Reducing Stress With Yoga Helps Lower Blood Pressure And Prevents Heart Disease

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/J_Russell_Hart/278755]  J Russell Hart

Yoga combines movement, breath awareness, and mental focus. This integrated approach to movement supports the health of the body and the mind. Some practitioners and teachers say that movement through various yoga poses makes yoga a moving meditation.

During a yoga session, each of the poses, asanas, are linked to the breath. Movement is guided with the inhales and exhales. As the practitioner takes open poses, where they extend or lengthen the body, they inhale. When a practitioner folds or contracts the body as in standing forward fold, they exhale.

Some asanas build strength and endurance. Other asanas allow muscles to lengthen and relax.

A complete yoga practice takes the spine in all six directions, forward, up, back, bending side to side and twisting to the left and right. A traditional yoga practice ends with complete relaxation, lying in Svasana, corpse pose, and includes breathing exercises as well as various forms of meditation.

What are the Benefits of Yoga?

Yoga exercises increase strength and flexibility. They also have a calming effect on the mind and nervous system. Yoga provides numerous health benefits.

Physical benefits associated with Yoga

Improves and maintains flexibility

Builds muscle strength and endurance

Elevates the heart rate (depending on the style of yoga)

Keeps the spine supple

Improves posture

Increases circulation

Maintains the cartilage and joints

Lowers blood pressure

Improves functional fitness

Improves blood circulation

Boosts heart health

And many other health benefits for the body

Mental benefits associated with Yoga

Improves depression and increases serotonin (mood nerotransimetters in the brain) levels

Improves ability to focus and concentration

Alleviates stress, and anxiety

Decreases the body's fight or flight response and increases the relaxation response

Builds confidence

Fosters an increased sense of well-being

Develops mindfulness which results in better body awareness to meet its needs

What Is Blood Pressure?

A blood pressure reading measures the level of force exerted on the walls of the body's blood vessels as blood passes through them. With each beat, the heart moves blood through the blood vessels to every part of the body. A high hypertension reading indicates the heart must work harder to do this.

Blood pressure readings measure two components, the systolic and diastolic readings. Systolic and diastolic pressure references the two stages of a heartbeat. The reading is most often notated like a fraction with the systolic reading on the top and the diastolic reading on the bottom.

A blood pressure reading of less than 120/80 falls within the normal range. High blood pressure or hypertension becomes a concern when a reading exceeds this range.

Normal: Less than 120 over 80 (120/80)

Prehypertension: 120-139 over 80-89

Stage 1 high blood pressure: 140-159 over 90-99

Stage 2 high blood pressure: 160 and above over 100 and above

High blood pressure in people over age 60: 150 and above over 90 and above

Consequences of High Blood Pressure

Untreated hypertension can lead to various health problems, including:

Damage to the heart and coronary arteries that can lead to heart attack, heart disease, congestive heart failure, atherosclerosis and aortic dissection.

Stroke

Vision loss

Erectile dysfunction

Memory loss

Fluid in the lungs

Kidney damage

Angina

Peripheral artery disease

Yoga and Blood Pressure

Stress, obesity, and poor diet adversely affect hypertension. Stress causes a consistent pattern of adrenal stimulation and increased heart rate, essentially causing the body to remain in fight or flight mode. The heart works harder raising blood pressure.

An obese person's heart must multiply its efforts to send oxygenated blood throughout the body. A poor diet, especially one high in processed foods, sodium, and fat contributes to hardening of the arteries. As the arteries narrow, more force is required to move blood through them, which increase probability of developing hypertension, heart disease, and possibly heart failure.

Yoga addresses each of these issues and is recommended as a complementary therapy to manage and prevent high blood pressure.

The physical postures build muscle and bone density, which helps people, manage and lose weight.

They also allow the heart to grow stronger by improving circulation.

The mindfulness component allows people to build thought patterns, which lend themselves to making mindful choices across the board. According to Yoga Journal, this includes building a healthy diet.

