Worried about the flu? Five asanas that can help boost immunity against virus, fever, cough and cold

One particular student was miserable because of frequent attacks of fever and flu, cough and cold. It affected his productivity at work and added further stress. Initially, I decided to just address his stress issue, by giving him relaxation practices along with simple asanas and pranayama for a fortnight. Within a fortnight, he found that he was sleeping better, having less dreams and feeling energetic throughout the day.

He became completely free of frequent recurrence of cough, cold, fever, flu and allergies of skin. The only thing that had changed was that his immune system was not overwhelmed with stress hormones and the simple asanas had got his immune system activated and regulated. There were simple dietary advisories like keeping timing for every meal, having fresh fruits and vegetables and proper protein intake.

Here are five asanas which can help maintain your immune system and keep it in fighting fit condition. You can incorporate these in your daily yoga practice.

Shashank asana: This is one of the best forward bending asanas with powerful impact on many systems of the body, including the lymphatic system. It targets the lymph nodes in the cervical, thoracic, thymus gland, spleen and also removes any digestive problems, sending nutrients to all organs.

Practice: Sit in a kneeling pose, keeping your spine straight and relaxing the whole body. Take a deep breath and as you exhale, raise your arms up. Then as you exhale, bend from the waist without raising your hip from the resting place on your heels. In the final position, your palms and arms should be flat on the floor with arms bent in relaxation. Your forehead should rest on the floor in front of the knees. You can relax in this pose and breathe in and breathe out for five rounds. Then take a deep breath, come back to your starting position with hands resting at the sides of the body. This is one round. Do five rounds.

Ushtrasana: Come up on your knees, keeping knees and feet apart such that they are aligned with your shoulders. Assume a kneeling position on a mat and support the body on the knees and toes (bent). Slowly, lean backwards, and take the arms behind. As you inhale, move your left hand towards the left heel so that the hands finally rest on the heels. Then raise your right hand, take it over the head and bend your whole body backwards as far back as possible without losing balance, drawing support from the left hand resting on the left heel. Hold the position as long as possible. Exhale and return to the kneeling position with hands dangling at the side. Repeat the same with the right hand resting on the right heel and bending back with the left hand thrown back. This makes one set. Do five sets.

After some days of practice, you can rest both hands on the respective heels and throw your whole body back. Then the three positions will make one set. Do five sets. Initially, if you are not able to bend back fully, then bend as much as possible without strain or losing your balance. Slowly your back will become flexible for you to do the full backward bend.

Trikona Asana: This is a twisting asana which is best done in a sequence after the above two asanas. Stand upright with feet slightly apart, spine straight, body relaxed and hand dangling at the side of the body. Inhale deeply, raise your arms at shoulder level. Then as you exhale, twist your whole body so that the hands are aligned in a straight line in the twisted position. With exhalation, bend forward in such a way that your left hand fingers touch the right foot and the right arm is raised straight above the head. Once you are established in this position, look up at the raised hand. In this final position, your left hand, head and right hand are in a straight line.

This executes a tight squeeze on all those parts which help massage and activate the glands and organs related to the immune system.

Suryanamaskar: You might be already aware of this full body asana with limb stretches and bends that can truly build a strong immunity system

Shavasana: This is a must practice to help boost your immunity. It is also a sequential practice associated with Suryanamaskar.  For this one must lie down on your back, keep head aligned with the spine, hands a little away from the body, fingers curled in relaxation and feet slightly apart, flopping to the side in complete relaxation. This is the starting position.

Once you have made yourself comfortable, then the eyes are closed and opened only at the end of the practice when instructed to do so.

Then the yoga instructor calls out the different parts of your body starting with the right side body and then the left side body, the back of the body, face, front of the body, chest, stomach until the whole body is covered. By the end of this practice, the practitioner is put in a total restful state.

This simple practice throws out stress, tension and accumulated toxins. All of this helps strengthen the working of your immune system.

Yoga is holistic. Hence, your practice must include pranayama and breath awareness. Simply doing these asanas will give results for sure. But if you want to maximise the effect, then include these asanas along with your pranayama practice.

(Kamini Bobde is a Kundalini practitioner who follows the Swami Satyananda Saraswati tradition of yoga. She is the author of Kundalini Yoga for All: Unlock the Power of Your Body and Brain. Published by Penguin)