Well+Good: Could This Yoga Sequence Boost Your Metabolism?

By Lisa Elaine Held / Fern Olivia

See the full sequence on Well+Good.

Thanks to many aspects of modern life—like chronic stress, environmental toxins, and processed foods that contribute to leaky gut—experts say a surprising number of women are walking around with thyroid issues without realizing it.

And since the thyroid is a gland that regulates metabolism, an underactive one (the most common problem) can lead to downer symptoms like weight gain, fatigue, depression, and low libido. Hardly the stuff of 2017 #goals, right?

Yoga teacher and health coach Fern Olivia experienced many of these before she found out she had Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism. After a doctor revealed the treatment was to be on medication indefinitely, she sought out her own holistic path to healing. “Thyroid Yoga is the union of all of these modalities that have helped me,” she says, including integrative medicine, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, Katonah Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and more.

The practice she created, she says, uses yoga and meditation to revitalize the thyroid, relieve adrenal fatigue, and support the endocrine system, therefore leading to overall hormonal balance and hopefully a humming metabolism. (Though like most holistic practices, there’s no scientific evidence for the specific ways these poses benefit the body.) She even created her own line of essential oils, one of which is specifically formulated to support the thyroid and adrenals.

Here, Fern Olivia shares a Thyroid Yoga sequence you can do at home if you’ve got a hormonal issue of your own—or suspect you might.