Yoga also lowers hypertension. A recent study attributes yoga's effect on blood pressure to its mindfulness and relaxation components.

According to researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine, yoga may provide excellent benefits to people seeking to relieve anxiety and overall improvement in their mood. Yoga eases the stress and anxiety, which contribute to depression, poor dietary choices, and a sedentary lifestyle.

Yoga provides an accessible and effective way to prevent and manage high blood pressure. In this sense, it is a complementary therapy and professional guidance is necessary. People who have hypertension need to consult with their doctor and a knowledgeable yoga instructor before beginning a yoga program; some poses may increase hypertension if unmodified.

Russell (Rusty) Hart is the founder of the Health, Fitness & Sport Club, a website devoted to the promotion of health, fitness and wellness. The site encompasses a wide variety of health and fitness activities including general health matters, pilates, yoga, CrossFit, treadmill training, running, kettlebell, swimming, baseball, camping, hunting, HIIT, triathlons, extreme sports, equestrian and more. Should this subject matter be of interest you can visit the HF & S Club home site where you'll find over 1,300 quality posts with new posts being published daily. To quickly access those that are of interest you can select any of 20 Categories broken down by over 260 Sub-Categories for easy access.

You can also visit visit any of the HF & S Club's four Stores all of which feature 1,000s of sports and health products at the very best prices. Access this website by going to [http://www.healthfitnessandsport.com]

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Reducing-Stress-With-Yoga-Helps-Lower-Blood-Pressure-And-Prevents-Heart-Disease&id=8975288] Reducing Stress With Yoga Helps Lower Blood Pressure And Prevents Heart Disease

Yoga and the Mind/Body Connection

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Vaughn_Balchunas/8107] Vaughn Balchunas

Yoga is most famous for its healing ability and the peace of mind that it brings.  How does Yoga do this?

The body has two nervous systems, sympathetic, and parasympathetic.  The sympathetic system, also called the "fight or flight" system, causes blood pressure to rise, breath rate to increase, and stress hormones to flood the body.  This prepares the body for fight, and in today's world, this occurs when we are stressed or agitated.  This system, when over stimulated, can cause health problems like ulcers, migraines, and heart disease.

Raja Yoga Meditation - Achieving an Integration of Mind and Body

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/David_Barrett/102085]   David Barrett

The raja yoga meditation is an effective technique of meditating and kicking out stress and worries from your life. This technique is all about gaining control on everything that is connected with you. This is not just about controlling your breath, but in fact, it is more about controlling your mind. The ultimate purpose here is to achieve an integration of mind and body.

Ayurvedic Nutrition: Let Your Food Be Your Medicine

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Vishnu_Dass/5718]Vishnu Dass

It is ironic how something as obvious as nutrition has become overlooked in the modern health care system, and how in the name of convenience our fast paced society has given way to fast foods, microwaves, quick fix medicines, and eating on the run. Fortunately, there is a growing focus in the important role that nutrition plays in maintaining good health. In Ayurveda, India's ancient science of life, health and longevity, food plays a prominent role in promoting health and is therefore considered medicine.

Meditation through Yoga

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Craig_Hathway/18038]  Craig Hathway

"Stop and smell the flowers."  This old adage holds great truth and advice especially for the over-worked, over-stressed citizens of the modern world.  We fill our days with fast paced activities and chores that lead to frustration, increased weight, and depression.  Trying to cram too many activities in each day can have disastrous effects.  Many ask how they can ward off the ill effects of stress.  Besides reducing your activities you can look to the beneficial effects of meditation.

Yoga Anti-Aging Health Benefits

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dennis_Harris/36980]  Dennis Harris

The most common definition of aging is not what really determines it. In reality, misusing our bodies over a long time causes the body to degenerate and consequently look older. A lifetime of remaining sedentary, consuming non-nutritious foods or having poor posture while working can cause the stiffness or aches and pains commonly attributed to getting old. Regular care and maintenance of the human body is required as much as all other types of machines ever made by man. One of the major things that make the bodies of humans unique is the ability to renew or regenerate themselves at the cellular level. Yoga is an important tool that works to help maintain the health of the human body.

