Yoga for bronchial asthma: a controlled study.

Abstract

Fifty three patients with asthma underwent training for two weeks in an integrated set of yoga exercises, including breathing exercises, suryanamaskar, yogasanas (physical postures), Pranayama (breath slowing techniques), dhyana (meditation), and a devotional session, and were told to practice these exercises for 65 minutes daily. They were then compared with a control group of 53 patients with asthma matched for age, sex, type and severity of asthma who continued to take their usual drugs. There was a significantly greater improvement in the group who practiced yoga in the weekly number of attacks of asthma, scores for drug treatment, and peak flow rate.