Austin in the summer is a lot like India. Both are crazy hot and full of homegrown yoga. Fortunately both yoga and heat go together because the hotter it gets, the more yoga can keep you chilled.

The yogis use yoga in three ways to keep their cool: through their breath, through their food, and through practicing hydrotherapy.

Here is how you can make it through the summer with high energy and cool moves.

In the asana (posture) and pranayama (breathing) techniques of yoga, two distinctions are often made between practices that are cooling, called Langana, and practices which are heating, called Bramana.

Obviously during times of external heat (summer) or internal heat (fevers or menopause), yogis in the know would favor the cooling or Langana practices.

Most simply, forward bends tend to be cooling while backbends are warming. Postures done slowly and with support (such as restorative yoga) tend to be cooling. Twists done on the back are cooling, and supported inversions (such as legs up the wall) are also langana asana practices.

While a cooling and slower asana practice helps in the heat of the summer, the cooling breath techniques (pranayama) are even more effective in adjusting the internal temperature.

Sitali Pranayam is the classical cooling yogic breath. The tongue is extended and curled while the breath is pulled (inhaled) over the surface of the tongue. Close the mouth and exhale through the nose. This breath was used by yogis to reduce fevers, cool the liver, and soothe the heat in the spine. It also detoxifies the body and lowers sensitivity to pain. Try this for 26 breaths per day and watch your life change!

Sitkari Pranayam is an even more effective cooling breath technique for the summer as it also reduces thirst and cools the brain. This is done by placing the teeth together with the tongue against the teeth. Inhale through the teeth with a hissing sound and exhale through the nose, closing the lips. Just 11 breaths of Sitkari and you feel mentholated!

Both Sitali and Sitkari work through evaporative cooling with the saliva in the mouth and throat. Besides cooling, both are soothing and relaxing to the nervous system. For an extra cool boast, practice these pranayama techniques in the moonlight!

What you eat also greatly affects your ability to respond to heat healthily and the yogis always changed their diet to reflect the seasons. When hot, they increased consumption of melons, cucumbers, and peppers, all foods that cool and hydrate the body. Hot peppers increase circulation and heat transfer to the skin and ultimately cool us.

The traditional yogic vegetarian diet is cooling in itself as meat is one of the highest heat producing foods you can eat. Great for Eskimos, but not smart for a Texas summer.

During the hottest months, yogis might follow a melon diet for three days or more. This simply means eating nothing but melons for your meals. And importantly to eat only one kind of melon at a meal to maximize cleansing, cooling and digestion. For an extra detox and cooling booster, try a Kundalini Yoga trick and sprinkle cayenne pepper over your melon! And don't forget the rinds. One of the most cooling properties of the watermelon is the crisp white flesh near the rind.

The ancient yogis also practiced various forms of hydrotherapy during the seasons. The early morning baths in the cool rivers or the pilgrimages to the melting ice stream in the mountains kept their internal thermostats optimized to deal with changes in both heat and cold.

In Austin we have the year-round cool waters of Barton Springs to reset our thermostats but here is a modern day yoga trick you can use anywhere. Fill a bathtub half full of cool water (no hot) and then dump one or two bags of chipped ice into the tub. Allow the ice to melt and when there are still a few slivers of ice left in the tub, plunge in!

Resist the temptation to yell a four-letter mantra for defecation or fornication when you jump in. Instead maybe a hearty "Wahe Guru" or "OM Baby OM!"

Completely submerge your head and get the cold water directly on the third eye point (forehead). This is the yogic point to maximize the temperature effect on the body and to re-set your glandular system. Stay in as long as you can and rub the body down.

And if all else fails, come do yoga at Yoga Yoga in an air-conditioned studio. There is a reason you incarnated into the 21st century. Enjoy your good karma.

May we speak no words in heat.
May we be cool and serene in our manners and grace.
May we bless both the heat of summer and the cold of the winter,
realizing that the dance of all the polarities is merely done to bring us into the rhythm and realization of the One.

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