I have been doing kriya for about a year. I wanted to know if kriya is known to have any specific effect on lowering of blood pressure.
Also are there any specific yoga postures or breathing techniques related to our practice that are specifically meant for addressing hypertension?
Thanks
—kp, india
Hypertension, or high blood pressure is one of the most common physical ailments in our country.
Meditation of any sort definitely lowers blood pressure. At the Harvard hospitals all patients who come to the hypertension clinics are taught meditation as part of their treatment.
Certainly Kriya practice has the potential to do this. I do not know of any specific yoga postures for HTN but I imagaine if we aksed a Hatha Yogi they might. On the other hand, HTN is not easily treated and its effects on the body are widespread and debilitating. High blood pressure sends that high degree of pressure into all of what are called “end organs” – heart, eyes, kidneys, and brain – and they don’t like it!
Practice your Kriya, maybe even consciously asking for your pressure to drop before you start. Also, exercise and diets lower in salt are definitely shown to lower blood pressure in many people. Even eating three stalks of celery/day can help. Qui Gong has been shown to lower blood pressure and is a good practice.
But, and here is what is most important, if, after some time of practice (a few months at most) your blood pressure remains up please consider traditional treatment. I have seen many people who have been trying to lower their blood pressure with “natural means”… medtation, naturopathy, homeopathy, and more, for many years and still walk around with all of that pressure pounding through their body.
The medicines are not bad, albeit they are over-used in our society. Everything is God. If your blood pressure remains up after trying to lower it “naturally,” take your medicines, keep them on your altar, and ask God to bless you as you swallow those pills every day.
You will be blessed.
