What Is It?

Yoga is not just a set of exercises, or asanas. It is a unity of mind and body, and is as much about how you breathe and your outlook on life as it is about postures. In yoga, you do deep abdominal breathing involving the diaphragm, rather than short shallow breaths in the top of the chest. Meditation is also part of yoga.

How Does It Help Multiple Sclerosis?

Yoga is one of the most popular therapies for MS, and thousands can testify to how much it helps. Done properly, yoga calms the mind and energises the body. Yoga helps you breathe correctly; increases energy, counteracts fatigue, and lifts mood and depression. It has a good effect on the endocrine glands, the circulatory and respiratory systems, and improves well being. Yoga also helps the body's self-healing mechanisms.

The British Medical Association now recognises yoga as a 'complementary self-help therapy'.

Further Information 

This information is from The A to Z Guide to Alternative Therapies edited by Judy Graham.

Find your nearest UK Yoga Centre or teacher, or find out about meditation which is closely related to yoga. Yoga has been proven good for MS according to current research. Of course, there is also benefit in exercise in general.

© Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre