8 Yoga Poses To Lower High Blood Pressure Naturally

 

Yoga Poses To Lower High Blood Pressure

At least one person in your life, a family member, someone you work with, or a good friend is likely to have high blood pressure and take one or more pills every day to bring it under control.

High blood pressure or hypertension is a very common problem, it does not usually have symptoms, but it can cause serious problems such as stroke, heart failure, heart attack, and kidney failure. Yoga with its different asanas helps improve blood circulation and lower blood pressure in hypertensive patients.

Get Relief From High Blood Pressure With Yoga

Blood pressure is the force exerted by blood against the walls of the arteries. Every time the heartbeats, it pumps blood into the arteries with higher force. High blood pressure, what doctors call hypertension, affects one in three Western adults. High blood pressure increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease, which is why it is often described as a "silent killer." There are recognizable symptoms such as fatigue, nosebleeds, nervous tension, ringing in the ears, dizziness, outbursts of anger, headaches, but they usually do not appear until the blood pressure is dangerously high.

People tend to take medication and do physical activities to lower blood pressure. Most of the risk factors for these diseases are curable through yoga practices.

Yoga practice, in general, can be a very beneficial therapy to lower high blood pressure naturally. A gentle practice helps calm your mind and body. Stress management is a recommended treatment for patients who suffer from this problem, as it is one of the possible causes, and this ancient practice is an excellent tool that we can count on in this regard. However, you should have some precautions that are given below.

How Does Yoga Lower Blood Pressure

Here are the different risk factors that cause high blood pressure and their healing through yoga.

Yoga Makes The Arteries Flexible

With age, the arteries become stiffer, making it difficult for blood to flow. As a result of the increased pressure in the blood, high pressure is exerted on the arteries.

Yoga exercises make the blood vessels more flexible and facilitate the flow of blood through the arteries. This results in lowering the blood pressure in the body.

Yoga Controls Chronic Stress

High blood pressure can occur due to stress. Releasing stress is very important to staying healthy. Yoga exercises are an effective means of boosting mood by secreting hormones and by controlling brain signals to keep you happy.

Yoga increases the production of antioxidants in the body along with the control of hormones that cause stress and anxiety.

Yoga, when done consciously, can reduce this type of stress-induced hypertension, as well as address its underlying causes. The sympathetic nervous system is calmed and the heart slowed, while the muscles and mind are taught to relax deeply.

Practicing pranayama or breath control techniques can also be very beneficial. Research studies show that mindful breathing quickly lowers blood pressure.

Meditation has also been proven as a very useful tool in controlling stress and therefore hypertension caused by this.

Yoga Exercises To Burn More Calories

Yoga helps to control weight and burn fat easily. This results in the control of blood pressure indirectly. Experts always recommend yoga poses to burn fat and strengthen the body. Along with a healthy diet, practicing yoga exercises can help you lose weight in a few weeks. Do yoga practices that require more calories. Your body uses the extra fat as your muscles and body move with full force.

High blood pressure has other risk factors that are also controlled by yoga. These factors include excess fat, high blood sugar, stiff arteries, and low HDL levels.

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Yoga Poses For High Blood Pressure or Hypertension

The following yoga postures are very effective to control high blood pressure naturally and alleviate associated risk factors:

1. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog Pose):

Benefits: Adho mukha svanasana is the ultimate rejuvenating yoga pose. Bending forward supporting the head in this pose helps in hypertension. Forward bending postures regulate cardiac activity and blood pressure. Doing this yoga pose will calm your mind and relax your body.

How To Do It:

• Start by standing on the mat on all fours, that is, with the palms of your hands on the floor (fingers spread), parallel and in line like shoulders. Knees supported and in line with hips. Feet hip-width apart, in line with hands.
• Support your toes, raise your hips as far as possible towards the ceiling, stretch your legs, and rest your heels on the floor. In this way we are also stretching the arms and the back, drawing an inverted V. The head stays relaxed downwards.
• During the performance of a downward-facing dog in yoga, we keep our breathing controlled, with a minimum of 5 calm and deep breaths.
• Hold a breath, then bend your legs, support your knees and sit on your calves, stretch your arms and place them away from the body, forward. We press down firmly but relaxed. Take rest there.