Yoga and Your Heart

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Michael_Russell/12389]  Michael Russell

The leading cause of death for both men and women in United States according to American Heart Association is Coronary Heart Disease, which causes approximately 1.5 million heart attacks each year.  Recently, research has shown that yoga and meditation have been known to reduce blood pressure, regulate heart rhythm, improve the elasticity of the arteries, lower pulse rate and increases the heart's stroke volume.  In short, practicing this ancient art of body/mind wellness is good for the heart. 

The factor that contributes heavily to heart disease is stress.  Situations which are highly stressful increase the heart rate and blood pressure.  The stress hormones get released during a stressful situation; extended or recurrent exposure of these hormones can injure the heart and the blood vessels.  Yoga promotes a relaxed state of mind and body and is also widely known for playing a vital role in reduction of stress hormones, decreasing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure. 

Meditation: A Path To Inner Peace

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Gwen_Stewart/3196] Gwen Stewart

Throughout history, meditation has been an integral part of many cultures.  Records indicate that meditation was practiced in ancient Greece and India more than 5,000 years ago.  In the Buddhist religion, meditation is an important part of their spiritual practice.  Different forms of meditation are practiced in China and Japan, and Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have traditions similar to meditation.  The word meditation comes from the Latin 'meditari' which means: exercise, turn something over in one's mind, think, consider.  It is defined as "consciously directing your attention to alter your state of mind." 

    Meditation is one of the proven alternative therapies that in recent years have been classified under the mind-body medicine therapies.  It is continuing to gain popularity, as more and more health experts believe that there is more to the connection between mind and body than modern medicine can explain.  Meditation has been shown to aid the immune system and improve brain activity, according to researchers.  More and more doctors are prescribing meditation as a way to lower blood pressure, improve exercise performance, for people with angina, to help people with asthma to breathe easier, to relieve insomnia, and generally relax everyday stresses of life.  Many hospitals now offer meditation classes for their patients because of the health benefits.  All promote physiological health and well-being.

Tenets of Yoga Philosophy

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Kevin_Pederson/18135]Kevin Pederson

In the ancient India, philosophy has been traditionally divided into two main groups. These groups are called as the orthodox group and heretic group. The orthodox group believes in the authority of Vedas in all the philosophical matters. These orthodox systems are six in all. One of the most popular systems of philosophy is yoga.

It shares the following common beliefs with the other orthodox systems:

What is Yoga? Asana in the Context of the Six Yogas System

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Elizabeth_Reninger/24043] Elizabeth Reninger

What Is Yoga?

Yoga is freedom. It is love. It is pure, radiant, unobstructed joy. It is pure awareness, wide-awake and clear.

~ Richard Freeman, director of The Yoga Workshop, in Boulder, CO

Here in the United States, on the cusp of 2006, just about everyone has heard the word "yoga." For many if not most, the word conjures images of scantily-clad beings with expanding and twisting limbs: a well-worn "scene" in health clubs, retreat centers, and yoga spaces throughout the country. In other words, it brings to mind the practice of asana ~ sequences of physical movements and postures ~ which, as it turns out, represent just a tiny slice of the entire "pie" that is the Yoga Tradition(s) of the larger world (universe, cosmos). Now there's nothing wrong with the practice of asana (I do it myself, and find it quite wonderful!), but it might be useful to be able to place this particular aspect of yoga onto its larger "map" ~ to have a sense of the tradition(s) from which it arises and to which it returns, and to understand asana to be just one of many possible entry-points into this vast and beautiful territory. So let's explore...

