Yoga For Tonsillitis And Sore Throats: What Mr Iyengar, The Yoga Doctors And The Research Say

Swallowing feels like glass again? Tonsils swollen, voice croaky, and the whole week thrown out? A sore throat is one of the commonest reasons people feel run down, and tonsillitis can keep coming back. Yoga will not swap places with rest when you are unwell. But it gives you a calmer nervous system, a slower, softer breath through the nose and a stronger, more open chest, and those are the things your body leans on to get well and stay well. This guide brings together what Mr BKS Iyengar, the medical doctors who worked with him (one of them an ear, nose and throat surgeon) and the modern research say about yoga for tonsillitis and sore throats. It also covers swollen tonsils, tonsillitis symptoms and yoga for a sore throat in Darwin and online. Last updated: 5 November 2026.

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Can yoga help tonsillitis and sore throats? The short answer

Yes. Yoga, and pranayama (yogic breathing) in particular, is well worth doing if sore throats and tonsillitis keep knocking you over. For a condition that keeps coming back, yoga is a way to help manage it and improve the situation, and the studies are the reason we can say so. Mindfulness training meant milder colds and flu over a winter and far fewer days off work. Daily pranayama went with far fewer infections in hospital workers. Yoga and meditation raised the mouth and throat’s own first-line antibody (secretory IgA) in several trials, and a review of 89 trials found mind-body practice raised it overall. Humming breath raises nitric oxide in the nose many times over. Like the other pranayama, humming helps balance and improve the immune system, and so helps it do its job, including helping to reduce infection. Mr Iyengar lists poses and pranayama for tonsillitis in Light on Yoga, and Dr J. T. Shah, a medical doctor who was also an Iyengar yoga teacher, who worked closely with Mr BKS Iyengar for many years, lists slow breathing for chronic coughs and colds, where the research agrees with him. People may also choose other professional help as they see fit.

Sore throat and tonsillitis: what the nearest studies found

One thing to keep in mind as you read: no trial has yet tested yoga for tonsillitis itself. The nearby trials tested mindfulness, pranayama and yoga of many styles, taught by teachers with very different training. In our view as certified Iyengar teachers, careful, well-taught yoga and pranayama, learnt step by step, is likely to go further than the average. Why the kind of yoga matters.

The bottom line: five key moves for sore throats and tonsillitis

1. Go to a yoga class at your level, several times a week, on the days you are well. Standing poses, chest openers and supported inversions build the strength and calm that carry you through the winter of coughs and colds. Mr Iyengar’s tonsillitis list is built from exactly these.
2. Learn pranayama from a teacher, and practise it often. A slow, soft breath calms the nerves, and the nerves help steer the immune system. Humming breath (Bhramari) also raises nitric oxide in the nose.
3. Breathe through your nose, gently, whenever you can. The nose filters, warms and moistens the air before it reaches a sore throat. Mouth breathing dries it out, and in Darwin’s air-conditioning that matters.
4. Keep the throat, jaw and tongue soft. Mr Iyengar’s teaching is that a tense throat means you are working from the brain, not the body. A soft throat is a calmer throat.
5. Start now. New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price, in Darwin or LIVE online.

Iyengar yoga is the style we teach at Flametree. During the 20th century, Mr BKS Iyengar was the major person who codified traditional Indian yoga, through his seminal books and widespread teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, so poses can be adapted to almost any body. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. This guide is part of our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

This guide in short

• Overall evidence: Limited. Best study: Lee 2025 pooled 89 randomised trials of mind-body practices. They raised secretory IgA, an antibody that guards the mouth and throat. It did not look at tonsillitis or sore throats themselves.
• Mr BKS Iyengar: a tonsillitis list in Light on Yoga, built on inversions, chest openers, twists and pranayama, plus Lion Pose for the mouth and tongue, and a course for colds in Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health.
• Dr J. T. Shah, an ear, nose and throat surgeon: slow breathing and restful poses for chronic coughs and colds, and alternate nostril breathing for the immune system, each matched with the research that supports it; plus his cautions for upside-down poses.
• Managing it day to day: what to do on the well days, at the first scratch, in the thick of it and on the way back.
• Dr Timothy McCall, an American medical doctor and yoga therapist who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar, author of Yoga as Medicine, and Dr Krishna Raman, a medical doctor in Chennai who trained in yoga under Mr BKS Iyengar and has used yoga in his medical practice for decades: nose breathing, a soft jaw and tongue, and gentle, well-supported inversions.
• Geeta S Iyengar: keep the jaws loose and the throat quiet.
• The research: no tonsillitis trial yet; mindfulness, pranayama and humming studies that point the same way, each labelled by what it tested.
• A story: the “Singing Priest” who had throat infections, and met Mr Iyengar at a concert.
• Take it further: a free ebook on the breath, our Immune System Masterclass, and classes in Darwin and online.