Caution: People suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome or any kind of problem in the wrist should not do this. Avoid doing this asana if there is an injury in the back, waist, shoulders, and arms. Do not practice this yoga posture if there is an infection inside the ear, infection in the eyes.

NOTE: Pregnant women should stay away from doing this asana as the pregnancy progresses.

2. Uttanasana (Camel Pose):

Benefits: Ustrasana or Camel Pose is a very beneficial posture if performed with the correct alignments. This is an inverted anti-gravity yoga posture and thus extremely effective in boosting your immune system, reducing stress, and relaxing the mind. It helps the blood flow to the head and improves blood circulation. By regulating blood flow claims the body and stabilizes heart rate. Not only do you stretch the back of your legs, but you flex your spine, strengthen your knees and thighs, relieve tension, and get rid of stress. Drop your head and let go of your worries with this posture, rest and give yourself a moment of tranquility.

How To Do It:  

• Stand at the beginning of the mat with feet together, with your body stretched out, straight, and your gaze facing the front.
• Lean your torso forward from the hips toward the ground and put your hands on the sides of your feet.
• In the final pose, your legs should be firm and straight, but it is normal that if you have just started yoga, you will not reach the ground. You can bend your knees, use supports, or place your hands on your shins or thighs. It is about lengthening the back.
• Relax your head, neck, and shoulders.
• Although it is a basic position, you have to get out of it correctly. Go up vertebra to the vertebra, so that the last thing you go up is the head, and go back to tadasana.
• You can even perform Uttanasana as a counterpose (raise your arms and slightly bend your back backward).

Caution: Don't collapse in your neck area, so that the blood vessels that bring blood and oxygen to the brain are not compressed, otherwise you may feel dizzy, get unstable and the overall posture becomes unsafe. Practicing Ustrasana can make many beginners new to yoga feel distinctly ill, with lightheadedness or nausea being quite common after-effects. However, this does usually improve with practice.

NOTE: If you are pregnant, only do half-bending and do not practice it in the last two trimesters.

3. Viparita Karani (Legs Up The Wall Pose):

Benefits: Viparita Karani, also known as the inverted posture or the leg-up posture. It is an asana that offers surprising benefits, such as relieving pain and tension, reducing anxiety, and improving other circulatory problems. It is also ideal to relax, rest the legs, improve circulation, take a break and regain calm when we are overwhelmed. It induces a state of rest and relaxation. It favors the working of the heart and improves circulation. It is used to treat insomnia.

How To Do It: 

• Lie down on the mat, raise your legs, and support them on the wall or other surface. Then lift your hips and lower back and place them on a cushion.
• Although this is the simplest version, it can be more complicated by leaving all the weight of the body on the elbows, hands, and shoulders, eliminating the cushion. The important thing is to keep your legs up and straight for a period of one or two minutes.

Caution: Avoid if there are neck or back injuries. Consult your yoga expert in case of menstruation. Inversion poses such as legs on the wall have been shown to increase intraocular pressure, the pressure of the fluid within the eyes, making them unsafe for people with glaucoma. People with specific conditions that cause excessive fluid volume in their bodies should also stay away from their legs on the wall.

4. Makar Asana (The Crocodile Pose):

Benefits: Makar Asana helps in the relaxation of the entire nervous system, body, and mind. Relieves stress on the body and mind. It decreases blood pressure by removing disturbing thoughts and tensions. Practicing this yoga posture relaxes the muscles which leads to a decrease in the demand for blood and oxygen, giving the circulatory and respiratory systems a break. Beneficial for all stress-related ailments. Relieves stress and fatigue.

How To Do It: 

• To perform Makar asana take a prone position and fold the arms in front of the head and place the head either on the arms or the floor, turning the head to the side if it is comfortable.
• Spread the legs apart so the heels touch the corners of your yoga mat, with the toes pointing outwards, heels in.
• Breathe normally while you maintain the asana.
• This is a relaxation asana and a prone version of Savasana.

