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Monday, November 21, 2011

There's Help For Asthma in Yoga

By Alexandra Williams

Often times the right information can change a person's life. This happened with me and yoga.

If this is the case, then I am honored. Either way it goes, I can say with much confidence that based on my experiences, one helpful exercise for alleviating Asthma symptoms and dealing with its many inconveniences is Yoga.

Owing to its gentle poses and stretches and the deep breathing involved in Yoga, certain poses-when used correctly-can be very helpful for smoothening the chronic inflammation of the bronchial tubes (airways) that causes swelling and narrowing (constriction) of the airways as is the case in Asthma patients. Furthermore, when using Yoga as an exercise for asthma control, one need not worry about the common exercise-induced asthma attacks that may come as a result of vigorous activity as these poses are very calm and involve very little motion...hey, it's Yoga after all.Now, friends, based on my experiences and several studies that support these facts, the following poses can be a powerful add-on therapy to reduce the frequency and intensity of asthma attacks as well as to decrease medication use.  

The Shoulder Stand & It's Counter Poses for Asthma.

Inversion poses in yoga drain excess mucus from the lungs and balance the immune system. Now, let me introduce you to perhaps the simplest of these poses, the shoulder stand pose.Although the Shoulder-Stand has been coined by several Yoga sages as a near panacea or cure-all, as far as Asthma is concerned, it is indeed very helpful in regards to relieving excess encumbrances in the respiratory organs and owing to its deep breathing, it increases the lung's airflow, capacity, stamina and efficiency. Here comes the best part, its counter poses. You see, some yoga poses, owing to the execution of them that is, have to be offset by a pose in an opposite spinal direction (another subject, but hopefully you get the gist).Now friends, this Shoulder-stand pose has 2 main counter-poses: the Bridge and the Fish Poses. (No worries they are very simple to perform.) Both of these poses are back bending postures that open up the chest improving both lung and heart functioning.As a matter of fact, the very last pose (the fish pose) is one of the specific poses mentioned by Sri Swami Devananda and IBS Iyengar (two of the most authoritative figures in modern day yoga) as being specifically useful for removing spasms from the bronchial tubes and thus relieving Asthma. 

Other Helpful Poses:

There are other poses such as the forward bends which you can practice specifically if it is more difficult to inhale. These include the Head-knee Pose (Passchimothanasa) and it basically involves grabbing your toes, ankles or feet with the head lowered as far as possible to touch the knees.
 
Just follow these steps in order for you to entirely comprehend yoga positions and be capable to execute it in the proper way.Yoga Position Number One: You have to stand with the bases of your big toes touching and the heels have to be slightly apart. You must lift and spread your toes slowly and the balls of your feet too. Then after, you want to lay them softly down on the floor. Rock yourself back and forth and even side to side. You may gradually reduce this swaying to maintain a halt, with your weight balanced evenly on your feet.Yoga Position Number 2:Flex your thigh muscles and then lifting the knee caps is next. Do it without hardening your lower belly. Lift the inside ankles to make stronger the internal arches, then picture a line of energy all the way up along your inner thighs up to your groins. From there through the core of your neck, torso, and head, and out through the crown of your head. You should turn the upper thighs slowly inward. Make your tailbone longer toward the floor and raise the pubis in the direction of the navel.
 
Yes, you guessed it right, just simply lie flat on your back and breathe in a controlled and rhythmic pattern. By practicing rhythmic, controlled breathing techniques daily, the respiratory muscles and lungs develop the ability to breathe more slowly all the time, meaning less stress on the airways in general.In addition to these poses, let me briefly mention the 'Bellow's breath exercise' (a yoga breathing exercise) as this helps tremendously. As the name may suggest, it involves purposely pumping the stomach in an inward motion and exhaling through the nose simultaneously in controlled movements. This removes spasms and tones up the respiratory system significantly.
 
Bikram has come up with twenty-six posture exercises which are to be practiced every day. In doing so, treatment in the body can be easily obtained. Some poses are accumulated with the combination of the western and eastern disciplines in Yoga which focuses on the stretching of the muscles, tendons, organs, nerves, glands and ligaments. The different postures have connections and each of it precedes a posture that is helpful in treating the body effectively.
 
Yoga Position Number 5: Tadasana is usually the primary yoga position for all the standing poses. Applying the Tansana is beneficial especially in applying the poses. Staying in the pose for 30 seconds up to 1 minute, then breathing easily keeps it acceptable. Just follow these clear figures and you are sure that you are doing the right yoga positions.
 
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