Humming breath, the way Chris teaches it

“Keep the jaws loose and do not clench the teeth.”

What are tonsillitis and a sore throat?

Your tonsils are two soft lumps at the back of the throat, one on each side. They are part of the immune system: a first line of defence that meets germs coming in through the mouth and nose. When they swell and become sore, that is tonsillitis. It is usually caused by a virus, sometimes by bacteria.

A sore throat is the wider family. It can come with a cold, after a long day of talking, from dry air, or with tonsillitis. Tonsillitis symptoms people know too well: pain when swallowing, red or swollen tonsils, a croaky voice, tender glands in the neck, tiredness and sometimes a fever.

Mr Iyengar places the throat inside the breathing system. In Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health he lists a sore throat among the usual signs of a cold, a short viral infection of the nose and throat (p. 276). So the yoga for a sore throat sits close to the yoga for colds, the nose and the chest. Our guides to sinus problems and hay fever and to the immune system cover the neighbouring ground.

“Teachers should roar like a lion outside but be like a lamb inside.”

What did Mr BKS Iyengar teach about tonsillitis?

In short: in Light on Yoga he gives a list of poses and pranayama for tonsillitis, built on inversions, chest openers, twists and breathing. He gives Lion Pose for the mouth and tongue, and a course for colds in a later book.

In Light on Yoga, his first book from 1966, the appendix of poses grouped under ailments (Appendix II) has an entry for tonsillitis (p. 432). In our words, it brings together:

• Inversions. Headstand and Shoulderstand, and whatever is possible of the poses that grow out of them.
• Chest openers and backbends. Camel Pose (Ustrasana), Bow Pose (Dhanurasana), Upward-Facing Dog (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana), and for experienced students Upward Bow and Two-Legged Inverted Staff Pose.
• Seated poses. Hero Pose (Virasana), the reclining Paryankasana, and Lotus and its cycle.
• The standing poses, all of them.
• Twists and a forward bend. Marichyasana III, Ardha Matsyendrasana I and their harder cousins, and the Seated Forward Bend (Paschimottanasana).
• Pranayama. Ocean breath (Ujjayi), alternate nostril breathing (Nadi Sodhana), the bellows breath (Bhastrika) and the abdominal lift (Uddiyana).

Mr Iyengar’s tonsillitis list in Light on Yoga

He opens that appendix with a caution worth carrying: choose from the lists with an experienced teacher, by your own ability, and “use common sense and to watch the reactions of your body” (p. 413). The lists are a menu, not a prescription. Bhastrika, a strong and forceful breath, comes late in our teaching for good reason: why the bellows breath comes last.

Colds and coughs. His entries for cold and cough (p. 419) lean on Headstand, Shoulderstand, forward bends and ocean breath (Ujjayi). In Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health his course for colds (p. 276) moves from forward bends and standing poses to supported inversions, then rest, ending with staircase breath (Viloma) and the resting pose, Savasana: mildly stimulating first, then restful.

A course for colds and a sore throat

Upside-down poses. Headstand and Shoulderstand sit at the heart of his lists for tonsillitis, colds and coughs. They are learned with a teacher, step by step, with props, and they are not for everyone: see Dr Shah’s cautions below for who should avoid them.

