Summer Heat? Try Cooling Down—With Your Breath
A TRICK TO SURVIVE THE HEAT THIS SUMMER
Madrid summers are no joke. The heat, the sweat, the stress—it all piles up, especially as heat waves grow more intense and more frequent. When the air itself feels like fire and everything starts to feel like too much, remember: there’s a simple, powerful technique that can help—Sitali breath.
Sitali is a yogic breathing practice that literally cools the body from the inside out. It calms the nervous system, reduces agitation, fatigue, anger, and anxiety—and even helps with things like thirst, hunger, bad breath, and high blood pressure.
When we’re overheated—emotionally or physically—our minds fog up, our patience runs thin, and we start spiraling. Suddenly, the smallest inconveniences feel enormous. We find ourselves complaining: about work, about others, about everything. And the more we do it, the more it becomes a habit—rewiring our brains into a loop of tension and frustration.
The thing is, complaining and living in this heated way day in and day out, actually rewires your brain—the more you complain, the easier it is to complain, and over time you find yourself in a negative HOT spiral.
One of the antidotes for the poison of stress and overheating of the body is called Sitali. Sitali is a form of pranayama, or breathing practice. Prana in Sanskrit means life force or vital energy and Yama means to restrict, control or regulate. Prana is also the internal energetic animating force of life inside every cell of your body. The yogic texts all agree that to be able to consciously regulate the breath, is to have control over one’s thoughts, and if you’re in conscious control of your thoughts, you can regulate and balance your whole life.
So before responding to that nasty email, or reacting aggressively to any circumstance that may be producing an intense reaction in you, see if you can take a moment, go outside, sit comfortably, and practice Sitali breathing to pacify the excess heat in your system.
Sitali breathing cools down your system in a matter of seconds, and it is often translated as “the cooling breath” because the act of drawing the air across the tongue and into the mouth is said to have a cooling effect in the body and calming effect on the nervous system. To practice Sitali, you need to be able to curl the sides of your tongue inward so that it looks like a straw. The ability to curl the tongue is a genetic trait. If you can’t, try an alternative technique called Sitkari Pranayama, which offers the same effects.
Here’s how to do it: WATCH THIS VIDEO
Sit in a comfortable position with the head, neck, and spine in alignment.
Stick out your tongue and curl it lengthwise
Inhale deeply across the tongue and into the mouth as if drinking through a straw.
Focus your attention on the cooling sensation of the breath as the abdomen and lower ribs expand.
Withdraw the tongue and close the mouth, and PAUSE. Hold the breath in for a moment.
Then exhale completely through the nose. Continue doing sitali for 2 to 3 minutes.
Through pranayama, or controlling your breath, you make breathing which to most people is automatic and unconscious, a conscious experience.
Alternative: If you can’t curl your tongue, try Sitkari—inhale through slightly parted teeth with the tongue resting on the roof of the mouth.
You can practice Sitali twice a day, or whenever stress and heat start creeping in—like that mid-morning drag or late-afternoon slump. It’s a simple way to shift your energy, focus your mind, and give your nervous system the love it deserves.
From a wellness perspective, deep breathing also supports your kidneys and helps maintain your body’s pH balance—crucial for metabolism and overall vitality. When your breath flows easily, so does your life.
Learn how to beat the heat through your breath. We’ll keep you elevated, groovy and grounded at the Asana Groove Studio in Madrid. Check our schedule here to book.
Yours Truly,
Fernanda