You could either spend money on medicines or spend time on yoga for your asthma. Yoga is universally considered as an alternative therapy to cure respiratory ailments. Along with healing your body, mind and soul, it has the power to prevent the narrowing of the air passages in the lungs, which leads to asthmatic attacks. The many asanas, kriyas and breathing exercises help in strengthening your muscles as well as your respiratory system.
Basic Postures
1. Tadasana/Mountain pose: This is primarily a standing posture which helps immensely in increasing height, improving weight balance, reducing back pain and strengthening of the calf muscles, thighs and knees. For asthma patients, tadasana helps in opening up of the chest and in expansion of the lungs. To prepare for this posture Adho-Mukha-Svanasana and Uttanasana are practiced before. The mountain pose follows a simple procedure where you imagine your body divided into two halves, stand upright with feet together and hands by the side of your legs with palms facing inward. Fix your eyes forward. This helps in increasing your focus and will power. Align your head, buttocks and heels correctly to a wall or an edge.
Now gradually raise your hands straight up in the air. Your palms should be facing each other. Slowly elevate your heels and stand on toes. Stretch yourself in this position as much as you can. The hands should be firm and tight. Then release to return to the original position by bringing the heels to the ground and bring down the hands too. There are some variations to the process of tadasana. Tadasana can help to overcome headache, low blood pressure, insomnia and pain in shoulder joints. Tadasana is suitable for all age groups.
2. Shavasana/Corpse Pose: This asana is often practiced to begin and end a yoga session. Its foremost purpose is to calm down each muscle in the body. It is a very effective method to reduce stress and fatigue. It induces a tendency to sleep as the body is motionless and stiff like a dead body. You need to spread the legs apart at a distance of 1 or 1.5 feet and keep the toes relaxed. Place your arms away from the body and relax them with the palms facing upwards. Keep your eyes closed without any force. Your mind should be free of any thoughts during this process. Take deep breaths and stay in this pose for about ten minutes.
Release by preparing the mind and body and then open your eyes and get your hands besides the body and both the legs together. Shavasana facilitates improvement in functioning of the brain, cures heart related ailments and decreases the blood pressure. It is beneficial for asthmatic patients as it strengthens the muscles, nerves and organs of the body.
There are many more asanas, kriyas and breathing exercises (pranayama) which would be dealt with in subsequent parts. The practice of yoga has proven to be a highly efficient and effective natural remedy to cure asthma.