Lion Pose (Simhasana). Mr Iyengar teaches it kneeling, sitting back on the heels, hands pressing the knees with fingers spread, mouth wide open and the tongue stretched down towards the chin, for about 30 seconds (pp. 108 to 109). His words on its effects: “The pose cures foul breath and cleans the tongue.” He adds that with practice “speech becomes clearer” (p. 109). The stronger version, from Lotus, has “greater beneficial effects”, in his words (p. 108). Lion Pose is also on his list for bad breath (p. 423), with a note to curl the tongue up and back in the poses and breathing.

We do not publish his sequences. A sequence needs a teacher who can see you and adapt it, which is what a class is for.

“Listen to the lungs and do not use force on them for inhalation.”

Headstand (Salamba Sirsasana): what it works

What the pose works

Dr Shah’s book, Therapeutic Yoga, lists these points for Headstand:

• It improves blood flow to the pituitary, pineal, thyroid and parathyroid glands, and to the brain and head.
• It helps the veins of the legs and pelvis drain.
• It improves balance, concentration, confidence, will power and creativity.
• It strengthens the inner ears and the eyes.
• It settles sagging belly organs back into place, helps the lungs clear secretions, and improves the line of the back and spine.

Source: Dr J. T. Shah, Therapeutic Yoga, p. 65. Our own words and our own picture.

Mr Iyengar’s cues and cautions

• Kneel in Hero Pose, clasp the elbows, and set the elbows no wider than the shoulders. Cup the hands.
• Rest the crown of the head (not the forehead or the back of the head) on the floor against the cupped hands.
• Beginners use a wall, with a folded blanket and the hands 5 to 8 centimetres from the wall. Walk the feet in, then raise the legs.
• Keep the weight on the crown of the head, not on the forearms. Lift the shoulders away from the floor, stretch the upper arms, and tighten the knees.
• Hold for up to 5 minutes, breathing evenly. Balance, not strength, is the key. To come out, lower the legs and rest the forehead on the floor.

Take care. Mr Iyengar’s book says not to practise Headstand with high blood pressure, cervical spondylosis (arthritis of the neck), backache, headache or migraine. With low blood pressure, do not start a session with it. Practise it once only in a session. Dr Shah’s general instructions (p. xiii) add that people with high myopia (severe short sight), glaucoma, a detached retina or discharging ears should avoid inversions. Learn it with a teacher.

Source: BKS Iyengar, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, pp. 138 to 143.

Condition guides it links to

• Yoga for hernia
• Yoga for piles (haemorrhoids)
• Yoga for thyroid
• Yoga for vertigo

What Dr Shah recommends for sore throats and tonsillitis: an ear, nose and throat surgeon’s yoga

In short: Dr J. T. Shah spent his working life on throats, as an ear, nose and throat surgeon. For chronic coughs and colds he lists slow breathing and restful, chest-opening poses, and he says alternate nostril breathing improves the immune system. Those are the parts of his advice the research tends to support, so they are the parts we give here.

Who Dr Shah is: Dr J. T. (Jawahar) Shah, a Mumbai ear, nose and throat surgeon, practised yoga from 1963, studied with Mr BKS Iyengar and taught yoga himself from 1985. His book Therapeutic Yoga carries a foreword by Mr Iyengar and colour-codes every pose by the body systems it works.

From his pose pages and his list for chronic coughs and colds (pp. xviii to xix), with the research that points the same way:

• Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana Pranayama), p. 99: he says it improves the immune system and calms the nerves, and lists it for respiratory tract infections and chronic coughs and colds. The research: mind-body practice raised the mouth and throat’s own antibody across 89 trials (Lee 2025), and daily pranayama went with far fewer infections (Sarwal 2022).
• Ocean Breath (Ujjayi Pranayama), p. 97: slow, full breathing; he lists it for chronic coughs and colds and allergies of the nose and chest. The research: the pranayama and mindfulness infection trials below.
• Reclining Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana), p. 43, and Reclining Hero Pose (Supta Virasana), p. 45: rest with the chest open, on his list for chronic coughs and colds, and among his stress-reducing poses. The research: calmer people had milder colds and flu (Barrett 2012), and a single long yoga session raised the throat’s antibody in older women (Eda 2017).

