HOW TO LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE NATURALLY

Part 23: Yoga

Yoga is a great way of learning to relax and getting some toning and stretching exercise at the same time. And it has been shown to have particular benefits for your heart and circulatory system.

A study in 2003 in India tested a group of 113 adults aged from 35 to 70 who had coronary heart disease. 71 followed a yoga lifestyle programme including stress management, exercise and a vegetarian diet while the remaining group took prescription drugs to manage their health issues and followed the typical lifestyle and diet modifications recommended in the West.

After a year the yoga group showed a 23% drop in cholesterol levels (4% in the other group) and 44% of the yoga group improved their heart condition. Hardening of the arteries (a major factor in high blood pressure) stopped completely for 47% of the group.

Diet is sure to have had an effect on the group as well as yoga, but yoga alone has huge benefits:-

• through regular practise of yoga you learn to move through life feeling more relaxed
• through stretching and bending you improve the circulation and blood supply to the heart. Yoga exercises stretch the body's major blood vessels, keeping them free-flowing and elastic.
• through the breathing exercises in yoga you learn to breathe more deeply and rhythmically. As a result the respiratory muscles become stronger, and more oxygen reaches your bloodstream with each breath.

While yoga on the whole is beneficial if you have high blood pressure, there are some poses which you should avoid, in particular the downward dog, head stand and shoulder stand, and there are some yoga poses which you should not hold for too long. Be sure to seek the advice of a qualified yoga teacher to learn suitable poses for your state of health.

You should note too that yoga alone is not a replacement for hypertension treatment but is a useful tool combined with other initiatives in your quest to naturally lower your blood pressure.

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