Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on yoga as an alternative medicine.

Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on yoga as an alternative medicine. Yoga is a curing method of practice and theory, which is a permutation of breathing practices, physical body postures, and meditation. This paper provides information on yoga practices, reviews scientific research to outline yoga’s effectiveness and safety, as well as its pros and cons. Studies show that yoga has been in practice for a period more than 5,000 years (Siven and Mishtal 348-357). The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine survey done in 2004 focused on who practiced Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), and why it was important in the U.S. for the generation of 18 years and above during the year 2002. According to the findings of this survey, yoga as an alternative medicine was the fifth most regularly used CAM practice in the United States. Yoga usage had a percentage of 2.8% out of all other medicine alternatives (Siven and Mishtal 348-357). Yoga is an intervention of mind and body, which helps to reduce health defects, such as generalized stress, which causes high blood pressure. Additionally, yoga is trusted in calming the body nervous system and balancing the mind, body, and spirit (CAM 42-51). The practitioners of yoga believe that such practices prevent certain diseases and illnesses by maintaining the body energy meridians open and energy circulating. Moreover, yoga is mainly practiced in schools whereby yoga sessions are set at least once a week for an approximate of 45 minutes per session. Furthermore, the purpose of practicing yoga as an alternative medicine is to reduce stress, lower high blood pressure, and advance coordination, concentration, sleep, digestion, and body flexibility (CAM 42-51). Pros of yoga practices Recent studies carried out among patients with chronic back pains argues that people who carefully practice set of yoga styles may enhance in reducing back pains and improve body functioning such as ability to move and walk painlessly and effortlessly (Siven and Mishtal 348-357). This is because yoga as an alternative medicine has all the exercise components recommended by many therapists and needed by everybody. However, yoga exercises help the body of the practitioner to supply oxygen to all body tissues more significantly and helps in reducing body weight. This is a benefit to both heart and overall body functioning. It improves cells functioning since they receive enough oxygen supply. In addition, practicing yoga poses and other forms of body exercise may bring about other health benefits like reduction of heart rate and high blood pressure crisis. A large number of Americans use yoga as an alternative medicine for calming heart failure and high blood pressure diseases, although there are a number of banes and boons associated with this alternative. In accordance of a study analyzed at the 28th Annual Scientific Meeting, yoga can assist in lowering high blood pressure (CAM 42-51). However, blood pressure, which is also referred to as “silent killer disease”, affects a large population worldwide, with nearly one person in a group of three individuals suffering from this disease. Large numbers of those suffering from high blood pressure would look for an alternative means of reducing their blood pressure apart from chronic lifelong medication. Yoga is currently becoming the effective method of lowering blood pressure, hence, considered as a potential alternative (CAM 42-51). Yoga can also help in relieving depression and anxiety. Studies claim that yoga practices can help in modulating stress response.