Here at Yoga Borgo, we’re getting ready to go to the European Yoga Festival in southern France. It is a wonderful Kundalini Yoga Event. For a week, we create a Yoga Village of over 2,500 participants practicing daily yoga and meditation together from the early morning practice at 4:00 a.m. to evening kirtan finishing at 10 p.m. (22.00). It is a full day filled with joy, eating together, strolling and shopping in the bazaar, enjoying evening talent shows, visiting with friends at the Yogi Tea Cafe and yoga, yoga, yoga. We all love it!
For the most part, it is a camping experience and living outdoors, so staying healthy is important to be able to enjoy all the wonderful events.
Keeping a strong nervous system and toning up the immune system are 2 good things to keep any summer colds at bay that otherwise may spoil your fun for the week.
Here is a great and simple technique to help stay healthy…the cold shower. Summertime is a great time for cold showers. In yoga, we call this Ishnaan or water therapy. The summer is a great time to experiment with this effective therapy as both the water temperature and air temperature are quite accommodating. And, if the day is hot and there is not a pool nearby, a cold shower can feel great and help restore and rejuvenate your energy. It’s a great way to wake you up in the early morning as well and help prepare you for your day and morning practice.
To take a cold shower, it is a good idea to first oil your body with a natural oil like almond oil that is very warming. If you like, you can use naturally scented body oil like lavender or sandalwood. Before your shower, lightly oil and massage your whole body to make yourself warm and help open the pores of your skin. Most of the oil will actually be absorbed by your skin, which is very nourishing. Now you are ready for your shower. I suggest you start with your feet, lower legs, hands and arms first. Then as you acclimate to the water, you can step more into the flow of water as you massage your body to warm the skin and muscles. Go in and out of the water 4 times constantly massaging your body until the water no longer feels so cold. You’ll actually begin to warm up as the blood rushes to the capillaries in the skin and then goes back in to the inner organs. At the end, you will feel refreshed, alive and very awake! This cold shower is excellent for your circulation and stimulates your nervous, glandular and immune systems. It will help keep you healthy and glowing for the rest of your day. Give it a try, you may love it.