Beyond Flexibility - The Health Benefits Of Yoga

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Rebecca_Prescott/18749] Rebecca Prescott

When I was 21 I suffered a slipped disc in my lower back. I couldn't sit down during the acute phase, only lie or stand, though standing itself was uncomfortable at the time. Once the acute phase had passed (with rest, although acupuncture and shiatsu are great), I had the fortune to meet some yoga teachers and I started going to their classes. I started out with Oki yoga, which is a Japanese form of yoga, and very good for healing the body.

I was given a series of correcting and strengthening exercises designed to improve my back and specific to the meridians that were in need of attention in my particular case. Oki yoga has postures classified on how they affect the meridians, which are like energetic pathways within our body. And that was the one thing that helped restore my back completely, to a state that was actually better than it was before I injured myself. When you are suffering an acute injury though, yoga really shouldn't be attempted until that stage has passed.

Bikram Yoga - Hot, New Energy Source

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jolene_Schwartz/23796]Jolene Schwartz

As people search for curative and restorative effects to combat the impact of a chaotic world, Yoga has become very popular in our culture. Yoga is for everyone and can be done by everybody. Yoga is the only exercise from which you gain energy instead of burning it and it doesn't matter how well you do each of the postures, only that you do it the right way. Traditional cardio exercise works on 3-10% of the body, Yoga exercises 100% of the body, from bone to the skin, from head to the toes, and to every organ, gland, tissue and cell.

Trinity - The Three Levels of a Yoga or Qigong Practice

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Elizabeth_Reninger/24043] Elizabeth Reninger

Yoga and Qigong practice is traditionally spoken of as occurring on three levels: the outer, the inner & the secret. These three levels of practice have similarities to what in Taoist practice are known as the Three Treasures (Jing, Qi & Shen); and also to what in Buddhist practice are known as the Three Bodies (Tri-Kaya) of the Buddha/Awakened Mind (Nirmanakaya, Sambhogokaya & Dharmakaya). [They also have a less precise but still resonant relationship to the Hindu yogic system of the "five sheathes."]

The outer level of practice is the most superficial (or densely vibrating) level. In qigong, it is called the level of the "tendons" and is associated ~ in terms of the Three Treasures ~ with Jing/essence (which, among its physical substances, includes cerebral-spinal fluid, marrow & sexual fluids). In terms of an asana practice, this is the level at which one focuses on physical alignment: on creating a structure (of bones, muscles, organs, tendons) conducive to entrance into the deeper levels of the practice. This is the level at which one learns a "form" which (like a mandala, a yantra, or good feng shui) can then serve as a portal through which the energies/insights of the inner levels of the practice can more easily flow. So as practitioners, this means learning the particular form(s) associated with our chosen tradition.

3 Miracles of Yoga and Meditation

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jeff_Smith/1642]Jeff Smith

For those of you still considering the advantages of yoga and meditation, let me share with you the incredible results I have experienced since sticking to a yoga and meditation regime of 3 times for 40 minutes each week.

1. Digestion - Acid Reflux.  I realize I am not alone in experiencing the painful effects of poor digestion, sometimes termed acid reflux.  I used to keep Tums and Rolaids antacids in business popping 6-8 just to get through a typical night. This was my reality ever since I can remember - even as a teenager.  In fact, this condition ran in my family - so I was resigned to never finding a treatment, let alone a cure.

Spiritualism and Yoga

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Premansu_Chand/10927]Premansu Chand

In all religions voluminous scriptures relating to spiritualism are available. However the divine truth is very simple and everybody has free access to it. Like free air and free water available to all, everybody can realise the truth freely and without anybody's interference.

 In the whole universe there are only two things - one is conscious and other is inert; one is truth and other is false. All living beings are conscious whereas matter and material things are inert. Matter always changes its state(solid, liquid, gaseous, plasma and ethereal space) and matter is nothing but a form of energy. Again the sum total of all energies(kinetic and gravitational of celestial bodies) is zero. So matter is ultimately false, both spiritually and scientifically. As in the dream, all objects appear to be real, so in the waking state, all things we see and hear appear to be real. When we wake up from dream, the dream objects appear to be false; so after death this visible world shall appear to be false.

