Experts believe it's yoga's stress-relieving style that makes it so special. Studies show that combining regular yoga with healthy lifestyle changes can drop cholesterol points up to 23%. Women in menopause report that yoga can relieve their symptoms. And a study of women in treatment for breast cancer found that women reported feeling better after treatment when they did yoga regularly.

Want to learn more about the powerful medicinal benefits of yoga? Forbes has more in their gallery, including:

• Yoga improves balance, important for seniors who could be seriously injured in a fall.
• It relieves pain from conditions like arthritis, fibromyalgia, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Yoga can improve digestive and respiratory health.
• Yoga relieves stress and can improve a person's outlook.
• It can make bones stronger, important for women who are at risk for osteoporosis.
  
  

Do more than just wear your yoga pants around the house. Put them on and get yourself to a class to see what else yoga can do for you.

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We've all heard of using reflexology on the hands and feet to cure various illnesses, but have you ever tried the same principle on your ears?

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I'm a big believer in home remedies and natural approaches to various health issues, but I also believe that in some cases "natural" just won't cut it and technology may have the answer instead. But when dealing with alternative health approaches understanding the pros, cons, limits, and risks is imperative. Do you think you have a solid understanding of the basics? Here are a few of the biggest misconceptions people have about alternative medicine:

• "All natural" automatically translates to "all safe." Not true. Natural and herbal compounds often vary in strength, and they can interact and have serious side effects just like many prescription medications.
• "Alternative therapies are cheaper than conventional ones." Not true in many cases. Although they may have a cheaper price tag they often aren't covered by insurance.
• "There's little to no solid research to support the effects of alternative medicine." Not true, although many times research on alternative medicine is not documented and written about in scientific language, which can have a negative influence with doctors.

There's more on this list from Forbes so pop over there and take a look, and then share your thoughts on alternative medicine in our comments section!

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When I went to a trainer this summer to learn about a holistic breathing method thought to improve asthma symptoms, I didn't tell my allergist. I was worried he'd dismiss it with a wave of his hand, and I wanted to learn the method with an open mind. More importantly, I was worried I'd lose him as a physician. I rationalized that because I wasn't changing my medications or treatment plan, it wasn't important. But looking back, I think the honest thing to do would have been to tell him. After all, I expect him to be honest and up front with me.

It turns out, I'm not alone. Over one third of Americans are turning to natural and holistic medicine to cure what ails them, but many of those patients are keeping mum when it comes to telling their Western doctors. Fearing that their physicians will be angry with them or will drop them as patients, they carry on a relationship with both practitioners. You don't have to have a medical degree to realize this could be dangerous.

I can understand why people do it. I did it, after all. If you have an old-fashioned doctor or one who doesn't believe in alternative medicine, you're likely not to get much support. Try to remember, however, that in the doctor-patient relationship, you're the customer. Honesty is the best and safest policy for getting the combination of treatments -- be they alternative or Western -- that you need.

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If you asked your doctor what he or she does personally to prevent health problems, you'd probably hear answers like exercise, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and get plenty of sleep. But when Prevention asked well-known holistic and natural practitioners from around the world what they do to stay healthy, there were some interesting answers.

For instance, one holistic dentist eats fibrous foods every day to keep teeth clean and to give his gums a healthy massage. An integrative physician in Switzerland refuses to every say anything more critical to himself than he would to a colleague and banishes negative thoughts to improve stamina. And an Ayurvedic doctor eats an egg each day for energy. What kinds of things do you do to stay healthy, naturally?

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What is iridology? I'd never heard of it before now, but it's the study of the iris to determine the overall well-being and health of person. Practitioners of iridology believe that every color, fiber, pattern, and defect in the iris of the eye is a direct reflection of something wrong in the body. At a glance, healers using this method can tell at a glance how well organs and systems are working together by looking at the left eye for the left side of the body, and the right eye for the right side.

Although iridology can be traced back to the days of Hippocrates and is found all over the United States, not all natural and holistic healers believe in it. Do you?

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Are doctors wined-n-dined by pharmaceutical sales reps these days? Of course -- sales representatives have sales quotas to meet just like car salesmen, and the most tuned-in audience are doctors and those that have the control to prescribe medications.

With all the knowledge medical doctors must have before becoming licensed, the specific interactions of pharmaceutical drugs and the science (and non-science sometimes) behind each and every drug that is prescribed to a patient is probably not the top priority. The top priority is fixing problems with the metaphorical band-aid instead of fixing the root cause in my opinion.

Why not? Revenues soar, people are "patched" and everyone is happy. But now, medical schools in several states are popularizing more programs that teach doctors and medical students to challenge the sales pitches of drug companies and their sales representatives -- and to avoid being dazzled by the circus. In total, the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars a year on marketing to directly to doctors with legions of sales forces -- sometimes throwing lavish events to close the sale on certain high-profit drugs.

As I've thought for years and years, this sounds like a huge conflict of interest to me. Are patient's needs the top concern or are lavish drug-company-sponsored parties and the sale of prescription drugs at all costs?

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