Yoga

Today was a pretty stressful and busy day, so I decided to wind down with some yoga.  I have a breathing condition called hypocapnia that causes widespread pain and a general sick feeling when I have a flare up, and I've found that yoga is one of the things that really helps, and even when I'm not feeling sick, it just feels good.  Yoga in fact has many all around health benefits. According to the Mayo Clinic:

"The potential health benefits of yoga are numerous and may include:

• Stress reduction. With its quiet, precise movements, yoga draws your focus away from your busy, chaotic day and toward calm as you move your body through poses that require balance and concentration.
• Increased fitness. As you learn and refine new poses, you may enjoy improved balance, flexibility, range of motion and strength. And this means you're less likely to injure yourself in other physical endeavors or in your daily activities.
• Management of chronic health conditions. Yoga might help with a variety of health conditions, such as cancer, depression, pain, anxiety and insomnia, by helping with sleep problems, fatigue and mood. Yoga also can help reduce heart rate and blood pressure.
• Weight loss. If you're overweight or have binge-eating disorder, yoga may help you make the healthy lifestyle changes necessary to gain control of your eating and drop those extra pounds.

While you shouldn't expect yoga to cure you or offer 100 percent relief, it can help some health conditions when combined with standard treatment. And if you already enjoy good health, yoga can be an enjoyable supplement to your regular fitness routine."  

You don't to have to be a pro or go to any special classes.  I just have a DVD from Walmart that works fine, and I'm sure that there are plenty of videos on youtube.  The many thing is just to give it a try!