Medically, it is difficult to treat patients with long history of hypertension without affecting major changes in their lifestyles. Besides, the medication available under the modern system of medicine, or allopathy, can give, at best, temporary relief.

However, relief is at hand through yoga and meditation, traditional and ancient systems of medicine.

Yoga has been effective in treating even serious cases of hypertension. The response time has been seen to be anywhere between a few days to three months.

Yoga works on both physiological and psychological levels

This is because yoga works on both the physiological level as well as the psychological level. All it requires for hypertension to be treated through yoga is a simple diet and a regulated lifestyle. Yoga helps achieve the objective of a regulated lifestyle, and this, together with a conscious attempt at a simple dietary schedule is effective against hypertension.

While it may take time to improve one’s lifestyle and make it a proper regulated one, the effects of practicing yoga are evident from the day one, as has been observed in patients who took to yoga after decades of suffering with elevated blodd pressures.

Pranayama

Practicing Pranayama, a set of breathing exercises, not only brings down high blood pressure; it normalizes low blood pressure as well.

Mainly, two variants of pranayama are prescribed – Aalom Vilom (AV) and Kapalbharti (KB). Aalom Vilom is a single-nostril breathing exercise, while Kapalbharti is a double-nostril breathing exercise. These two exercises should be performed alternately.

As a practitioner of yoga, you should ideally wake up early in the morning, preferably before dawn. Drink one to four glasses of water before going for your ablutions. The water intake hydrates the otherwise dried bowels and helps in evacuation and thorough cleansing of the intestines.

On a thin mattress, preferably woollen or silken (to retain energy generated during the practice), sit cross-legged, in a quiet corner of his house, terrace or out in some public park.

Begin with the Bahya Pranayama exercise

Though AV and KB are the main practices, it is more helpful to begin with Bahya Pranayama (BP).

Sitting with your spinal column straight, eyes closed, arms stretched, and hands resting on your knees, inhale deeply, hold the air in your lungs for two to three seconds, and then exhale, pumping all the air out.

Follow this up by holding your breath for another two to three seconds. Practice BP for a minute or two before switching over to AV.

How to perform Aalom Vilom

To perform AV, hold your right nostril with your thumb, and inhale through the left nostril. Follow this up by inhaling through the right nostril while closing the left with the middle fingers of both hands. Perform each inhalation and exhalation rutine in AV for a time period of two to two and a half seconds. If you are a beginner, five minutes of AV is a good start. Always keep tissue handy to clean your nose; you may need to do this initially for a few days, till you get used to it.

How to perform Kapalbharti

Now, about KB. This is how you should practice KB. Since it is a double-nostril exercise, perform it by repeatedly blowing your nose gently. Accompany each blowing action with a gentle inward pull of the stomach. An ideal rhythm for KB would therefore be blowing your nose once gently, and simultaneously pulling your stomach inward.

While performing KB, concentrate on exhalation. Allow the inhalation to happen involuntarily, and don’t pay any attention to it. A good beginning for KB is a total of 60 strokes per minute, i.e. about 300 strokes over a five minute period.

If you are a beginner, you can take a few seconds of rest and inhale deeply as well to catch your breath during pranayama.

Gradually increase the duration of these exercises

Gradually, you can go from five minutes of AV and KB each to about ten minutes of each, and can then finally increase it to about 15 minutes of each.

If you have chronic high BP, or if there is a history of blood pressure in their family, you need to increase the duration of each exercise to about 20-25 minutes, both in the morning as well as in the evening. Also, make sure that you do not do KP for at least five hours after a full meal.

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