Winter Wellness Unlocked: The Transformative Power of Yoga in Cold Months

Feeling balanced during winter is a tall order. 

Early winter holidays amp up your stress, then you’re left dragging your feet, shut in by cold weather and little to look forward to until spring. Add to that other winter trouble (hello flu season and achy joints) and you might want to give up. 

You don’t have to. 

If you’ve been waiting to try yoga, winter is as good a time as any. In fact, yoga can be especially good for you right now. To find out why, read on.

Yoga combats Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

As you surely know, winter is when days get shorter. Dark, chilly times can put you in a funk.

Weaker sunlight also means your body creates less vitamin D than it does during ray-filled summertime. Studies have shown that low levels of vitamin D are associated with depression and anxiety. 

During winter, depression might show up as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). True to its name, SAD makes you feel sad. Lethargic or even restless too. 

Why yoga works: All forms of exercise boost your mood for the better. Yoga, though, is extraordinary at improving mood, in large part because (with some exception) it focuses on soothing your autonomic nervous system. Many studies back yoga’s usefulness in combating stress, anxiety and depression. 

Yoga lets you rest, recover and reset

Most living beings slow down innately come winter. Humans not so much. We want to be productive all the time, and we think we need permission to take a break.

But every plant and animal (and even some machines) needs down time to recover. Yoga teaches you how to pause and reset, while you reap benefits along the way.

Restorative yoga practices are the most helpful: During a restorative session you hold only a few passive postures, completely supported by blocks, bolsters, blankets, straps and other props. During most of the shapes you create, you’re lying down, and lying down is the ideal position for rest.

Why yoga works: The less you move, the more your muscles relax and the more your heart rate slows. Also, the calm and measured breathing that comes with being still and in a relaxed state gives your nervous system a break, making you less reactive. When you’re not constantly reactive, you have space to recover. 

Once you rest then recover, you can reset. And what better time to reset than the start of a new year? Winter will slog on beyond January 1, but you’ll meet it refreshed — and with the tools of yoga to stay refreshed until spring.

Yoga helps your respiratory system

You’re most likely to catch a cold or covid or get the flu in winter. All those illnesses assail your respiratory system. Yoga, on the other hand, helps keep your lungs in shape.

Why yoga works: A main component of yoga is breath work, most often types that call for slow complete breaths. Breath work that calls for moderate inhales, breath retention and slow steady exhales exercises your lungs. Increasing the duration of your breaths, chiefly how long you hold your breath, increases your lung capacity, strengthening your lungs.

Yoga improves joint health and comfort

There’s a reason retirees head to Florida for the winter: Joints feel better when the weather is warm. Heat improves blood flow to your joints.

But if you’re not blessed with being a snowbird, yoga can help your joints all the same — senior citizen or not.

Why yoga works: Exercise in general helps with joint health. When the muscles that surround your joints are strong, they absorb shock and pressure that would otherwise go straight to your joints. Yoga helps with that strengthening. 

Also, yoga’s movements are particularly beneficial because many use your whole body, taking your joints through their full range of motion. Most exercise types fail to do that. And everyday life rarely takes your joints through their full range of motion — especially in wintertime when all you want to do is curl up in a little ball and hunker down near something hot.

Yoga warms you up

Heated yoga during the summer? Not appealing. Heated yoga during winter? Yes please!

There are many types of yoga. Some call for a cool room (yin), others for ambient temperatures (restorative), and yet others dial up the heat to stifling levels (Bikram).

Heated yoga, in general, has become extremely popular in the past few years though. There’s no standard temp for “heated yoga,” so check with your local studio on where it sets the thermostat.

Why yoga works: If you spend most of your winter days feeling chilly, a warm yoga class gives you a chance to stop bracing against the cold and instead get toasty. You might even sweat a little. 

Avoid very hot classes though (90+ degrees). They might prompt you to head outside without enough cover because you still feel hot. And avoid packed classes where everyone is sweating in a closed room. Crowded rooms without ventilation, heated or not, are likely to land you the flu, covid or a cold.

And that definitely would not be a benefit of practicing yoga in the winter.