Curative Yoga Postures For Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is essentially a disorder of central nervous system. It is a degenerative disease caused due to a condition when brain cells do not produce sufficient dopamine. This leads to problems like trembling limbs, stiffness of arms, legs and trunk and poor balance.

Medically there is no cure for this disease, but this syndrome can be treated to help calm the symptoms.Yoga improves mobility, flexibility and emotional balance in such patients.

Yoga asanas performed for Parkinson’s disease targets at strengthening, calming, balance and co-ordination. Let us examine a few yoga postures that are part of yoga therapies for Parkinson’s disease and help patients lead a better life with this disease.

Tadasana And Virabhadrasana For Energy

Tadasana

Stand straight with feet joined and hands by your sides and spine straight upright. Balance your weight on your feet, inhale slowly and deeply. While inhaling raise your hands up over your head and join them, in namaskar mudra.

Gaze up at your palms and breathe normally. Then slowly bring your hands straight in front of your chest, keeping the namaskar mudra intact. Maintain slow and rhythmic breaths and focus on the rhythm of your breaths. Repeat this several times.

This asana gives a good stretch to whole body, improves posture and balance. Body acquires agility as body and mind becomes alert.

Virabhadrasana

Stand on the ground with feet as far as possible. Raise your arms at shoulder levels and palms facing the floor. Turn right foot at 90 degrees of your right by bending your knee and left foot at 60 degrees to your left.

Left leg should remain stretched while the right foot is bent. Turn your face towards right and look at your fingers. Hold on in this position for about 1-2 minutes while breathing normally. Repeat the same asana at the other side also.

This asana imparts good strength to legs and loosens rigid muscles to energizes them.

Katichalana for Strengthening

Lie on your back and bend both legs at knee while feet resting on ground. Bring both the hands to rest under the head, while locking the fingers. Exhale, twist your knees to right and neck to the left.

Breathe normally. Exhale again and twist your knees to left and head to right. Repeat it 10 times on each side, come back to the initial position and relax.

This asana maintains the flexibility and strength of spine, improves the circulation in spine and further benefits nervous degeneration in a Parkinson’s patient.

Supta Baddha Konasana for Calming

Take two blankets and fold it 5 inches high to shape it like a bolster. Sit on the ground, the legs hinged at the knees so the soles of the feet meet and place the blankets under both the thighs for support. Slowly lie back with the support of your elbows.

Once you lie down bring the hands to rest by your sides and let them face up the ceiling. Close your eyes, breathe normally and relax for 5 minutes. To release from the pose, roll out towards your right slowly and come to the seating position.

This asana helps the patients feel better and confident, as this is a very good stress reduction technique.

Anuloma Viloma for Mind-Body Co-ordination and Composure of Mind

Close right nose with right thumb and breathe in deeply with your left nose. Now open the right nose, close the left nose with middle and ring fingers, and exhale with your right nose. Now inhale with the right nose, close the right nose with thumb, and exhale with the left nose. Repeat for at-least 5 minutes.

Practicing this breathing exercise purifies nervous system and increases stamina and the serenity of mind.

Photo Credit: http://www.topnews.in/health/neural-cell-transplants-may-be-potential-therapy-parkinsons-disease-22618