Yoga and Asthma - WLOX.com - The News for South Mississippi

Using Yoga Techniques to Help Relieve Asthma

You can teach yourself to relieve your asthma. Yoga breathing exercises will strengthen and relax the muscles of the lungs. This reduces the nerve activity in the airways, causing less constriction during an asthma attack. Also, 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.

There are many theories about what causes the frightening tightness in the chest, the wheezing and difficulty breathing that characterizes asthma attacks. Some authorities blame pollution or sensitivity to allergens and say that stress can also aggravate asthma. But whatever the cause, more and more sufferers of asthma and other Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases are turning to Yoga for relief. Yoga breathing exercises, especially, help reduce their symptoms in several ways.

Regular practice of the **Complete Relaxation Technique will allow you to be more aware of when and where your body holds tension so that you can consciously relax it. You can learn to develop a more relaxed physical body so that you reduce the incidence and severity of asthma attacks.

We can teach you a special routine for asthma that you can use anywhere, anytime, to help protect you in these attacks. The routine concentrates on exercises that stretch and relax the respiratory muscles while using several specific breathing patterns to control and relax the breath. It will take you only a few minutes a day, and you will feel more strength and confidence in dealing with your asthmatic problem.

Courtesy of the American Yoga Association.  Visit them at http://www.americanyogaassociation.org.