Sometimes you need to warm up from within, so we researched some of the best Ayurvedic techniques for warming up.
Start your morning with hot/warm lemon water.
Drinking a glass of warm water with lemon—particularly in the morning—is great for heating yourself up because adding lemon to your water enhances the warming effect that you will feel as lemons have properties within them which create heat.
And it is these heating properties that are especially effective within our digestive systems.
Drink Ginger Tea.
Ginger also has heating properties, similar to lemons. Ginger helps to light your "internal fire" and it is particularly great to drink before meals as ginger can prepare your body for digestion.
Add spices to meals.
Adding particular spices and herbs to meals is a great way of increasing the "heat" of your meal. We suggest using turmeric, cumin, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, and black pepper.
To hammer the point home, if you add these kinds of spices and herbs to your meals and drinks they can also help to ignite and maintain your "internal fire" which consequently will warm you up from within.
Try the Tummo breath.
Tummo is a tantric practice to induce inner heat and Tummo breathing is an ancient breathing technique which was practised by Tibetan Buddhist monks.
The practice involves visualising a fire inside your stomach while simultaneously repeating a specific breathing pattern. This is known to invoke a warming effect.
Try the breath of fire.
The "breath of fire" is another method of warming. This method of breathing involves forcing air out of the nose while bringing the navel toward the spine. This serves to detoxify the body and evoke the fire element within.
How to do breath of fire:
- Sit up tall.
- Breathe in and out through the nose, pressing the belly out during the inhale, and pulling the belly in during the exhale.
- The breathing will be loud and quick as you increase the pace of breathing.
- Continue for at least 30 seconds.
Give yourself a massage.
Warm oil is applied during an abhyanga, an Ayurvedic massage that works well to increase body heat. It's a fantastic way to increase circulation and can also help with lymphatic and lactic acid stagnation.
Do a trataka.
Have you ever tried a candle-gazing meditation? Trataka is another name for it. The warming element of fire is incorporated into this Ayurvedic meditation practise. Simply light a candle, maintain a gentle stare, and avoid blinking as you meditate on the flame. You can begin with a short period of time and build up to 15 minutes, which is what we advise.
Eat warming foods.
We advise you to eat more seasonally appropriate foods that are associated with the fire element in Ayurveda, such as garlic, chiles, onions, celery, sea salt, and tamari, in addition to adding warming spices to your meals.
Move your body.
Moving your body is a final, but by no means least, easy but efficient strategy to quickly warm up. Working up a nice sweat in the morning, adding that Pilates, hot yoga, and power vinyasa are all warming and grounding. You could also go for a walk when the sun is at its highest point in the sky to absorb its light and heat throughout the duration of the winter.
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