Dr Shah’s advice for sore throats and the research behind it

Upside-down poses, in Dr Shah’s words and with his cautions. Dr Shah lists Headstand (Salamba Sirsasana) for “poor lung power, chronic coughs, colds, tonsillitis” and for poor body immunity (p. 65). That is his clinical view; it has not been tested in a trial. He also says people with high short-sightedness (high myopia), high blood pressure, glaucoma, a detached retina, discharging ears or cervical spondylitis avoid inverted poses, and with cervical spondylitis he allows them only with supports and an experienced teacher (p. xiii). He advises easy poses for weeks or months before the harder ones (p. xv). Headstand is a later pose, learned with a teacher.

Tell your teacher. If your throat is sore or you are getting over tonsillitis, tell your teacher; some poses are done differently on those days. Take care to respect the wellbeing of the other students who will be close to you, and think about staying home until you feel better. It depends on how unwell you are. Your teacher will adapt each pose with props, which is how Dr Shah himself said therapeutic work should be done: with an experienced teacher. Classes run in Darwin and LIVE online.

Source: Dr J. T. Shah, Therapeutic Yoga (foreword by Mr BKS Iyengar), Vakils, Feffer and Simons, Mumbai, 1999, chart pp. xviii to xix, cautions pp. xiii to xv, pose pages 43, 45, 65, 97 and 99. Summarised in our own words; quoted words are his.

What does Dr Timothy McCall say?

In short: tonsillitis is not on his list, but his nose-breathing advice goes straight to a sore throat, and he reports one teacher’s throat-centred breathing practice.

Dr Timothy McCall is a US medical doctor and yoga therapist, author of Yoga as Medicine and former medical editor of Yoga Journal. His June 2019 list of conditions helped by yoga does not name tonsillitis or sore throats. The nearest are rhinitis (no. 98) and sinusitis (no. 103), covered in our sinus guide. In our words, from his book:

• The nose slows the breath. Breathing out through the nose lengthens the out-breath and calms, because the nose gently resists the air. Fast breathing through the mouth does the opposite (his chapter on anxiety). For a sore throat, the nose also warms and moistens the air on its way in.
• A teacher’s practice for the throat. He reports Pandit Rajmani Tigunait of the Himalayan Institute suggesting ocean breath and humming breath with a meditation on the hollow of the throat, linked in that tradition with the thymus gland of the immune system. That is one teacher’s tradition, not a research finding, and it counts as tradition.

What does Dr Krishna Raman say?

In short: breathe through the nose, keep the jaw unclenched and the tongue soft, and do Shoulderstand on blankets so the neck is not squashed.

Dr Krishna Raman is a Chennai physician who trained in yoga under Mr Iyengar. His book Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ has a section on the ear, nose and throat (questions 438 to 444). He does not write about tonsils as such. His views that bear on the throat, in our words:

• The tongue and the jaw. Do not clench the jaw, and let the tongue rest on the floor of the mouth in the poses and in pranayama. A tongue pressed up to the palate is, in his view, a sign of strain (questions 49 and 182).
• The chin and the neck. In the chin lock used in pranayama (Jalandhara Bandha), the chin rests level on the notch at the top of the breastbone. Do not force the chin down by straining the neck; let the spine lift to meet it (questions 76, 77 and 110).
• Shoulderstand on blankets. Folded blankets under the shoulders keep the natural curve of the neck, so the throat is not squashed (questions 187, 188 and 475). This is how Shoulderstand is always taught at Flametree. Why blankets make Shoulderstand kinder to the neck.
• Gentler head-down poses. He describes half Headstand and a half Plough as gentler versions for the head, lungs and sinuses (question 199). Learn them from a teacher.

The breath, the way Chris teaches it

“…the throat is loose and free from contraction, the brain is bound to be calm.”

Geeta S Iyengar and other yoga voices on the throat

In short: the Iyengar teachers come back to the throat again and again: keep it soft, never let the breath be forced through it.

