The Most Natural Yoga for Immunity Boost: Lymphatic Pumping

Welcome to our latest blog post focusing on “Yoga for Immunity Boost.” Immunity boosting has become a buzzword just after a coronavirus outbreak. Many “Immunity boosting” products have been introduced in the market. But do they work? Well, technically they do not. Immunity boosting is purely a function of the body. And what is better than Yoga when it comes to improving bodily functions? In this article, we will see yoga kriyas for immunity boosting.

Immunity/ Immune System of the Body:

The immune system is the body’s tool for preventing or limiting infection. Without it, the body would be unable to withstand attacks from bacteria, viruses, parasites, and more. The immune system is a complex network of organs, cells, and proteins that defends the body against infection while protecting the body’s own cells.

The next section of this article explains how exactly lymphatic pumping works. If you wish not to go into much detail, you can skip to the exercises part directly. However, I suggest you read the article completely. Because you can get maximum benefits if you know what happens inside your body when you do a particular activity. To get started, we will first have to understand the lymphatic system.

What is Lymphatic System?

Lymphatic System is a part of both the circulatory system and the immune system. The main purpose of the circulatory system is to carry oxygen and nutrients to the body tissues and take the waste out of the body tissue. This exchange of nutrients and wastage happens at the capillaries. However, not all waste fluid is collected back by the circulatory system. Around 15% of the fluid remains there in the tissue. The excess fluid, if remains stored in the tissue, it causes swelling. Now, what happens to the remaining fluid? Here, the role of the Lymphatic system comes into the picture.

That 15% excess fluid in the tissue is pushed into the Lymphatic capillaries. (This fluid, once it enters the lymphatic vessels, is called the lymph fluid.) The lymph fluid is carried by lymph veins, passes from smaller lymph vessels to larger lymph vessels, and eventually, gets drained into the main bloodstream. During this journey, lymph fluid also passes through the lymph nodes. The lymph nodes serve as the filters, cleansing the fluid before it reaches the bloodstream.

Importance of Lymph nodes:

The lymph fluid passes through lymph nodes during their journey from tissue to the bloodstream. The Lymph fluid is not just a fluid, it also contains bacteria, viruses, and other toxins. The lymph nodes act as a filter and moreover they act as centers where all the fighting against pathogens, viruses, etc. happens. Lymph nodes are also responsible for the adaptive immune system i.e. creating antibodies against a particular disease.

There is an interesting feature of our immune system, the immune system keeps a record of every germ (microbe) it has ever defeated so it can recognize and destroy the microbe quickly if it enters the body again. This also happens inside the lymph node. It sounds like some AI (Artificial Intelligence) shit, isn’t it? But this is not artificial, this is real intelligence.

In short, the Lymphatic system is a drainage system that removes excess fluid (called Lymph fluid) from the body tissues and returns it to the bloodstream. Before reaching the bloodstream, the fluid is filtered and detoxified in the lymph nodes. The lymphatic system works 24/7 to carry unwanted debris away from the cells.

How does Yoga for immunity boost work?

Though the Lymphatic system is a subsystem of the circulatory system, there is one major difference between the circulatory system and the lymphatic system. In the circulatory system, the purified blood is carried from the heart to the tissues and cells, and impure blood is carried back to the heart. In the circulatory system, the heart acts as a pump and carries out this function of circulating blood throughout the body. Whereas in the Lymphatic system, there’s no such organ that acts as a pump. The various body muscles are responsible for pushing the fluid in the lymphatic vessel and ultimately into the bloodstream. When we move, the contraction and expansion of muscles push this fluid further. So, with more muscle movement, more fluid gets pumped and purified, keeping pathogens and invaders away from the cells.

Just like AI and machine learning systems, immunity keeps improving with more and more fluid passing through the lymph nodes. Now we are going to see some exercises that focus on the different areas of the body functioning as pumps to keep the lymph fluid moving.

1. Ear Pulling:

We have a large no. of lymph nodes located near our ears. So the first exercise we can do is, pulling our ears.

1. Sit down comfortably with your spine erect.
2. Hold the ears where we usually wear the earrings.
3. Pull the ears down and then move them upwards.
4. Do this for about 2 minutes.

2. Ear Cycling:

The next exercise is ear cycling.

1. Sit down comfortably with your spine erect.
2. Hold the ears as shown in the image below.

3. Cycle around them just like the bicycle pedal.
4. Rotate for 1 minute in the clockwise and anticlockwise direction each.
5. You can vary the speed as per your comfort.

3. Shoulder Pump:

The large no. of lymph nodes are located around the neck and in the armpits. So we will look at the shoulder pump now.

1. Sit straight with your palms on your knees.
2. Lift your shoulders up close to the ears.
3. Take a deep breath and exhale.
4. After exhaling hold your breath and start pumping your shoulders up and down.
5. Practice 3-4 sets of 15-20 pumps each.

4. Exercises for Diaphragm region:

The biggest lymphatic pump in our body is in the diaphragm region. It is responsible for pushing the lymph fluid through the large lymph vessels in our body’s center.

a) Kapalbhati Pranayama:

Kapalbhati is not just an immunity booster yoga kriya. The one who does Kapalbhati kriya regularly sees tremendous additional benefits as well. Click here to learn more about Kapalbhati and other pranayamas.

Technique:

1. Sit straight with your spine erect.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Keep your hands on the knees with palms facing upward.
4. Relax the body.
5. Inhale deeply through your nose.
6. Expel the breath through your nose by forceful compaction of abdominal muscles.
7. Now keep exhaling as mentioned in the above step. Do not worry about inhalation. The body inhales automatically between two exhalations, like the mechanism of the handheld rubber air pump. We are pumping air out of the body.
8. Practice 3 sets of 15-20 reps.

b) Agnisaar Kriya:

Similarly, Agnisaar kriya also has other benefits than immunity boosting. Click here to know more.

Technique:

1. Sit straight with your spine erect.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Keep your hands on the knees with palms facing upward.
4. Relax the body.
5. Inhale deeply through your nose.
6. Exhale completely (You should feel the suction in your tummy)
7. Start contracting and expanding the stomach. Do it as many times as you can before the next inhalation.
8. 10 times in one go is a good number to start with.
9. Repeat 3 rounds.

5. Thigh Pump or Butterfly:

Now we move to the groin area of the body. It also has a lot of lymph nodes.

1. Sit straight with your spine erect.
2. Fold your legs and join the heels of both feet. Make sure the soles also touch each other.
3. Now with the help of the hands try to bring the heels close to the groin as much as possible.
4. By holding the feet together, start flapping the thighs just like the butterfly flaps its wings.
5. Practice 3 reps of 30-40 secs each.

6. Calf Pump:

Calf muscles are also called the second heart of the body. It plays an important role in moving the fluid all the way up through the body.

1. Stand with your legs joined. (You are free to take support if you wish to)
2. Stand on the toes, then on the heels.
3. Repeat this as many times as you can.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have seen a few easy, quick, and beginner-friendly yet highly effective yoga for immunity boost. These exercises keep our lymphatic system healthy, functioning, and flowing well. Now if anyone asks you, which is the best immunity-boosting product? tell them, MOVEMENT. MOVEMENT IS THE BEST MEDICINE!!

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