FROM SKIN to Soul

Yoga and wellness educator teacher Priya Chaphekar unlocks the real secret to ageless, glowing skin.

Picture this: You wake up before sunrise, cleanse your body, roll out your mat, and begin a peaceful practice that begins with calming chants, Surya namaskars, intense asana holds, mindful inversions, and ends with pranayama and a deeply therapeutic Shavasana. You are so deeply connected to your body that your inner divinity shines out. You attract people who radiate good energy, and people feel safe and happy in your presence. Children and animals are naturally drawn to you, and you feel rooted in your center.

Google the skin benefits of yoga, and you will find countless articles highlighting how yoga can improve circulation, reduce stress, and leave you feeling rejuvenated. However, in this article, I want to delve into aspects that you may have never considered before. As aesthetic medicine practitioners who already prioritise providing the best treatments for your clients and patients, this read aims to explore how yoga can not only maintain the results of these treatments but also rejuvenate the skin, mind, and body.

As someone who practices traditional Hatha Yoga and delves deep into yogic texts to discover newer treasures, I am not a big fan of articles that begin with ‘5 poses to cure/reduce/ease acne’. Why? Because we must first understand that yoga is a holistic and wholesome system and limiting oneself to a particular set of asanas will not bring you the desired result. Your practice must be a healthy mix of forward bends, backbends, twists, balancing poses, hip, heart, hamstring openers, inversions, and other less explored elements like pranayama, dhyana, swadhyay and more. It is not a prescription. While certain poses may be contraindicated, it is best to learn under a teacher who will help you to develop sensitivity in the skin. The softening of the facial muscles in a forward bend, for instance.

Accessing the power in the skin cells

“One has to create room between the skin and the underlying tissue so there is no friction between them. The tissues contain motor nerves and the skin contains sensory nerves. They have to function with an understanding of each other in an asana in order to make the intelligence circulate freely without interruption in the body,” writes BKS Iyengar in his book ‘Light on Life’.

When we talk about the ‘skin’, we are not just talking about the ‘face’, but the largest organ in the body, the brain of the body. Our skin is a reflection of what we eat, how we sleep, as well as our mental state. So, instead of doing five asanas for a radiant skin, observe its quality in basic postures. Is it rigid, loose, or swollen?

Yes, ‘downward facing dog’ does help to flush toxins. But what exactly is happening there? Along with the skin, the nerve endings are extended, too. And that helps to open them up to clear out the stored impurities. The idea is to create space in the muscles and the skin. You will often see yoga teachers insisting students to ‘add grace’, because grace brings lightness. Otherwise, the body begins to shrink, and the brain becomes dull and heavy.

impression is felt at the level of the skin long after you have released that block. Now that is what it means to feel the asana at the level of the skin. A sadhaka should always be thin-skinned and aware.

‘Hatha Yoga Pradipika’, one of the most renowned hatha yoga texts speaks about the marks of success in hatha yoga. These include slimness of body, lustre on the face, clarity of voice, brightness of eyes, freedom from disease, control over ejaculation, stimulation of gastric heat and purification of energy channels.

Now these may not be accomplished only with the practice of asanas, but by changing our overall lifestyle and by being consistent. ‘Gheranda Samhita’ says that the heat (while retaining the breath) in Suryabhedana Pranayama must be felt up to the tips of the nails and roots of hair.

From your diet to the season, from the time of your practice to the quality of your breath, there is so much to this vast discipline of yoga. A senior Iyengar teacher’s first instruction to you will be to keep the throat wet, to release the facial skin, to soften, and soften, because if the eyes are puffed in an asana, it loses their essence. The calmness on your face speaks volumes about your practice. The tenseness of the eyes has a direct impact on the brain.

I would like to conclude by quoting one of my favourite quotes by Iyengar. “The soul has no age. It doesn’t die. Only the body decays. And yet, we must never forget the body, since it is the garden we must cherish and cultivate.”

When we feel happy from within, when we are kind to all the beings around us, and when we do not let the external environment control the way we behave, it shows on the skin. It glows!

Merging movement with intelligence

Speaking about ‘intelligence’, Iyengar writes, “Develop such an intense sensitivity that each pore of the skin acts as an inner eye. You can adjust and balance the body gently from within with the help of these eyes. This is different from seeing with your normal two eyes. Instead, you are feeling, you are sensing the position of your body. Can you, in a warrior pose, sense the placement of your back leg and tell whether it is straight or not without looking back or in the mirror? You must observe and correct the body position with the help of the trillions of eyes that you have in the form of cells. This is how you begin to bring awareness to your body. The moment you lose the feeling in the skin, the flow or current of intelligence is lost.”

The water in the pond touches the shoreline evenly, just as the sun’s rays light up the entire world. Similarly, you must feel the asana in each and every pore of your skin. Our skin has the power to contract or expand. It accommodates the inner body, and so, it must give enough space for the muscles to expand.

The effect of yoga on the skin

Iyengar Yoga, one of the most powerful forms of yoga, focuses on precision and alignment. The wide range of yoga tools such as blocks, blankets, belts, chairs, and bolsters not only help students to perform the asanas correctly, but also help them to minimise the risk of injury.

For instance, simply taking a block between your shoulders and lying down helps to prop the sternum. This not only helps to lift the heart, but also alleviates any signs of depression. The

About the author:

A certified yoga expert, Priya Chapekar has been teaching yoga in-person and online for more than five years. Her teachings are laden with the essence of ancient yogic texts, which percolates into life off the yoga mat, too.