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TO YOGA OR NOT TO YOGA IN MS

© S. W. Hussey

Hatha basic components of Hatha yoga are proper breathing and exercises, called postures that stretch the body. Postures are done while standing, lying down, sitting in a chair, or in a headstand position. While practicing a posture, a person does breathing exercises to help relax muscles, maintain the posture, and focus the mind.

Most people who try yoga for meditation find that it increases flexibility and reduces stress. In mild cases of asthma and high blood pressure, yoga can reducetnhe need for medication. Yoga also can be helpful in helping people cope with diabetes, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- and, especially, back pain.

For pregnant women, yoga helps with back pain as well as varicose veins. "It provides release from the effects that gravity has on carrying the heavy load," she says. "It's not a panacea; it's not a guarantee to make labor shorter, but yoga has certainly helped many women have a more successful and useful labor in the sense that they've learned a lot about breathing, and they've prepared their bodies." If you do take yoga for pregnancy, make sure you're working with a trained instructor, she advises. It's a good idea to make sure your doctor knows about it, too.

People tend to stick with yoga, because it has a great deal of depth. "People discover there's more there than they expected, and they continue to practice it."

We're distracted, busy, stressed. Life is complicated by problems inside and outside of us.

Yoga can bring us back to who we really are. I think most people discover they relax in that first yoga class, and that's the beginning of the process.tnt doesn't have to take years." roboticman024aa.gif]

We live such robotic lives! Pace is fasttn, stress is at its highest level. [tn_aerobics201.gif] Yoga can heal spirits, emotions wen somefibromyalgiaes like breast cancer and fibromyalgia damage the spirit. People have to heal emotionally to set the foundation for healing physically."

One healing aspect of yoga is that breathing itself is extraordinarily healing on a physical and emotional level. Deep breathing helps by oxygenating the blood, lowering blood pressure, diminishing the stress response."

On an emotional and mental level, yoga alms the logical mind ... the thinking, analytical mind that's busy looking at the options, looking at the demons, planning and engineering our lives. Breathing shuts up that analytical mind. It allows the intuitive mind, the soul, to speak to you."