Breathe Easy

Allergies can turn even the most beautiful summer day into a sneezing, wheezing ordeal, but Viniyoga can help keep your immune system strong and your head clear.

By Alice Lesch Kelly

Seasonal and environmental allergies have been part of Jessica Levinson's life for as long as the 23-year-old can remember. As a child, Levinson, now a law student at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, remembers her family having to tear out wall-to-wall carpeting to cut down on allergens in their home. At 13, she began taking allergy shots to reduce her reaction to pollen, dust, and mold, but they did little to help her. Anxious for relief, Levinson went from doctor to doctor and tried one medication after another, but to no avail—nothing seemed to relieve her symptoms, which included itchy eyes, a runny nose, a scratchy throat, and congestion. Finally, when she was 19, one of her doctors suggested she try yoga. "The doctor didn't know whether it would help but thought it certainly wouldn't hurt," Levinson says.

So she signed up for yoga lessons with Larry Payne, Ph.D., a yoga teacher in Los Angeles and coauthor of Yoga Rx: A Step by Step Program to Promote Health, Wellness, and Healing for Common Ailments (Broadway, 2002). "I had to start with private lessons, because I wasn't in good enough shape to participate in a group class," recalls Levinson, whose allergies had always limited her participation in outdoor activities and sports.

Under Payne's tutelage, she learned a range of asanas as well as several pranayama techniques. Over time, she gained strength, began taking group yoga classes, and developed a home practice. Now she practices yoga daily, doing 45 minutes of asanas in the morning and 15 minutes of pranayama in the afternoon. She is, she says, a whole new woman.

Allergies Are Everywhere

Before trying to understand how yoga can help alleviate allergies, it's important to understand what they are and why they occur.

An allergic reaction occurs when a person's immune system attacks a substance that is usually harmless—such as pollen, pet dander, or dust—as if the substance were an organism out to cause disease. The immune system kicks into defensive mode, releasing histamine and a host of other powerful chemicals to attack what it sees as the enemy, says Pamela Georgeson, M.D., board-certified allergist and assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine. "These chemicals cause the allergy symptoms patients experience: stuffy and runny nose, sneezing, itchy eyes, teary eyes, postnasal drainage, and sometimes headaches." Although less common, allergic reactions can also include hives, itchy welts on the skin, and difficulty breathing.

Seasonal allergies occur during much of the year, though their patterns depend largely on where you live. In areas with cold winters and warm summers, tree pollens tend to be most bothersome in March through May; grass pollens wreak havoc during May, June, and July; weed pollens cause trouble beginning in July; and ragweed pollen appears in August and stays in the air until the first frost. In areas that stay relatively warm year-round, allergy sufferers may never get a break. Likewise, people who are allergic to nonseasonal environmental substances such as pet dander, mold, and dust may suffer all year long.

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