Don’t Show Up Sick

Cold & Flu Tips for Restorative Yoga Self Care Relaxation Ayurveda and Holistic Wellness Remedies

Don’t show up sick! An open letter to our Soluna community.

You’re sick. Ugh! It’s cold and flu season. Your runny nose is raw from blowing it, and you’re coughing and have the chills to top it off. You’re tired of your body feeling sore. Being stuck in bed is boring and you need to get out of the house. Plus! Who doesn’t crave a little self care and yoga? The flu has been going around and you feel all the symptoms, but you still want to keep you spa appointment. You grab your keys, cell and wallet, check! Let’s go! Blowing your nose and coughing into your scarf you walk into the yoga studio. After your spa appointment you plan to hit up a restorative yoga class. Hoping between doing these two things you’ll kick the flu to the curb.

We get it, you just want to feel better. You know your spa service will be healing. It’ll beat bed and a box of tissues any day. Plus, your massage therapist is a genius and restorative yoga will feel divine. “Help!”, your body is saying. But here’s the scoop…Help yourself by not going. Going to yoga and/or getting a massage may tax your body more than you can handle given you’re sick. It is also putting others at harms way and by you coming to class or getting that spa service would likely spread what you have. Your body is asking to move slow. Heal. Rest. Not create more work, even if it’s what you love to do when you’re feeling healthy. It’s got enough work to do. Start by helping yourself heal and don’t come to yoga or your spa service sick. Stay home. We support you and your journey to heal. If you have made an appointment for a spa service and get sick, it’s ok. Just give us a call and we will be happy to help reschedule your appointment. Here’s a few tips on what to do when you are sick.

Three keys to heal your cold and flu using a home restorative yoga practice, Ayurveda, and self care:

• Restorative yoga at home:

Waterfall pose – lay flat on your back, pelvis on the floor with your feet up against the wall. Rest your arms by your hips. If your neck feels strained, place a rolled up towel under your head. Hold this pose for 5-15 minutes. Benefits: Regulates blood flow, improves digestion, calms the body, relieves mild backache, and restores tired legs.Supine bound angle pose – lay on your back. The bottoms of your feet touching and knees wide to the sides in a butterfly shape. Make it feel comfortable by adding pillows or bolsters to support the outer thighs or knees, and if laying flat on your back does not feel good, prop up your spine and head with pillows. Rest in this pose for 5-8 minutes. Benefits: Helps with lowering blood pressure, decreases muscle tension, relieves fatigue as well as anxiety and stress.

Supported fish pose – is powerfully peaceful! Lay on your back with a bolster under you, running the length of your spine. Face up and legs straight out on the floor, placing another pillow under the knees to help relax the lower back. These poses opens up your face, heart, lungs, stomach, hips and legs. Restorative yoga at home works. It allows your body to relax and focus its energy on healing. Relax in this pose for 5 minutes. Benefits: Opens up the lungs, improving breathing and helps relieve respiratory ailments, strengthens upper back muscles and increases flexibility of the spine, and stretches the entire front body.

• Ayurveda tips: Ayurveda is the science of life and approaches healing by looking at each person individually. Each illness may be caused by a different imbalance. When you’re sick, your body is out of balance. Generalizing is hard to do, because not everyone has the same imbalance. These Ayurveda tips are from our resident Ayurveda guru, Elizabeth.

1. Drink tea! Ginger, to be exact, which is the best for most types of colds. However, never combine ginger with aspirin. Drink warm-hot water as often as possible throughout the day. Drink lots and lots of tea. Add spice your teas such as fresh ginger, cinnamon, basil or cloves. Tea for productive cough: ½ tsp ginger powder, pinch of clove, pinch of cinnamon powder in 1 cup boiling water. For flu: make a tulsi tea by combining 1 tsp of tulsi (holy basil) in 1 cup of water. Boil only 1 minute.
2. For runny noses, sore throat, congestion the diet should be simple. Eat warm and light foods such as whole grains and steamed veggies with spices or simple broth. Fasting may be helpful if you have enough strength.
3. Avoid dairy products such as cheese, milk and yogurt.
4. For congestion, cough and other flu/cold symptoms, combine ¼ tsp black pepper with ½ tsp honey and eat 3-4x per day. For dry cough, chills and loss of voice, put a few drops of sesame oil in the nose. Same spices as above.

• Self care: Prevention is the key. Get plenty of rest. Relax and don’t burn yourself out. Yes, that may mean staying home on a Saturday night. Get to bed early. Take care of yourself before you get the cold or flu. Stay hydrated and drink less alcohol or take a break from it for a bit. Other tips for self care are, Vitamin D and sunshine. They are well known warriors against colds and flu. Get outside! It’s lovely and relaxing. Epsom salt baths are a great way to relax. Laying in salt pulls toxins out of your body. Then like magic you lift the plug and it goes down the drain. Toxins, out!

Poor self care could mean that you get a nasty cold or flu and miss out on doing the things you love.

Take preventive measures often to stay in balance. Attend yoga regularily. Seek out spa services and Ayurveda consultation. Use the self care techniques above. It’s easy! Plus our team at Soluna are happy to support you in staying healthy. That way you don’t get out of balance and sick. If you happen to be sick. Stay home! Rest and heal. We’ll see you again soon, as soon as you heal up that is. To get more information on Soluna Yoga Spa, see a calendar of yoga classes, upcoming workshop or spa services, visit www.solunayogaspa.com