• Geeta S Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter and one of the great Iyengar teachers, wrote Yoga: A Gem for Women. In her hints for the poses she asks for the eyes, ears and tongue to relax and the jaws to stay loose. In meditation she links a loose throat with a calm brain. In her pranayama teaching, as our class notes record it, the head and throat stay quiet and the chest bright, and a head support set too high locks the throat. Flametree follows Geeta Iyengar’s approach to pranayama.
• Mr Iyengar on the soft breath. In Light on Pranayama he teaches the chin lock with the face, eyes and tongue soft and the chest lifting to meet the chin, rather than the chin dropped onto the chest. The ocean breath makes a soft sound in the throat, never a harsh one.
• Dr Loren Fishman, an American medical doctor who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar and teaches yoga through his own programme, does not write about the throat in the material we hold. Dr Shah, the ear, nose and throat surgeon, does: see his section above.

Humming, nitric oxide and the throat: what is known

In short: humming raises nitric oxide in the nose many times over. It is a nose and sinus practice more than a throat practice, and it is part of the immune case for pranayama.

• Many times over. Nitric oxide in the nose was about 15 times higher while humming than while breathing out quietly, in a Swedish study of 10 adults (Weitzberg and Lundberg 2002).
• A flush from the sinuses. The rise is gas already stored in the sinuses, swept out by the vibration of the hum. It fades with repeated humming and refills after about 3 minutes (Maniscalco 2003). That is why humming is done in rounds, with quiet breaths between.
• Why researchers are interested. Nitric oxide is one of the body’s own defences in the airways. A nitric oxide nasal spray, tested in mild COVID-19, cleared the virus from the nose a median of four days sooner than a dummy spray (Tandon 2022). That was a spray, not humming, but it shows why nasal nitric oxide has caught researchers’ attention.
• Balance for the immune system. Humming, like the other pranayama, helps balance and improve the immune system. As a result it helps the immune system do what it does, including helping to reduce infection. Our immune guide sets out how the slow, calm breath works on the body’s defences.
• Still to be tested. No study has yet tested humming on sore throats or tonsillitis. Not yet studied is not the same as not working.

More on the bee breath in Bhramari pranayama benefits, and on the nose in how to stop mouth breathing.

Managing sore throats and tonsillitis day to day: the yogic approach

In short: build yourself up on the well days, go gentler at the first scratch, rest in the thick of it, and come back step by step. A steady routine, good rest, a calm mind and a slow breath through the nose do the work in between.

• A routine you keep. Regular classes on the days you are well, two or three a week, are where the strength and calm come from. In the trials, the gains came from weeks of steady practice, not one-off sessions.
• Rest and sleep. Supported, restful poses and a long final rest let the body switch from alarm to repair. Dr Shah lists restful, chest-opening poses for chronic coughs and colds.
• A calmer mind. Stress wears down defences. In the trials, the more mindful people became, the shorter their infections.
• The nose, not the mouth. Breathe through the nose, by day and by night where you can, so the air reaching a sore throat is warmed and moistened. In Darwin’s air-conditioning and dry season this matters.
• When and how you practise. Dr Shah advises practising on an empty stomach, best early in the morning (p. xii), and never forcing a pose.

What does the research show about yoga for tonsillitis?

In short: no trial has yet tested yoga for tonsillitis or sore throats. The closest trials looked at colds, flu and chest infections: mindfulness meant milder illness and fewer days off work, and daily pranayama went with far fewer infections. Yoga and meditation raised secretory IgA, the antibody that guards the mouth and throat, in several trials, and a review of 89 trials found mind-body practice raised it overall. Lab studies show what humming does in the nose. We label each by what it tested. None tested Iyengar yoga. Why the difference matters.

Tonsillitis and sore throats

No trial has yet tested yoga or pranayama for tonsillitis or sore throats. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. The trials below are the nearest.

Mindfulness, pranayama and infections

• An 8-week mindfulness course cut the severity of colds and flu by more than half over a winter, and people lost far fewer days off work (16 against 67). Barrett and colleagues 2012, a randomised trial of 149 adults aged 50 and over. Indirect: mindfulness and colds, not yoga and tonsillitis. Indirect Read the study.
• Mindfulness training went with fewer chest and head infections over a winter, and exercise with milder ones. Barrett and colleagues 2018, a randomised trial of 413 adults. The authors say the trial was likely too small to be sure. Indirect Read the study.
• The more mindful people became, the shorter their infections: each point on a mindfulness scale went with about 7 to 10 hours less illness. Zgierska and colleagues 2013, an analysis of 149 people from the first trial. Indirect Read the study.
• Health workers who did pranayama twice a day for 28 days caught COVID-19 far less often: 1 in 123, against 9 in 127. Sarwal and colleagues 2022, a trial of 250 health workers in India, not fully randomised. A virus of the nose and throat, though not tonsillitis. Indirect Read the study.

