Tell me, do you practice your yoga (or any form of exercise) when you’re sick?
This afternoon, as I laid on the couch, alternating between blowing my nose, holding my head, groaning, and guzzling water, I actually went online and did a Google search about Bikram yoga and head colds. I know some people swear by the mindset of “yoga will cure anything!”, while others are of the “Give your body a chance to heal” thinking.
Trouble was, I couldn’t quite decide: where do I stand?
To cut to the chase, no, I didn’t get myself up off the couch and to a yoga class. Considering I’ve felt light-headed all day, have suffered fever chills, and could barely swallow this morning, I figured “pushing” myself through a 90-minute hot yoga class might not be the best thing for my collapsed system. So, I guess that’s where I stood today.
But, my search did garner some interesting responses. Some people said, yes, definitely, go! The yoga will clean out your sinuses, help compress the pain out of your throat, and even sweat out your fever. Other sites said that if you’re sick, you should stay at home, in bed, with a cup of tea or a glass of orange juice, and give your body what it needs: rest.
Above all, I kept reading, “You know your body. Go if you feel like you can go, and skip if you feel like you need to skip.”
Huh. In truth, this wasn’t very helpful.
Oh sure, I know my body. And, today, my tight muscles and joints wanted yoga. My head also wanted yoga, because tonight my favorite teacher was on the podium and would have helped me unravel my work-related stresses. My heart also wanted yoga because, umm, maybe my yoga crush would show, spicing up my class with a quick little thrill. So, yeah, I felt like going.
But… Frankly, I felt—I feel—like total shit. Like someone just stomped all over me, threw my carcass down a rocky cliff, and left me for dead. And so, home I stayed.
Is that listening to my body? Or just being practical? I don’t know.
And, further, I guess I won’t know if going would have helped or hurt.
I’m just hoping that my 12 hours spent laying like a corpse on my couch, forcing coconut water, tea, and orange juice down my sore and burning throat and closing my eyes for 15-minute spells once an hour, pays off tomorrow.
Because I have some important work meetings throughout the next few days.
And I have plans on Thursday night.
And I go to Nantucket in a week for July 4th.
And, oh yeah, I—body, mind, heart—need this yoga.
14 responses so far ↓
Juliana // June 23, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Aww, poor thing!
If I were as sick as you are describing, I would probably have stayed home and hydrated, too. I get sick very, very rarely these days, which is nice! When I have just a garden-variety head cold, I ALWAYS go to class because it makes me feel SO much better. I’ll tuck a few tissues under my mat, but after maybe 15 minutes in the room I always feel like I’m CURED. And then an hour after class, the cold comes back. But whatever. The time in the yoga room is so great.
There was only one time when I practiced when I was REALLY sick and I didn’t even realize it until I was 30 minutes into the 6:30am class. Yep. That was basically a hot nap. I did one rocking set of standing head to knee, ran to the bathroom cause I thought I was gonna puke, came back and attempted the second set of standing bow, and then laid on my mat until cobra. Then I went home, got back in bed, and slept for maybe 15 hours. That was probably NOT the best time to go to yoga!! But I dunno if I would have even NOTICED how sick I was if I hadn’t tried to do yoga class and failed wretchedly at it. (The punchline to that story is that the next morning I drove to LA, took class again, ate some Gatorade and ONE Saltine, and competed in the SoCal championships. What a weekend.)
P.S. Do you have plans on FRIDAY night? Check your Facebook…!
Duffy Pratt // June 23, 2009 at 11:45 pm
I go with headaches. I go with head colds. I go with minor stomach problems. Just a little while ago, I got totally knocked out in a class because I had some sort of stomach virus which revealed itself only just before class. I’ve even gone when I feel the slight onset of a fever. And I believe (without solid evidence) that the yoga has knocked out fevers and colds that otherwise would have been much worse.
I think if you stay within your limits as you are that day, and stay within your breath, you could go no matter how sick you are. The worst that’s gonna happen is you lie down for 90 minutes. That assumes you are on an unilimited plan, so there’s no marginal cost for going. The main dangers in going are either in pushing yourself too hard, or judging yourself harshly because your sick body is not living up to expectations.
Even so, I’ve had days where I bailed because I didn’t feel good. The day after the onset of that stomach virus, I was still queasy, and took off. And if I felt like you describe, I doubt I would have made it. When you are sick, rest is never that bad a prescription. You have to allow your body to heal itself. There’s no point in beating yourself up because you are allowing an illness to run its course.
bonnie // June 24, 2009 at 12:17 am
Sounds to me like you did listen to your body.
