This month is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFP). Why hold this observance in May, of all months? According to the AAFP, it's because late spring is the height of allergy season. But not to worry, because several studies have indicated that yoga and meditation benefits even extend to people with severe asthma.

The connection is pretty obvious. Calming, low-key regimens like Dahn Yoga and meditation encourage deep, measured breathing. By allowing practitioners to relax and open up their airways, yoga appears to reduce the severity of asthma.

And the proof is in the pudding. A study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that asthmatic individuals who practiced weekly yoga tended to have fewer and less intense asthma attacks, compared to their counterparts.

Another report, this one appearing in the journal Asthma and Allergy Proceedings, determined that college students with asthma tend to use their inhalers less often after receiving yoga instruction.

Finally, a third investigation, again published by the BMJ, found that yoga appears to improve quality of life for people with this chronic pulmonary condition.

Is it any wonder that, after so many centuries, holistic lifestyles are still as popular as ever?

If you or a loved one has asthma, talk to your primary care physician, your respirologist and your local yoga studio about things you can do to minimize your asthma attacks during allergy season.

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For years, our yoga and meditation retreats have helped people from all walks of life relax and release some of their pent-up tension. It's always been the Dahn Yoga philosophy that posing and meditating are essentially inseparable. However, not all other yoga programs see it that way.

According to a recent New York Times article, many subsets have ended up focusing almost completely on the pursuit of yoga as exercise. While there's nothing wrong with keeping the body healthy, it's important that holistic classes don't ignore the mental and spiritual side of existence.

After all, that's what "holistic" means.

At Dahn Yoga, we've always offered yoga and meditation exercises as a single unit. Yes, they can be separated for a particular pursuit, but in general, we believe it is best to address mental and physical health simultaneously.

The reason is simple enough: The two are inherently intertwined. To ignore one or the other is to deny the essential duality of humanity.

By taking yoga classes that integrate mental relaxation with physical conditioning, practitioners can ensure that their overall well-being is buoyed up and up and up.

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Take a yoga class, and you'll almost surely leave feeling better than you did when you came in. Much of this effect can be chalked up to the purely physical benefits of holistic healing, like loosened muscles and relieved soreness. However, yoga and meditation benefits extend much deeper into the self, where they can take on a wholly different, more metaphysical meaning.

The body has ki energy, a natural force, flowing through it. It starts in the head with cool energy, which sinks through the core and into the gut, becoming warm energy, after which it rises again.

Taken as a whole, this cycle affects quite a bit. It keeps your mood stable. It sends signals through your energy meridians. It even allows you to explore your innermost reaches.

Hence, even though yoga begins with physical technique, it ends with mental and spiritual awakening. This is what is meant by "holistic" – the system rests on holism, on the interconnectedness of the self.

From the body meridians' origination, deep within your being, to the very tips of your fingers and toes, yoga allows you to be the truest version of yourself.

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Yoga and meditation benefits come in all shapes and sizes, from soothed muscles and more limber joints to improved mood and even better blood pressure. But the truly great thing about this mind-body regimen is that it can be repurposed to help treat nearly any serious psychological problem – including some of the absolute worst.

Proof lies in a recently published dissertation from counseling psychologist Jennifer West of Boston College. In it, she described the utility of using yoga and meditation exercises as an adjunct therapy for complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or C-PTSD.

Unlike typical PTSD, C-PTSD results from intense and prolonged trauma that comes from the extremest of circumstances. Examples of C-PTSD can be found in people who have profound psychological problems following kidnapping, torture or years of domestic violence or abuse.

In the new paper, West described administering yoga therapy to 10 participants with C-PTSD over a 10-week period. She found that "participants [had] increased feelings of Gratitude and compassion, Relatedness, Acceptance, Centeredness and Empowerment (referred to as G.R.A.C.E. themes)."

It's nice to know that yoga is useful for nearly any mental trouble, from the mildest of mood dips to the severest of disorders.

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If you really dig yoga and meditation for beginners, then chances are good that you've considered visiting your nearest DC yoga class. And why shouldn't you? Engaging in guided meditation, holistic stretching and deep breathing can be truly satisfying – especially if you do them in a diverse community center!

Consider a studio just a few hours south of the District of Columbia, one that has been providing dozens of weekly classes to interested enthusiasts of all stripes. According to Asheville's Mountain Xpress, it's the diversity of such groups that really boosts the interpersonal connectivity of yoga.

On its website, the community organization explains just how multifarious and multifaceted its classes really are.

"The center is becoming a melting pot where people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures and ages are coming together to practice," it states, quoted by the news source. "We see students, seniors, servers, bartenders, doctors, attorneys, accountants…all showing up and practicing next to each other."

That's the spirit! To connect with holistically-minded men and women in your area, look in your local listing for the Dahn Yoga community center nearest you.