Mindfulness courses are not yoga classes, though in our view the two overlap closely: you cannot do a yoga pose or pranayama well without being mindful. “Breathwork” and “meditation” also cover many different things, so it pays to look at what was actually taught. The pranayama we teach (staircase, ocean, alternate nostril, humming and a gentle shining skull breath) is slow, nasal and taught step by step.

Humming and the nose

• Humming raised nitric oxide in the nose 15-fold, compared with breathing out quietly. Weitzberg and Lundberg 2002, 10 healthy adults in Sweden. Indirect Read the study.
• The humming rise is nitric oxide flushed out of the sinuses, and the store refills after a 3 minute pause. Maniscalco and colleagues 2003, 10 adults. Indirect Read the study.
• Adding humming breath (Bhramari pranayama) to usual care gave lower sinus symptom scores at 12 weeks than usual care alone. Abishek, Bakshi and Bhavanani 2019, a randomised trial of 60 adults with chronic sinusitis, run by an ear, nose and throat department in India. A sinus trial, not a throat trial. Indirect Read the study.
• A nitric oxide nasal spray cleared the virus from the nose a median of four days sooner than a dummy spray. Tandon and colleagues 2022, a double-blind randomised trial of 306 adults with mild COVID-19, funded by a drug company. A spray, not humming. Indirect Read the study.

The throat’s own defences: yoga, meditation and secretory IgA

Secretory IgA is an antibody in saliva and the lining of the mouth, nose and throat. It is one of the first defences a germ meets on its way in. These studies measured it.

• Mind-body practices raised secretory IgA and lowered markers of inflammation, across 89 randomised trials. Lee and colleagues 2025, a systematic review and meta-analysis of yoga, qigong, meditation and similar practices. Indirect Read the study.
• After 90 minutes of yoga stretching, secretory IgA in saliva went up and the stress hormone cortisol went down. Eda and colleagues 2017, 23 women with an average age of 60, in Japan. Indirect Read the study.
• Twice-weekly yoga through pregnancy gave higher secretory IgA, both straight after class and over the months, than usual care alone. Chen and colleagues 2017, a randomised trial of 94 pregnant women in Taiwan. Indirect Read the study.
• Four weeks of meditation training raised resting secretory IgA, and the more training, the bigger the effect; relaxation training alone did not. Fan and colleagues 2010, a randomised trial of 35 students in China. Indirect Read the study.
• A single 20-minute group meditation raised secretory IgA and lifted mood, compared with a lecture alone. Torkamani and colleagues 2017, a randomised trial of 30 women from yoga clubs in Iran. Indirect Read the study.
• Breathing exercises, meditation and yoga each eased distress in ear, nose and throat conditions, in a review of randomised trials by ear, nose and throat surgeons. Kothari and colleagues 2023, a review of trials from 2002 to 2022; mostly early studies, not of sore throats. Indirect Read the study.

Iyengar yoga studies

No trial has yet tested Iyengar yoga, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, for sore throats, tonsillitis or colds. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. Iyengar teachers train for years and are assessed by a panel of senior Iyengar teachers, so in our view an Iyengar trial may well show more than the general trials above. Why the difference matters.

“A person should not inhale or exhale from the brain, but from the lungs.”

Taking care: what changes in class when your throat is sore

In short: on a sore-throat day, the class gets gentler, the breath stays soft and slow, and some poses are swapped. Your teacher does the choosing.

