When yoga instructors tell you to take a healing breath, they arent just using a metaphor. Recent studies show that practicing yoga may actually have a significant effect on a persons physiological well-being.

Researchers have studied the effects of yoga on fitness for years. (Yoga) engages a lot of muscles at one time said Andrea Soberaij, physiology courses manager. It does a lot of lengthening. Thats one thing conventional workouts like doing the machines at the gym dont do. They just shorten the muscle.

The effects of yoga on hypertension, or high blood pressure, are currently being studied by Debbie Cohen-Stein, associate professor of medicine at Penn.

A lot of people are interested in an alternative to medication, especially with mild hypertension, she said. The preliminary data does appear to show that yoga has a modest effect on lowering blood pressure.

According to Cohen-Stein, most forms of yoga can contribute to lowering blood pressure.

Any type of yoga that incorporates breathing and movement and a component of meditation will do, she said.

MRIs taken of participants in her current blood pressure study suggest yoga activates the same part of the brain responsible for impulse control, Cohen-Stein said. She said she hopes to study next the effects of yoga on people attempting to quit smoking.

Patricia Gerbarg 71 has spent years studying the effects of yoga on different disorders and afflictions of the body.

We have found that the most effective practices are certain breathing practices, Gerbarg said.

She and her husband, Richard Brown, developed these practices using breathing techniques that were safe and easy for almost everyone. They use these breathing practices to work with several different groups of people including victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and recently-liberated slaves in South Sudan, Gerbarg said.

Original post:
Yoga may offer physical benefits, studies find