(Photo: Courtesy Riya Davda | Design in Canva by Laura Harold)
Published June 30, 2026 09:14AM
Even when external temperatures shift into extremes, you can help regulate your internal thermostat in ways that don’t make most lists of how to beat the heat. Practicing cooling yoga poses and breathing techniques can help you chill out by shifting your body into a parasympathetic state—your muscles relax, your heart rate lowers, and your core temperature tends to slightly reduce. Which not only helps you feel cooler but more restored.
7 Cooling Yoga Poses & Breathwork Techniques
The following cooling yoga poses and breathwork practices can be done any time of day, including after an intense workout in which you’re feeling even more overheated than usual.
1. Child’s Pose (Balasana)
This restorative posture helps relax the muscles—which is exactly why teachers often suggest you “cool off” in Child’s Pose during the middle of a physically intense flow. You can do the same thing anytime during a hot day.
How to: Kneel on the mat with your big toes together and your knees apart. Walk your fingertips forward as you lower your chest toward the space between your thighs in Child’s Pose. Rest your forehead on the mat or a block. Let yourself sink into the mat. Stay here for a few breaths.
2. Crocodile Pose
Surrendering all physical effort is a quick way to beat the heat. That’s what you’ll experience in Crocodile Pose as your entire body rests against the floor.
How to: Lie on your belly and extend your legs straight behind you, hip-distance apart or wider. Stack your hands on top of each other with your palms facing the mat. Rest your forehead on your top hand in Crocodile Pose. Stay here and take steady breaths for a few minutes.
3. Waterfall
This pose is a more active form of Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani), a posture that is also considered a mudra, or gesture. It’s believed to draw your energy downward for a grounding effect. It can also be practiced with your sacrum on the mat or on a block set to the lowest side.
How to: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the mat. Lift your hips off the mat as if you were coming into Bridge Pose. Keeping your upper arms on the mat, bend your elbows and lower your hips against your palms. Your palms should be stacked over your elbows, as if your arms are a kickstand stand for your hips. Slowly lift one leg toward the ceiling, then the other. Keep your weight resting on your arms and shoulders, not your neck and head. Take a few breaths here, then slowly lower your hips to the mat.
4. Belly Breathing
This is a calming breathing practice you can do anytime—including while in any of the poses above—to “chill out” in your body and mind.
How to: Find a comfortable seated position. Rest your hands at your sides or rest one palm on your belly and the other on your chest. Inhale and pause. Then exhale. Continue to breathe at your normal pace. Feel your palms moving outward as you inhale and inward as you exhale. Continue for a few rounds. Then practice slightly extending the duration of your exhalation.
5. Moon Channel Breathing (Chandra Nadi Pranayama)
Believed to help you channel the cooling energy of our nearest cosmic neighbor, Moon Channel Breathing (also known as single-nostril breathing), helps you slow down and feel more present.
How to: Curl the fingers of your right hand in a loose fist. Keep your thumb straight and use it to gently close your right nostril. Take steady breaths through your left nostril. Continue breathing at your own pace, then switch sides.
6. Cooling Breath (Shitali Pranayama)
This technique is believed in ancient yoga tradition to lower your internal temp by drawing moisture from the air around you into your body. It’s a recommended practice when you feel overheated or anxious.
How to: Stick your tongue out and roll it inward to create a straw-like shape or roll the tip of your tongue back toward your throat. Breathe in through your mouth to create a hissing sound. Inhale as much as you can, then close your lips, take a brief pause, and exhale. Continue for a few rounds, then return to your normal breathing pattern.
7. Corpse Pose (Savasana)
The ultimate relaxation pose is known for making your muscles feel a little cooler at the end of a practice—so much that you’ve probably heard yoga teachers suggest you might want to wear socks or cover yourself with a blanket.
How to: Lie on your back with your hands and feet a comfortable distance from your body and your palms facing the ceiling in Savasana. Let your body relax and then stay as still as possible, mentally scanning your body from the top of your head to the bottoms of your toes. Stay here for several minutes.
