I can't speak as an expert, but if you are thinking of someone like Duaine, these are my thoughts. There are many Yoga breathing exercizes. Virtually none of them are strenuous, and over time they increase your lung capacity. Indeed, most of the postures ask you to control your inhalations and exhalations at certain intervals, and breath smoothly and regularly. So it is likely that would benefit someone with asthma. Secondly, yoga is for all ages and abilities. Senior centers do Yoga with 85 year olds sitting in chairs doing very modest exercize, and still the benefit is there. So Yoga can be tailored to your needs as well as your physical limitations. I practice Yoga very gently, moving deeply into the postures very slowly - sometimes spending several minutes in one posture. You are far less likely to injure yourself this way, and get more benefit. I have several old injuries from skiing and work that I accommodate, and they are all improving with my program. This part is important - you have to listen to your body. It tells me when I am pushing too far in some things, like my arthritic neck. I am old enough and smart enough to listen to it. It's a careful balance - you want to work deeply into postures to gain the most benefit, but it's not a contest. It's not like trying to run a mile for a personal record. It doesn't work that way, and you can injure yourself if you cling to that mindset. My recommendation is to start with a teacher. The teacher will start you with correct postures, and can adapt a program to your needs. Expect all those tight muscles to complain a lot when you first start. Bear with yourself, and you will get past the hump. I do yoga because it makes me feel so good when I am done. If you are going to do it, do it every day. That way you will get the most benefit. Doing it once or twice a week is helpful, but the benefits and improvements will be far more modest. It's difficult to build on your last session because the time intervals are too great I'm over 60, so I am trying to get myself into an exercise for life mindset. Because I am doing yoga, I find that I am far more in tune with my body. I don't want to eat as much, I eat a lot better, and I've cut the sugar out of my diet. What makes one feel old is the loss of flexibility and range of motion. It is not a given that has to happen as we get older. With yoga, I have greater freedom of movement, flexibility, and greater body awareness. And a lot more energy. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Noah Frere Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 9:19 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] O.T. What do you do to keep fit? Could an anaerobic exercise such as yoga help to stretch and strengthen the body without straining the lungs? On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 10:11 AM, Duaine & Laura Hechler <dahechler at att.net> wrote: Can we please change the subject ? Because, none of you, realize how *depressing* this subject is to those of us who have severe asthma. I had asthma so bad as a adolescent that I hated gym class and especially wrestling. I would be pinned before I knew what happened. In high school, when it came time for the - stupid - mile run (4 laps of the track) - I made *one* and was done. Oh, BTW, doctors were (and still are) ABSOLUTELY NO HELP !!! It wasn't till I was about 50 and my son was in Boy Scouts that I found out exactly what I had. It's called *exercise induced asthma. *Oh, BTW, I have tried everything on the market and prescription and NOTHING helps and I will have it till I DIE. Thank you, Duaine -- Duaine Hechler Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding Reed Organ Society Member Florissant, MO 63034 (314) 838-5587 dahechler at att.net www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com -- Home & Business user of Linux - 10 years -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091201/34c3bd31/attachment-0001.htm>
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