Friday Q&A: Yoga with a Stuffy Nose

Branches with Lichen by Melina Meza

No sooner had I put out my post today on Yoga and Your Sinuses, when one of my students sent this question to me:

Q: Can you comment on whether one should make any changes to their practice if they can't breathe through the nostrils, and have to practice as a mouth breather? This has happened to me at least twice this year...

A: This is likely a universal dilemma for anyone who has been practicing yoga for a while! After all, the average person has between two to four upper respiratory infections a year, not to mention the millions of Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies that can leave the nose congested as well as runny. So, in all likelihood, this is going to happen to you this year if you practice yoga. As I mentioned in my post Yoga and Your Sinuses, the only study done on yoga-related practices to treat sinus congestion used nasal irrigation or neti pot, to cleanse the nose. I know this is not about changing your practice on those days when your nose is congested, but I personally do find the neti pot technique helpful if I wake up congested, and a good prelude to my asana practice.

As for modifying or changing your practices on congested days, it will depend a bit on how your nose and sinuses respond to certain yoga poses or positions. As I also mentioned in my post this week, many of my students report that any poses that look like an inversion tend to increase the pressure and discomfort in the nasal and sinus passages and make breathing more difficult through the nose. So the first modification I’d make if that happens to you is bring those poses up so your hips, belly, chest and head are parallel or higher relative to the floor. For example, instead of Downward-Facing, use the wall for Half Dog Pose at the Wall.

Instead of full standing forward bend, only tip half way down to Half Standing Forward Bend (Ardha Uttanasana). You may decide to skip more challenging inversions, like Headstand, Shoulderstand, Handstand and such, and substitute a standing or seated pose to your liking that day. And elevating your head and chest a bit for Relaxation pose (Savasana) or doing a side lying version could be a great option for the end of class.

You could also could try Side-Reclining Leg Lift/Vishnu’s Couch pose (Anantasana), but skip the leg up in the air, and hang out for four to ten minutes (if only one side of your nose is blocked, lying on the opposite side, of course) and see if the research I referenced this week works for you.

And then there’s the problem of doing alternate nostril pranayama practices in class if they come up on your congested day. I’d probably skip them and do some three-part breathing as a generally beneficial alternative, or do a simple seated meditation on your mouth breathing while your fellow students are doing their Nadi Shodhana practice. Fortunately for most of us, our common colds are short lived, and you will be back to your full practice in a week or so. I hope these common sense options serve you well in the meantime.

—Baxter

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