Caution: People with severe back and knee injuries should not attempt this asana.

5. Pashchimottanasana (Back Extension Pose):

Benefits: Paschimottanasana or Back Stretch Pose is considered therapeutic for people with high blood pressure and diabetes. It is also said to cure insomnia. This yoga posture relieves anxiety and reduces fatigue thus giving a calming effect to the brain.

How To Do It: 

• Sit with your legs together and straight, and your feet active, with your toes pointing at the ceiling.
• Inhale, raise your arms, and exhale while lengthening your back to front, with the aim of reaching, as a first option, with the navel to the legs, then the chest, and finally his head.
• Circle your feet and keep your back straight at all times, making the pushup come from the hips.
•  Avoid stress; relax arms, shoulders, and neck.
• Hold 10 breaths, trying to lengthen your back more and more, try to create space on each exhalation.
• To get out of the pose, undo by going up vertebra to vertebra.

Caution: You must be careful with posture if you suffer: severe back injury, hiatal hernia, stomach ulcer, pregnancy, or diarrhea.

6. Halasana (Plow Pose):

Benefits: The Halasana or plow pose is one of the semi-inversion asanas, in which the heart is above the head, such as the plow, help us to improve blood circulation and release the lumbar load. It is a good posture to calm our brain, causing relaxation situations, and helps as therapy for insomnia. It also reduces stress and fatigue.

How To Do It: 

• Begin by lying down in Savasana.
• Exhale to raise your legs 90º and bring them over your chest and face.
• Keep stretching your legs over your head and place your toes on the floor. Keep your legs straight and separate your toes from your body. Arms remain on the ground, palms down. Hold 30-60 seconds, breathe normally.
• Exhale to gently bring your legs back to the ground.

Caution: Halasana or plow pose in yoga is not recommended for people with asthma, digestive disorders, who are menstruating, or have neck injuries.

7. Setu Bandha (Bridge Pose):

Benefits: In this pose, the heart is lifted at a raised level than that of the head, it facilitates blood circulation to even the most difficult and out-of-reach places. This posture is also very useful to release blocked channels and effectively bring down blood pressure.

How To Do It: 

• For doing this asana, lie down on your back and bend your knees so that your feet rest on the floor.
• Keep the same distance between your feet and buttocks as your hands. Now, try to lift your body in an upward direction.
• Do this 5-10 times & then release.
• This works wonders on your hips, thighs, stomach as well as back.

Caution: Avoid practicing this pose if you have severe neck and shoulder injuries.

8. Savasana (Corpse Pose):

Benefits: Savasana is the best antidote for stress. In Savasana, sensory stimulation and external distractions are minimized. The asana not only helps the body completely relax and body but also reduces blood pressure and brings down the heart rate. With a grounded body, mental energy can be channeled inward and the mind can start to explore the body from the inside. Practicing Savasana may increase the ability to notice things like the body’s breathing and heartbeat as well as form calmer which helps curb the spread of cardiac anomalies and respiratory issues. Savasana is known as a great way to calm the mind, reduce stress, depression, and fatigue, lower blood pressure, relieve headache pain, and improve sleep. Savasana is an asana usually done at the end of a yoga practice.

How To Do It: 

• To perform Shavasana, lie flat on their backs with the heels spread as wide as the yoga mat and the arms a few inches away from the body, palms facing upwards, preferably with no props.
• The eyes are closed and the breath is deep with the use of pranayama. The whole body is relaxed on the floor with an awareness of the chest and abdomen rising and falling with each breath.
• During Shavasana, all parts of the body are scanned for muscular tension of any kind. Any muscular tension the body finds is consciously released as it is found.
• All control of the breath, the mind, and the body is then released for the duration of the asana.
• Shavasana is typically practiced for 5–10 minutes at the end of asana practice but can be practiced for 20–30 minutes. 
• Savasana is considered the easiest pose to perform and the most difficult to master.

Caution: Avoid practicing this pose if you have back injuries or discomfort.

The above asanas have to be performed under the supervision of a trained yoga instructor.