Yoga?

[flyer]

Has anyone had experience with meditation or yoga in reducing seizures? A friend of mine just started meditating and it has been extremely helpful to him and he thinks it would work for me to reduce stress and keep my emotions (depression) more even.
I looked this up on line and there were mixed reviews. Some people thought it would bring on seizures and for other people it brought more control.
Then I looked at yoga. Supposedly B.K.S. Iyengar in his book "Yoga: the Path to Holistic Healing" has 18 poses to benefit people with epilepsy. I haven't pusued this - haven't read the book yet. Wanted to know if any one had had any experience with this.

 

[Nakamova]

Hi flyer!

In general, stress reduction is key for folks with epilepsy. Meditation -- even just informally taking a half-four break a few times a day -- has been shown to help. But no formal studies have been concluded.

You might want to read this: http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1150815334

I don't know about the yoga poses -- I suppose as long as the poses are gentle they might work similarly to meditation/deep breathing. I think some stretches are risky because they temporarily limit blood flow to the brain, so those would need to be avoided.

 

[epileric]

You also might be interested in this.

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/e-yoga-7915/

 

[Endless]

I haven't done yoga in several years. It makes my unstable joints even worse, so the physical therapist has me doing Tai Chi instead (I have loose ligaments). When I did yoga I mostly liked it. Fast or deep breathing is one way to provoke seizures, so I'd say avoid anything that imitates that. I never had a pose that required fast breathing, but deep breathing - yes.

There are some studies that say yoga helps seizures, some say it is neutral, and a few say some types of yoga can make seizures worse:
http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa122501a.htm
http://www.tinnitusformula.com/infocenter/articles/treatments/yoga.aspx
http://www2.cochrane.org/reviews/en/ab001524.html
http://www.svyasa.org/arogyadhama/yogatherapy/epilepsy.asp

I'd say if your doctor says okay, then go for it, and have fun!

 

[douglas]

i have no personal 1st hand experience with it. but i have seen baba ramdev has a yoga for epilepsy. google it on youtube. its worth a shot i guess.

i wasnt aware that deep breathing could being on a seizure. my wife is into yoga and has been trying to get me to go and see if it helps.

 

[epileric]

Fast or deep breathing is one way to provoke seizures, so I'd say avoid anything that imitates that.

Does "deep breathing" means something else in yoga? I know that breathing quickly (hyperventilation) can trigger a seizure but I've always thought that breathing deeply would prevent or stop hyperventilation. I know that I've been able to prevent seizures by going to my breath & breathing slowly & deeply.

 

[Nakamova]

I think it helps to distinguish between deep breathing (meaning breathing from the diaphragm/lower stomach) and deep breathing (meaning long inhales). In the first sense, deep diphragmatic breathing can reduce stress and help improve sleep, definitely a benefit to folks with epilepsy (see http://www.epilepsyhealth.com/deep-breathing.html).

During the onset of a seizure, you want to avoid the second kind of deep breathing -- long inhales. Instead, breaths should be rapid short inhales with longer exhale. Ideally these are still deep breaths in the first sense only, i.e. from the diaphragm. A member recently posted about this technique, along with a link to a site that describes it in detail: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/...breathing-exercise-simple-or-partial-seizures

 

[Shelley]

meditation helps?

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-mindfulness-meditation-brain-weeks.html