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If you're an MLB pitcher who needs loose, limber joints and heightened mind-body awareness, where do you go? Well, if you are Nationals relief pitcher Drew Storen, you go to Washington DC yoga classes. A lot.

The 24-year-old hurler from Indiana recently appeared in a video aired by MSNBC, which described him as "baseball's Bruce Wayne."

What makes Storen the Batman of the big leagues? Besides maintaining an excellent relief record and low ERA, he also has a number of hobbies and interests, including yoga, Dyson vacuum cleaners (seriously), fast cars and, yes, the Caped Crusader himself.

By day, Storen is an avid yoga enthusiast, and by night, a top-notch pitcher. But his teammates have yet to share his enthusiasm.

"Surprisingly, we have not given him a hard enough time about it, but we've definitely made fun of him a little bit," fellow reliever Brad Lidge told the news source. "I told him that my wife goes everyday and they would probably be good friends."

Nevertheless, Storen swears by yoga and meditation exercises, which he said give him a greater awareness of his strength, agility and breath.

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If you take Washington, DC yoga classes, then you're probably familiar with just how soothing and invigorating the regimen can be. Recently, students at nearby Washington College, in Maryland, discovered this fact for themselves.

According to the school's official newspaper, The Elm, it all started when yoga instructor Beryl Bender Birch was invited to teach a special workshop at the school.

She came at the behest of a former student, Lex Fry, who teaches her own regular recreational classes on campus, including yoga and meditation exercises. According to the news source, Fry has been offering this elective for a full decade as a key facet of the school's Recreation and Wellness program.

As you might expect, the guest workshop was a resounding success.

Drama teacher Polly Ku'ulei Sommerfield had nothing but good things to say about the regimen: "I attended the workshop because I learn something about myself every time I take a yoga class. I gain a sense of peace, of mental clarity and an awareness of the interconnection of mind and body."

It's hardly surprising that Birch instructed a packed house. According to a poll conducted by the Yoga Journal, 41 percent of American yoga practitioners are between the ages of 18 and 34.

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Do you take Washington, DC yoga classes as part of a holistic effort to improve your cardiovascular well-being? Well, if you participate in them as part of a hospital-led wellness group, and you have Medicare, you might be in luck.

That's because, according to CNN News, the publicly funded insurance program now covers yoga classes that focus on a healthy heart and cardiac rehabilitation.

Medicare has already covered traditional heart disease rehab services since 1982. However, it wasn't until 2009 that Congress passed legislation expanding this coverage to include specially approved intensive heart health rehabilitation services.

As an example, the news organization pointed to the yoga classes offered by the Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease in West Virginia, which is self-described as the "first program scientifically proven to reverse the progression of heart disease."

This holistic service teaches students to control their nutrition, stress and physical activity, while also referring them to group support.

Practitioners Frank and Kathy Korona told the source that this program has helped them lose a combined 85 pounds, get off of four prescription medications and mellow out a little.

"Usually at the end of the session, the instructor will say, 'Now the reward: get into the total relaxation pose,' and we do that, and it just feels so good," Kathy explained to CNN.

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When you think of the Washington, DC yoga classes in your area, the first thing that comes to mind probably isn't a bunch of tall, lanky basketball players blissing out on their mats. Yet that's exactly what's happening every week at the DC-area DeMatha Catholic High School.

According to the Washington Post, the players on its basketball team have taken up yoga and meditation exercises as a way to stay conditioned, limber and relaxed.

It started when the group's strength and conditioning coach, Alan Stein, brought a yoga DVD to school.

"The kids, usually when they hear different, think, 'Oh, no. What are we going to do now?' because I've done some crazy things with them in the past," he told the news source. However, after a bit of initial giggling, the team took to the holistic regimen like ducks to water.

Now, the boys do yoga during the last month of basketball season as a way of staying cool and relaxed.

"When we go down for practice we'll be pretty loose," senior Marcellous Bell explained, adding that weight training does the opposite. "Usually after we lift, we'll be all tight and it takes a few minutes to get going."

No wonder they prefer yoga!

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In our Washington, DC yoga classes, an instructor will often gently remind students that someday they may find themselves in his or her shoes. That's because Dahn Yoga espouses the philosophy that enthusiasts will eventually learn so many mind-body techniques that they'll be perfectly placed to be teachers themselves.

This transition from pupil to master forms the subject of an article recently published by the Washington Post. The newspaper featured a group of yoga students who went through rigorous testing to prove that they were ready to be instructors.

The gauntlet they ran (or really, posed) their way through included strenuous postures and difficult stretches.

One student, Gale Koritansky, told the news source that her session lasted four full hours.

"Whew!" she exclaimed. "That was longer than the GRE!"

While we certainly agree that it's important to test budding yoga teachers, our rites of passage at Dahn Yoga are much less physically taxing. Instead, they concentrate on imbuing practitioners with a deep, complex sense of the connections between body and mind.

Once we see that a student is ready, we are all too happy to ask them to help run one of our DC yoga studios!

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