusitis for a while and the medication isn’t working, adding Yoga to your routine can make the symptoms more manageable. It might also help if you started by taking our balloon sinuplasty quiz to see if you have chronic sinusitis, which might qualify you for surgery.
