Essential Oils and Yoga to Keep You Grounded Through the Heatwave

Essential Oils For Yoga TeachersAromatherapy in Yoga Classes

9 Aug

As we head towards heatwave number five of the summer here in the UK, if you're anything like me, the novelty has worn off, it did that around heatwave number two to be honest. By now there's a particular kind of tiredness that comes with this weather — broken sleep, a short fuse, a mind that feels scattered even when the body has barely moved. If you've rolled out your mat this week and thought "I cannot possibly do a full practice in this," you are not alone, and you don't have to be.

I've noticed this feeling in my own practice, but also in my classes, no one is inclined to do much movement in this heat.

Grounding usually gets talked about as something warm and heavy, especially in the winter months when our urge to hibernate kicks in, think earthy oils, slow deliberate movement, a sense of sinking down. In a heatwave, that's the last thing we need is warm and heavy. What we actually need is steadiness in the middle of intensity: something that cools the body and settles the mind without asking for more effort than we have to give. That's the kind of grounding this post is about.

Why heat makes it so hard to feel steady

Heat interferes with two things the body relies on to feel settled: sleep and stress regulation. To fall and stay asleep, core body temperature needs to drop, a recent study tracking over 12.5 million nights of wearable sleep data found that warmer nights measurably shorten sleep and delay how quickly people drop off, with the effect strongest for women in their 40s. On top of that, heat itself acts as a physical stressor, nudging up heart rate and stress hormones, which is part of why minor irritations can feel bigger than they are, a pattern researchers have studied for decades in the well-documented link between heat and short tempers. None of that is a failure of willpower, it's a fairly predictable response to sustained heat. So rather than fighting it with intensity, this is a moment for practices that cool first and steady second.

Cooling, grounding oils for this week

Peppermint — instantly cooling. One drop on a cotton pad and some lovely deep slow breathing.
Cornmint — a gentler, sweeter cousin of peppermint, kind on sensitive skin, so can be blended with a carrier oil and applied to the neck and chest. Lovely for an evening wind-down when you want cooling without the intensity.
Geranium — balancing rather than sedating, geranium helps even out the emotional up-and-down that heat tends to bring, without adding any heaviness.
Sandalwood — traditionally used in hot climates for its cooling, grounding quality; beautiful paired with a slower, floor-based practice.
Lime or grapefruit — bright and refreshing, good for lifting a flat, heat-drained mood. (A safety note on these below — worth reading before you reach for the bottle.)

Please read Essential Oil Safety for Yoga Teachers | Safe Use in Classes & Workshops — Deaville Yoga if you're new to working with essential oils.

A safety note specific to heatwave weather

This one's worth flagging clearly: citrus oils, like lime, lemon, bergamot, grapefruit are phototoxic. They increase your skin's sensitivity to UV light and can cause burning or pigmentation if applied to skin that then goes into direct sun. Given that most of us are spending more time outdoors and in stronger sun right now, it's worth using blended citrus oils on skin that won't see direct sunlight, or sticking to a diffuser instead. As always, dilute properly and patch test anything new, and if you're pregnant or have a medical condition, check in with a qualified aromatherapist first.

A cooling practice to go with it

Two of the simplest and most direct tools for cooling the body come from pranayama:

Sitali or Sitkari breath (the "cooling breath") — inhale through a curled tongue or through clenched teeth, exhale through the nose. It's one of the few yoga tools that has an almost immediate, physical cooling effect, and you can do it anywhere — on the mat, in the car, queuing for a flight.
A short, low-effort sequence: supported forward fold, a gentle seated twist, and legs-up-the-wall to finish. None of this asks much of the body, and legs-up-the-wall in particular is wonderful for heat-swollen ankles and a genuinely restless mind.

Practice earlier in the morning or later in the evening if you can, and let movement stay slow and mostly floor-based while the heat is at its peak. This is a week for less, not more.

A simple ritual for today

If you only take one thing from this post, let it be this: a drop or two of your favourite oil from the list above on a cotton pad or in your diffuser, three rounds of Sitali breath, and five minutes with your legs up the wall. It takes less time than making a cup of tea, and it's enough.

If this kind of practical, seasonal knowledge is something you'd love to build into your own teaching, this is exactly the territory we go deep on in the Essential Oils for Yoga Teachers course, from safety considerations like phototoxicity to building simple rituals your students can actually use. Check it out: Essential Oils for Yoga Teachers | Online CPD Training UK — Deaville Yoga

Stay cool out there, and see you on the mat.

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