Did anyone have this from yoga?

[LunaHeather]

I'm on a 30 day yoga thing. (Which might turn into daily yoga forever as I love it).

I have done yoga max twice a week before.

I'm a week in and do quite a long session with separate pranayama. I feel great.

Two things have happened that struck me as a little odd. One is that my facial skin has suddenly become dry.

The other is that I cough a fair bit in the morning. Well, enough to be annoying, so in my case, about a minute. I have asthma but would say it's well controlled. My doctor always asks "do you cough at night or when you wake" and the answer was always no.

Could this be connected?

Prior to starting this, I did feel like my lungs were full of crap, but not sure what, maybe the steroids? I didn't cough, i just used to feel it. It's hard to explain.

Interested to hear if anyone else had this, maybe it's a clearing out?

Couple of points - my flat is ludicrously over insulated so no extra heating running for the cold spell. No skin care changes.

Thanks.

I only do yoga weekly but one thing I notice is that I am ridiculously thirsty for the rest of the day. I always make the effort to drink extra water.

Thanks

I will see if it levels off

It's odd.

It’s perfectly possible that in opening up your chest with the yoga and pranayama that you are shifting the “stuff” (highly technical term!) that has been sitting in your lungs all these years. Coughing is a way for your body to expel toxins and irritants so drink plenty of water and teas and stick with it!!

And on an unrelated note go easy on hip opening postures as they can cause problems, especially for yoga teachers who are doing them regularly.

Yes it opens you up, you breath more deeply, and lots of crap comes out of everywhere. Sneezes, coughs, and the yoga farts. It also really helps my circulation

@RosanneChakraWayYoga

It’s perfectly possible that in opening up your chest with the yoga and pranayama that you are shifting the “stuff” (highly technical term!) that has been sitting in your lungs all these years. Coughing is a way for your body to expel toxins and irritants so drink plenty of water and teas and stick with it!!

That's what I thought

The dry skin is a puzzle but might be a coincidence.

It's brilliant to do daily but I am going to mix things up after the 30 days.

I just don't think I'll enjoy other workouts as much.

@LunaHeather

I teach authentic, traditional yoga and while the entry point for most people (including me when I started 20-odd years ago) is the asanas or postures, one of the ultimate aims is to clear ourselves of physical and mental 'stuff'.

So, what you're experiencing is exactly what should happen - yoga can bring a huge transformation and it's why I love it so much myself.

More advanced pranayama practices take this sort of cleansing further (eg. mukho bhastrika and kapalabhati).

If you're thinking of finding a teacher, you'd probably enjoy someone who teaches more traditional yoga rather than concentrating only on the body strength and fitness benefits.

There are also cleansing practices like jala neti: - not for the faint-hearted, but it's one I use to flush out pollen from my sinuses when the hayfever season starts. It's best to only try this kind of thing under the guidance of someone who knows what they're doing.

Yoga can make you nauseous too if you are new to the practice. I believe it’s your body getting rid of toxins so it’s entirely possible that it would cause coughing in the same way - moving toxins away from lungs