Doctor's Orders: Downward Facing Dog

Gaiam Life has an article posted about the benefits of yoga, and what's interesting is that it's from an M.D.'s point of view. Usually the East-meets-West mentalities of how to best treat health woes and gain wellness offer opposing perspectives, but Dr. Timothy McCall thinks otherwise.

His idea of yoga as therapy — as medicine, really — led him to author a book with exactly that name,  Yoga as Medicine. And why shouldn't it be? If sugar pills (placebos) can be as effective in treating what ails you, as studies have shown, then why not something that has proven health effects?

"Yoga — by which I mean a broad array of tools including asana (yoga poses), pranayama, meditation, chanting, service, etc. — has been shown in hundreds of scientific studies to benefit people with a wide variety of health conditions. Yoga lowers blood pressure, improves lung function, relaxes the nervous system, cuts cholesterol, boosts immunity, and makes you more content, to name just a few documented effects," McCall told Yogamates.com.

And he clearly has a good point as medical costs soar and with it, the number of the uninsured, we are all having to be our own advocates when it comes to our good health.

Read the full interview here.