Dahn Yoga Health

It’s the time of year when more people catch colds or the flu. There are many ways to help alleviate the symptoms of these diseases that slow us down. Some of them are well known: eating soup, drinking lots of fluids, especially juice, water, and hot tea, keeping warm, resting, and maybe taking cold medication to alleviate the symptoms. I did some research and found some other ways you can feel better faster without medication include sipping warm lemon water with honey or gargling with salt and water. Taking herbs, vitamins, and minerals commonly used for cold and flu symptoms are thought to help, although there are many kinds such as echinacea, goldenseal, and zinc to boost your immune system, aconite for sore throats, eupatorium for aches and pains, euphrasia for eye irritation allium cepa for sneezing and runny noses, and a homeopathic remedy for colds called oscillococcinum. Vitamin C or rose hips may shorten length of an illness. (Mostly from Body & Brain magazine, Winter 2006 issue “Cold Comfort: Safe and natural ways to treat the common cold.”)

Other methods of treating colds and the flu are based on how the illness is expressed in your body in terms of energy principles. According to Dahnhwa Jun in the Winter 2004 issue of body & brain magazine (“Being at peace with the flu: Natural exercises and remedies for common cold and flu”), “it is believed that when energy conditions in the environment are cold and damp, the cold and damp energy enters the body. If the body cannot circulate and burn these energies, it remains blocked in the body, bringing an onset of cold symptoms. Therefore, treatment is focused on releasing cold and damp energy from the body.

Two main points, located in the vicinity of the cervical and thoracic spine, are the most vulnerable points where cold and damp energy may enter the body. Entrance is initially through the back of the neck at an acupressure point called Poong-mun. Below the Poong-mun, is the Dae-chu-hyul (where C-7, the biggest cervical bone that sticks out when you bend your neck forward, is located). During the cold weather, make sure these sites are warmly covered when outside. Repeat the following Dahn Yoga meridian exercises every day to help your immune system deal with the flu.

REMEDIES FOR:

A Sore Throat
If you have a sore throat, try to avoid speaking until inflammation of your vocal cords subsides. Use a humidifier or wet towel in your room at night to maintain a humidity of about 50-60%. This will help you cough-up any phlegm. Gargling with salt water to cleanse your throat is also effective. Be sure to drink teas such as ginger, mandarin, and other fruit teas at least 5-6 times a day to warm your body and release blocked energy and improve circulation.

A Stuffy Nose
Having a blocked nose can be the most irritable part of having a cold since it prevents you from breathing right. Try placing a warm, wet cloth between your nose and forehead and lie down on your side with the blocked side facing up. This should unblock your nose. Juiced onions mixed in water or citron tea also help.When blowing your nose, make sure you blow your nose one nostril at a time to avoid putting too much pressure on your ears. Too much pressure can move nasal discharge to the middle ear, causing ear infections. You can avoid this problem by blowing each nostril separately.

EXERCISES

Breath-work for Treating a Cold
Ideally, do this breath-work before going to sleep.
• Find a quiet place that is neither too hot nor too cold. Sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor in half-lotus posture, straighten your back, and relax your body.
• Once you are in a comfortable position, concentrate on your breathing. Through your nose, breathe in up to 80% of your maximum capacity until you feel your abdomen inflating. Hold your breath in your lower abdomen, not in your chest or throat.
• Breathe out through your nose when you cannot hold your breath any longer. However, do not hold your breath until your chest feels tight or your face becomes red.
• Repeat this exercise until you build a sufficient sweat.
• Once you are done with this exercise, it is best to take a hot shower and rest.

Clearing the Lung Meridian
• Stimulate the Joong-bu and Oon-moon pressure points, the starting points of the lung meridian, to prevent and release blockages.
• Locate the Joong-bu and Oon-moon pressure points just below the collarbone on either side of your shoulders. The lower point is the Joong-bu and the upper point is the Oon-moon.
• Make a fist with your right hand with your thumb folded in and gently tap the Joong-bu and Oon-moon pressure points on the left side. Do this for 1-3 minutes and then switch sides.
• If this is too painful or blockages still remain, rub the pressure points with the pads of your fingers.

Expanding the Chest
Expand the chest to enhance and strengthen circulation in the lungs. This exercise helps with coughs, bronchitis, emphysema, difficulty breathing, as well as facilitating elimination of phlegm.
• Sit in half-lotus posture and lock your fingers behind your back.
• While keeping your spine lengthened but not rigid, bend your upper body forward from the trunk while lifting both arms up towards the back of your head.
• Exhale while slowly returning to step 1. Repeat three times.

Head Turning
Regulate a smooth flow of energy to enable the release of cold energy from the Dae-chu-hyul.
• Sit in half-lotus posture with your hands on your knees.
• Slowly turn your head to the right until you feel resistance. Then, slowly repeat on the left. Do this 30 times while concentrating on releasing blocked energy in your Dae-chu hyul.

Rubbing the Nose
In order to help clear nasal congestions, perform this exercise upon awakening in the morning: Inhale. Rub your hands together, especially concentrating on your middle fingers to create heat energy. Then breathe naturally while you place your fingers on either side of your nose. Press and gently massage for about five minutes.”

Does anyone have other ways they take care of themselves when they have a cold or the flu?

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• Acupressure Point for Colds
• Dahn Yoga Energy Accumulation Postures
• Tuck in your tailbone!
• Dahn Yoga Meditation: Chakra Wisdom
• Quick Morning Workout

Related items

• Acupressure Point for Colds
• Dahn Yoga Meditation: Chakra Wisdom
• Back Pain Healing Exercise
• Healthy Body, Healthy Brain
• Dahn Yoga Bowing Meditation

• • Comments [7]
  • Tags [benefits, cold, flu]
  • Categories [Brain Education, Dahn Yoga Exercises]