I feel that the yoga can deal a death blow to the crud. Something about Bikram, grueling as it can be, gives me the feeling that it isn’t a stressful to the body as other forms of exercise and promotes, rather than interferes with healing and recovery. I can’t imagine running or lifting weights with a cold.
Anyway, this is by no means scientific and there are contagion concerns for your fellow yogis. Like Duffy said, rest and fluids aren’t gonna hurt!
YogaforCynics // June 24, 2009 at 12:24 am
I remember my first yoga teacher talking about how he did yoga with a high fever, and it helped. Then, he’d been at it for a long time. If I have a slight cold, I find that dragging myself to yoga class can really help (no way I can motivate myself to practice at home when not feeling well). Then, when I’m really congested, I tend to feel like “do I really want to be more conscious of my disgusting snotty breathing?”
Mei // June 24, 2009 at 1:24 am
I go to class when I’m not feeling like an animated corpse bride. However, if I felt like a pile of mouldy vomit, I’d stay home. True story, once I went to class with the Mother of All Colds and was Bikram-less the next 3 days. Not to mention few other people giving me the Evils during class “I hope she doesn’t INFECT me!”
Rest up! Though the soul is willing, the body isn’t. And besides, there’s always doubles the next day
Cristina // June 24, 2009 at 6:34 am
Rest for some days, I have heard that if the cold is just above the neck it is OK to yoga and if one feels it in the whole body one should stay at home, and that is what I follow and it feels good for me.
I always find it strange when I have had some days of the yoga for some reason the first class is always so great, the mind and body longs for the yoga, the stiffness is gone and I find new depths.
Hope you be better soon.
hannahjustbreathe // June 24, 2009 at 8:08 am
Thanks for the awesome insights, everyone!
I think the make-or-break-it for me yesterday was the fact that, as Cristina pointed out, my entire body (not just my head) felt like death. And as I read through all of your comments, I realized that I’m more than happy to go to Bikram yoga when I just have a stuffy nose or whatever. But fever chills? Fever aches? Light-headedness? Noooo, thank you. Home I’ll stay.
Keep the comments coming! I love hearing everyone’s thoughts and experiences.
crisitunity // June 24, 2009 at 8:20 am
If I’m too sick for work, but I can get out of bed, I tend to do a very quiet and calm home practice. Inversions are a REALLY bad idea, but forward bends and other calming poses are helpful.
hannahjustbreathe // June 24, 2009 at 8:26 am
Crisitunity: Interesting… I thought gentle inversions were supposed to help?? Like downward dog and rag doll? What do you think?
Child’s pose would feel really, really good right now, actually. If only I didn’t work in a cubicle in the middle of a big office…
crisitunity // June 24, 2009 at 8:56 am
I had a head cold once and did a short headstand. I came out with a pounding headache and thought the entire contents of my brain were going to come leaking out my nose. It was bad.
Down dog is OK, but it generally does worsen any sinus headache I might have going into the studio.
Michelle // June 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Hannah~ I have only been sick once in the past two years since starting this yoga. I took one day off (the day I felt the worst!) and then dragged myself to yoga the next few days, sick as a dog and flushed that cold out in three days. Everybody at work had the same cold and it lingered for weeks. I am convinced my body sweated it out during those yoga classes.
Heidi // June 24, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I kept going to class for about 4 days thinking/hoping that whatever sinus thing I had would pass…unfortunatley, it didn’t and I ended up having to rest up for a couple days. I don’t blame going to class though, as I felt better after each one which is why I kept going! hee hee, I should have stayed home from work instead and just rested + yoga. anyway, once I was over my sickness and able to go back, I wanted to purge my body of all the ills and just kept going and going…after 9 days in a row I decided to make it a 60-day challenge which was great! life gets busy and I can’t afford the time lately to go every day and it is a struggle and debate to take a day off…I get all stressed out about it which is so silly, it’s okay to take a day (esp in MI when summer is breif and the lake is soo nice!)
hannahjustbreathe // June 24, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Crisitunity: No head-stands. Got it. Good to know!
Michelle: I’ve definitely gotten sick much, much less since I started a consistent yoga practice. I think that’s why when I DO get sick, it plows me down like an 18-wheeler, you know?
Heidi: Look at you—your way of recovering from a cold is a 60-day challenge! Now that’s impressive. Isn’t it funny how we stress about not going to yoga (whether we’re sick or not)?? This yoga is supposed to HELP stress!!
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