In the first of a two-part article, Bikram yoga teacher Michele Pernetta explains how yoga can help kick the smoking habit.
We're all aware of the perils of smoking. The threat of heart attack drops by 50% only one year after quitting and the cancer risk drop with every year of not smoking.
Around 70% of British smokers would like to quit and about three million try every year. With the smoking ban looming in this country, many people are thinking that now is the time to kick the habit.
Many exercise programmes are beneficial after giving up smoking. They increase cardio vascular fitness, help to detoxify the body of the pollutants we have picked up from smoking and help with general wellbeing.
But yoga is unrivalled as a means to bring the body back to health and vitality. Why? Because it can:
* Improve the lungs and their ability to carry away waste and oxygenate the blood
* Detoxify the body, lungs and blood
* Strengthen the immune system
* Improve cardio vascular fitness and stamina
* Improve digestion and our ability to absorb nutrients from our food
* Balance blood sugar levels and metabolism
* Relieve pressure on joints and discs
Bikram has the added benefit that the practice takes place in a heated room. This promotes sweating -an effective way of removing many toxins from the body.
Through yoga's gentle but effective re-aligning of the body, and the stretching that relieves pressure on joints and discs, we are helping the body to recover and repair."
Next Monday: specific postures to detox and boost lung capacity.
The author, Michele Pernetta, teaches at Bikram West, North and City
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