| I have been doing yoga for many years. I love the | | | | Problems, Experts Say" I notice 2 interesting things: |
| way it makes me feel and how it stretches and tones | | | | 1) The stress reducing qualities of yoga appear to be |
| muscles. But the thing I have most come to love about | | | | generally accepted in the medical community. |
| the practice of yoga is the meditative quality that | | | | 2) Doctors and medical researchers are doing studies |
| causes me to focus on the present moment and | | | | to prove its benefits for specific illnesses. |
| coordinate deep even breathing with the movement of | | | | The article I refer to above cites doctors using yoga |
| my body. Depending on the type of yoga you do, | | | | as a 'prescription' of sorts for various illnesses and |
| yoga can be very relaxing and help greatly with stress | | | | conditions and an understanding of the stress |
| reduction. | | | | component in bringing about disease. "There's been an |
| There are many different types of yoga classes and | | | | explosion of data using yoga as a treatment option," |
| this can be confusing. All movement based yoga | | | | said Dr. Shelley Wroth, an obstetrician at Duke |
| (what we refer to as 'yoga') is Hatha yoga. Another | | | | Integrative Medicine and a yoga teacher. "It shows so |
| broad term for a style of yoga is Vinyasa, which | | | | much promise. A lot of our diseases have some sort |
| refers to Hatha yoga where the practitioner flows | | | | of origins in stress, and the stress reaction" |
| from one pose to the next in a sequence. Iyengar | | | | She goes on to say that studies have found that yoga |
| yoga is named after famed yoga teacher BKS | | | | helps people suffering from diseases and conditions |
| Iyengar who believes in using props such as blocks, | | | | such as hypertension, anxiety, arthritis, chronic back |
| blankets and straps to get into yoga poses properly | | | | pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, stress, |
| since it is far more important to be correctly in a pose | | | | depression, diabetes and epilepsy among others. |
| than farther into a pose but doing it incorrectly. In fact, | | | | I'm thrilled that western medicine is beginning to take a |
| this can cause injury. I prefer restorative classes which | | | | holistic rather than symptomatic view of health and |
| focus on restoring your energy, life force and | | | | look to natural health therapies as a great additional |
| mind-body connection and are gentle and deeply | | | | tool for health. Since current studies are showing that |
| relaxing and are great for reducing stress. | | | | the majority of visits to the doctor these days are for |
| I am happy to say that Western medical professionals | | | | stress related illnesses it is wonderful to see western |
| are taking notice of yoga. In an newspaper article | | | | medicine seriously considering these stress-reducing |
| entitled "Yoga's Stress Reduction Helps Alleviate Other | | | | practices and sharing them with their patients. |