Yo Gassy! Try Yoga!

Here’s a wonderful way to pass up the pills and take a holistic approach to gastrointestinal delight: therapeutic yoga.

With smaller classes, gentler poses, and a slower pace than traditional yoga, therapeutic yoga targets people with chronic illnesses ranging from AIDS to osteoporosis to Crohn’s disease.

While not a medical cure or treatment, yoga provides stress relief, mild exercise, and an opportunity for meditation (not medication) in an emotionally supportive environment.

People who practice yoga are also better able to tolerate their symptoms. Consider the case of Teresa Kennedy, a former TV executive who has Crohn’s disease (a chronic disorder that inflames the digestive or GI tract; usually the small intestine or colon).

After practicing yoga, Kennedy found she no longer gets Crohn’s symptoms. That led her to open her own yoga studio in an effort to share her discovery, and bring relief to others.

While I don’t know Teresa Kennedy personally, her story appeals to me, because it appears we have the same mission: to help people with chronic conditions alleviate those conditions through natural means.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those anti-medical-establishment whackos. But I don’t believe Americans should use over-the-counter medications to treat conditions that can be successfully addressed using natural means.

And when it comes to the GI tract, smart eating; regular, moderate exercise; and even yoga can be effective holistic solutions to problems that otherwise require polluting the body with unnatural non-prescription chemicals.