• The breath stays soft. Slow and smooth, in and out through the nose, never forced.
• Upside-down poses with care. Mr Iyengar and Dr Shah both use them for colds and coughs, and Dr Shah lists who should avoid them (high blood pressure, glaucoma, a detached retina, high short-sightedness, discharging ears, cervical spondylitis). On a run-down day your teacher may choose supported versions, or rest instead.
• Lion Pose, gently. It is a strong stretch of the mouth, tongue and throat. If your throat is raw, your teacher may leave it for another day.
• Tell your teacher how you are on the day, so they can pick the right poses for you. If you have a cough, a cold or a sore throat, take care to respect the wellbeing of the other students who will be close to you, and think about staying home until you feel better. It depends on how unwell you are.

Yoga, pranayama and mindfulness: how they work together

Some of the studies above tested a mindfulness or meditation course, not yoga. That still counts for our classes. Mindfulness is steady, present attention, and yoga poses and pranayama (yogic breathing) are old routes to that same state. So the research on mindfulness and meditation for colds, flu and infections also shows what a good yoga and pranayama class can build. No trial separates which part does the work.

We suggest coming to both a yoga class and a pranayama class. Mr Iyengar taught that asana (poses), pranayama and meditation are not divided, and in our experience the two together do more than either alone. See every class time. We trace the history and the links in Yoga And Mindfulness: Why The Mindfulness Research Points Back To Yoga And The Breath.

How this comes together in a Flametree class

Everything above points the same way, and it is how we teach in Darwin and online. If you came looking for sore throat remedies, this is the yoga side of the answer: a calm body, an open chest and a slow, soft breath through the nose, on the days you are well and the days you are getting better.

• The well days build you up. Standing poses, chest-opening backbends such as Cobra and Camel, twists and supported inversions, the families on Mr Iyengar’s tonsillitis list.
• The breath, step by step: our pranayama classes teach humming breath (Bhramari), ocean breath (Ujjayi) and staircase breath (Viloma), soft and smooth, the way Geeta Iyengar taught them. New to yoga? We suggest starting with some yoga poses first: asana quietens the mind and makes the breathing techniques easier to learn.
• Getting over it: our gentle yoga and restorative yoga classes suit the days you are run down: rest with the chest open and the head supported.
• Classes adapted to the people in them. No one-size-fits-all. A raw throat, a cold on the way out and a clear day each get a different class.
• Darwin’s air: dry season air and long hours of air-conditioning dry the throat. Nose breathing, in class and out of it, is the yoga habit that helps most.

Rest with the chest open on the days you are run down

Read more on the throat, the breath and the immune system

• Bhramari pranayama benefits: bumble bee breath, nitric oxide and calm
• Nose or mouth? How you breathe, and how to stop mouth breathing
• Ujjayi pranayama, the Iyengar way
• Sarvangasana, the Iyengar way: why blankets make Shoulderstand kinder to the neck
• Vagus nerve exercises: six slow ones
• Related guides: yoga for laryngitis and voice problems, yoga for sinus problems and hay fever, yoga for inflammation and the immune system, yoga for asthma, COPD and breathlessness, and yoga for fatigue

Take it further

• Classes, in Darwin or LIVE online: new, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. See every class time.
• Masterclass: the Immune System Masterclass with Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist (Masterclass 3, 25 October 2026), covers humming and nitric oxide and Dr Shah’s poses, with the breathing and the reasons, so you can put it into action. It is in the library of the 2026 Sunday Arvo Masterclass series.
• Retreats: a week of daily yoga and pranayama in Bali. See the retreats.

Other conditions are in our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

Yoga for tonsillitis and sore throats: questions people ask

Can yoga help tonsillitis or a sore throat?

Yes, as a way to help manage it. No trial has yet tested yoga for tonsillitis itself, but in the nearest trials mindfulness meant milder colds and flu and fewer days off work, daily pranayama went with far fewer infections, and yoga and meditation raised secretory IgA, the antibody that guards the mouth and throat. Mr BKS Iyengar lists poses and pranayama for tonsillitis in Light on Yoga.

What is the difference between tonsillitis and a sore throat?

A sore throat is any soreness in the throat, from a cold, dry air, a long day of talking or an infection. Tonsillitis is a sore throat where the tonsils themselves, the two soft lumps at the back of the throat, are swollen and inflamed, usually from a virus and sometimes from bacteria.

What did Mr BKS Iyengar recommend for tonsillitis?

