Does Yoga Really Help With Asthma

Yoga is in fact quite beneficial for sufferers of asthma. Yoga is a holistic system of physical and mental exercise that is known to benefit people suffering from a variety of ailments. This includes a program of asanas (body postures), pranayamas (breathing exercises), kriyas (cleansing techniques) and right diet that helps alleviates and even heals stress-related syndromes completely. Yoga is particularly renowned for its effectiveness in respiratory and circulatory conditions like bronchitis and asthma, while improving over-all health.

Asthma is normally the result of certain allergies, stress or a combination of both. In asthma, the air passages of your lungs get constricted and this causes tightness in your chest, together with breathing difficulties and spells of wheezing and coughing. The inflammation in the airways can, later, even turn chronic. Yoga has proven highly efficacious in alleviating, managing and coping with asthma.

Yoga For Asthma:
Here are some Yogasanas (poses) and Pranayamas (breathing exercises) that are known to help relieve and treat asthma together with the right medication from your doctor

• Shoulder Lifts

• Sukhasana (Easy Pose)

• Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose)

• Dandasana (Staff Pose)

• Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Spinal Twist)

• Pavanamuktasana (Wind Relieving Pose)

• Sarvangasana (Shoulder Stand)

• Virasana (Warrior Pose)

• Supta Virasana (Reclining Warrior Pose)

• Tadasana (Palm Tree Pose)

• Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose)

• Upavishtha Konasana (Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend)

• Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend)

• Shavasana (Corpse Pose)

Pranayamas (Breathing Exercises)
Yoga philosophy stresses that a calm, quiet and peaceful mind is the key to a relaxed body and regular breathing. So, Pranayamas (breathing exercises) will most certainly help all those suffering from Asthma, Bronchitis, or both.

• Mild Kapalabhatti (Skull cleansing)

• Anuloma-Viloma (Alternate nostril breathing)

• Ujjayi (Ocean breath)

Kriyas (Cleansing Techniques)

• Jala Neti (Cleansing the nasal passages with water)

• Sutra Neti (Cleansing the nasal passages with a rubber catheter)

• Vaman Dhauti (Vomiting pure, clean water on an empty stomach)

Yoga Diet
Diet plays a crucial role in alleviating and helping heal asthma. In the case of most asthmatics, it has been noticed that the wrong foods only serve to aggravate their condition, thereby forcing patients into longer and stronger doses of medication. Here’s a simple solution that will go a long way to help comfort and even heal you, with the rest of your Yoga practices.

Let your diet be Sattvic (pure and simple) and predominantly vegetarian. Avoid milk and dairy products particularly cheeses and butters, as they’ll only worsen your condition. Have fruits and salad that are conducive to your condition, in consultation with your doctor or a qualified, experienced nutritionist. In general it has been noticed that citrus fruit, watermelons, musk melons and cucumbers aggravate the asthmatic condition.

Above all, avoid all chilled foods, particularly ice creams.