Yoga for your Asthma problems
Perhaps it was predestined that I should have had asthma as a kid,
discover Yoga as an adult, correct my respiratory health with it and
now be blessed to write about my experiences with using Yoga (amongst
other things) to control my asthma symptoms.
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.
Now, friends, remember I mentioned counter-poses right? Well, for this
particular pose, its counter-poses basically are backward bending poses
that include the Incline Pose and Bow Pose.
Both of these (especially the latter) open up the chest and should be practiced to aid with exhaling during asthma attacks.
Last, but not least is the simple, yet extremely effective Relaxation Pose.
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.
At this point, it must be mentioned that Yoga does call for a healthy diet in its use and
as a physical and spiritual system; it does call for a mostly vegetarian diet.
Friends, for asthma problems, you may want to strongly consider this as
giving up all processed foods and animal products such as meat, milk,
eggs and the like from your diet is a must and a fact that has been in
effect in several programs aimed at correcting respiratory health such
as the "Breath Retaining Program For Asthmatics" developed by the
Russian, Dr. Buteyko. Within weeks of adhering to this advice, many a
chronic asthmatic has been able to give up the use of ventolin
inhalers.
So the next time asthma sends you to the doctor, you may do well to ask
for a new prescription for asthma treatment-Yoga. I believe it won’t
hurt and possibly could help you immensely.