In Light on Yoga (Appendix II, p. 432) he lists Headstand and Shoulderstand and their cycles, the standing poses, Hero Pose and Lotus, chest openers such as Camel, Bow and Upward-Facing Dog, twists, the Seated Forward Bend, and the pranayama Ujjayi, Nadi Sodhana, Bhastrika and Uddiyana. He says to choose from such lists with an experienced teacher.

What is Lion Pose (Simhasana) good for?

Mr BKS Iyengar says Lion Pose cleans the tongue and that with practice speech becomes clearer, so he recommends it to people who stammer (Light on Yoga, p. 109). He also lists it for bad breath (p. 423). It has not yet been tested in a trial. It is a strong stretch of the mouth and throat, so on a raw day your teacher may leave it out.

What did Dr J. T. Shah, an ear, nose and throat surgeon, recommend for sore throats?

Dr Shah, a Mumbai ear, nose and throat surgeon who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar, lists Ocean Breath, Alternate Nostril Breathing and restful, chest-opening poses for chronic coughs and colds, and says alternate nostril breathing improves the immune system. The research points the same way: pranayama and mindfulness went with fewer and milder infections, and mind-body practice raised the throat’s own antibody.

Is it all right to do yoga with a sore throat?

On a sore-throat day the practice gets gentler: supported, restful poses with the chest open, a soft, slow breath through the nose, and no forcing. Choose a gentle or restorative class if you are run down, and tell your teacher how you are on the day so they can adapt the poses. Take care to respect the wellbeing of the other students who will be close to you, and think about staying home until you feel better. It depends on how unwell you are.

Does stress make sore throats and colds more likely?

The research points that way. In a winter trial, people who did an 8-week mindfulness course had colds and flu less than half as severe and lost far fewer days off work, and the more mindful people became, the shorter their infections. Yoga and pranayama train the same calm attention.

Should I do upside-down poses when my throat is sore?

Mr Iyengar and Dr Shah both list inversions such as Headstand and Shoulderstand for tonsillitis and colds. Dr Shah says people with high blood pressure, glaucoma, a detached retina, high short-sightedness, discharging ears or cervical spondylitis avoid them. On a run-down day your teacher may choose supported versions or rest instead.

Is humming good for a sore throat?

Humming breath (Bhramari) raises nitric oxide in the nose about 15-fold in one study. Like the other pranayama, humming helps balance and improve the immune system, which helps it reduce infection. It has not yet been tested on sore throats themselves. Learn it from a teacher, in short rounds with quiet breaths between. If you have a cough or a sore throat, tell your teacher. Take care to respect the wellbeing of the other students who will be close to you, and think about staying home until you feel better. It depends on how unwell you are.

Can yoga strengthen the throat’s own defences?

Yoga and meditation have raised secretory IgA, the antibody in saliva that guards the mouth and throat, in several trials: after a single long yoga session, through a pregnancy yoga programme, and after weeks of meditation. A review of 89 randomised trials found mind-body practice raised it and lowered inflammation markers. Whether that means fewer sore throats has not yet been tested.

Where can I do yoga for sore throats and tonsillitis in Darwin or online?

Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga and pranayama, including humming breath, at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online across Australia. New, or away 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes, then 10 at half price.

Where this comes from: BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga, Simhasana pp. 108 to 110 and Appendix II, pp. 413, 419, 423 and 432; Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (Dorling Kindersley), colds p. 276; Light on Pranayama; Iyengar: His Life and Work; Astadala Yogamala, volume 7. Geeta S Iyengar, Yoga: A Gem for Women. Dr J. T. Shah, Therapeutic Yoga (foreword by Mr BKS Iyengar), Vakils, Feffer and Simons, Mumbai, 1999, pp. xii to xix, 43, 45, 65, 97 and 99. Timothy McCall MD, Yoga as Medicine (Bantam), chapter on anxiety, and his June 2019 list of health conditions helped by yoga, nos. 98 and 103. Krishna Raman MD and S. Suresh MD, Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ, questions 49, 76, 77, 110, 182, 187, 188, 199, 438 to 444 and 475. Lisa Miriam Cherry (editor), Stories From the Yogic Heart. Studies as linked above. Everything else is summarised in our own words.

This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online.