Your lymphatic system is part of your immune system. When you notice puffiness where there isn’t usually, your body can be blocked or need support to move the lymph. Walking, deep breathing and staying hydrated can all support the lymphatic system.
During and after my most recent bout of covid, I noticed that my eyes were puffy when I woke up in the morning. I’m so glad that I told my pilates instructor about the puffiness when we worked together virtually once I started to get my energy back.
As part of the body’s response to injury or infection, it creates inflammation (i.e. puffiness in this case along with other things I couldn’t see). This process traps invaders in your body so the healing process can begin. Inflammation can also be a fever, pain at the injured area, skin that feels hot to the touch or discolored, and not being able to move an injured part of the body without pain. It’s also why we need to rest when we’re not well.
Our body is doing extra work to get whatever doesn’t belong there out, which is why rest is recommended. You know when you have something important to you that takes priority over the other things going on, this is how your body looks at healing itself. The lymph drains into the bloodstream which then has the kidneys and liver remove what doesn’t belong mostly through urine and poop but also sweat.
In this month’s video, we want to focus in breathing deeply to support the movement of the lymph. The roller I’m using is soft which feels better and is also the right type of support to work with your lymphatic system. Hard rollers will bypass this fluid and therefore won’t achieve the desired result. I’ve been doing this a couple of times a week and it’s making the patterns in my body more clear to me. If you have a hard time connecting to what’s going on in your body, I highly recommend you explore this.