Bronchitis and emphysema & yoga

There is another group of conditions in which the bronchial tubes are obstructed and the patient cannot breathe properly. The two main forms are chronic bronchitis (long term inflammation of the bronchial tubes), and emphysema (excessive dilation of the air sacs due to damage to their walls). These two conditions are a real problem, because such patients usually continue to deteriorate despite the best treatment medical science can offer. In 1978, Dr. M. K. Tandon published in the journal Thorax an account of his work with twenty two elderly patients with severe cases of these conditions. Half of these people were given routine physiotherapy treatment, and the other half received yoga training. Tandon found that, "At the end of the nine months the yoga trained subjects reported to have:

1. Improved exercise tolerance.
2. Quicker recovery after exertion.
3. Control over an attack of shortness of breath without the need of medical help.
4. Definite improvement in their overall chest condition.

The breathing pattern of the yoga trained group was changed to a more efficient one. It was deeper and slower as compared with their original condition before the experiment and as compared with the shallow fast breathing of the physiotherapy group which showed no improvement in the breathing pattern."

We must remember too that these are severe diseases in elderly people who, under ordinary conditions, would have deteriorated during the nine months of the investigation, rather than improving as well as they did with yoga.

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Headache & yoga

A common form of headache, which causes widespread distress throughout the world, is migraine. This is caused by swelling of the arteries of the scalp and inside the skull, probably because of instability of the autonomic nervous system in that area.

Migraine is usually treated by drugs containing a derivative of ergot fungus. However, these drugs are toxic; they frequently don't relieve the attack once it has started, and they have no effect on reducing the tendency for the attacks to recur.

Yoga can be incredibly effective in treating migraine. It has been discovered in many yoga centres, including Satyananda Ashrams, that the combination of shatkarmas (kunjal daily, neti twice daily, shankhaprakshalana every three months), with the daily practice of simple yoga postures (pawanmuktasana part 1), brahmari pranayama, and finishing with yoga nidra, completely eliminates migraine in the majority of sufferers.

Tension headaches are related to migraine but manifest through the somatic nervous system instead of through the autonomic nervous system. In fact, the two types of headache often occur in the same person. These also respond very well to the other practices mentioned above.

As in the case of asthma, a person who begins to feel an attack of migraine coming on need only practise kunjal kriya, and there is an excellent chance that the attack will be averted. Needless to say, recurrent headaches in a person who has not had them before, or headache which becomes continuous, must be investigated medically. But when we are sure that the cause of the headache is migraine or tension, then the yoga techniques are far superior to drugs and should be practised in every case.

Yoga the Opportunity for Health

Yoga is a science of consciousness. It is an integrated system of techniques by which we develop our hidden potentials to the fullest. Our qualities of love, joy, security, confidence, discrimination, intelligence, intuition, higher abilities and awareness, expand as we practise yoga. This is the fundamental aim and use of this ancient system.

However, there is another important aspect to the practices. Along the way to higher consciousness, the basic causes of illness are interrupted and eliminated, almost as a side effect - a bonus. This is because the samskaras which are dulling our awareness, are the same ones which cause our mental and physical illnesses. By uprooting the samskaras, and thus changing the pattern of the mind, the mental conflict that exacerbates illness is removed allowing the body's self-healing functions to operate. Hence, yoga, although never meant as a therapy, is so effective in helping us to attain and maintain abundant good health and well being. People who practise yoga don't need to worry about how to treat illnesses, they remain healthy and energetic, tranquil and balanced. That's the secret of yoga and that's the opportunity for all of us.

Yoga therapy has proved effective in a variety of disorders and is being used today not only by yoga practitioners but by wider circles of medical and paramedical practitioners. In the following disorders we show how yoga therapy along with medical consultation when necessary provides greater healing benefits with less chance of recurring symptoms.

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