Mind and Thoughts

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Premansu_Chand/10927]Premansu Chand

Yoga is controlling of thoughts arising in the mind. When thoughts are controlled or prevented through practice, the seer or practitioner (yogi) rests in his true self or soul (atman). Either you remain in true self or control thoughts, the other will result automatically. In true self one shall not see or hear anything, because there is none other than the self. When there is anything other than the self, one shall see or hear something. When everything has merged in the pure consciousness of the true self, when there is none other than the self, what is to see or hear?

Why Yoga Exercises Are Different From Other Forms of Exercise

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Nelly_Luprimo/75373]Nelly Luprimo

If you are thinking of taking up a form of exercise with the aim of making yourself look and feel much better you should give very serious thought to yoga exercises.

Yoga works holistically on the body and mind and so its positive effects can be seen in many different aspects - on our bodies, their health and how they look, and also on our minds - in how we view the world.

So how do yoga exercises differ from other forms of exercise?

Yoga exercises, also known as asanas or postures, are applied to the entire anatomy of the living body. On the other hand, many other exercise regimes are a form of engineering applied to the muscles of the body. This means that yoga exercises are concerned with more than just the superficial development of muscles. The postures used in yoga exercises tend to normalize the functions of the entire organism.

Yoga Versus Pilates - Which Should I Do?

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Mike_Singh/17240]Mike Singh

Many have heard of yoga and Pilates.  But, not everyone realizes that there are several differences between these two types of exercising regimens.  In fact, yoga is hardly classified as just an exercise program.  Each of these methods are quite powerful tools to allow you to feel and look better.  But, they are also very different.  In order to help you to make a choice between yoga and Pilates, let's explain them a little further.

Yoga - It came way earlier

Yoga has been around for over 5000 years. It is something much more than just a way of exercising.  In fact, it is a lifestyle change that many people need to take seriously.  This type of program is centered on the spiritual healing of the body as well as the physical aspects.  It uses a wide combination of breathing and movements to get the body back into its targeted range.  Yoga is something that encompasses the entire lifestyle in ethical, spiritual and physical form. 

Healing Hearts with Yoga

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Winter_Ward/0]Susan Winter Ward

Coronary Artery Disease, CAD as referred to in the medical community, is running rampant in our country and is the leading cause of death. Yearly, about 500,000 people die, 600,000 have heart attacks, and 800,000 folks suffer from angina (chest pain caused by blockage or constriction of the coronary arteries.) The incidence of heart disease is increasing and the age at which it occurs is decreasing. The statistics are pretty frightening. Medical intervention techniques are expensive, invasive, and not very effective in the long term. Treating the symptoms is only a stop-gap measure; treating the cause is the real cure.

CAD can be prevented and can be reversed! We're talking about a paradigm shift in consciousness here, not just a new medical technique. If we truly understand the cause, we can embrace the cure. And what's the cause? We've heard this all before, high cholesterol, smoking, caffeine, lack of exercise, "Type A" or "workaholic" personality, stress and anxiety. These issues basically represent a disconnection from our innate knowledge of ourselves. If we honor and nurture ourselves, we will eat a healthy diet, exercise, relax, meditate, do yoga, and have deep, meaningful relationships. These self- honoring priorities are the answer to reversing CAD.

Benefits of Chair Yoga - Part 4

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Paul_Jerard/9999]Paul Jerard

Chair Yoga can easily work in harmony with most physical rehabilitation prescriptions.  Many physical therapists have knowledge of Yoga or are teachers of Yoga.  Many doctors, physical therapists, and medical professionals recommend Yoga to patients who are making a "come back."

Yoga gives these patients the strength to move ahead, when many would be discouraged.  The comebacks that I have personally witnessed are inspiring to me as a Yoga teacher.  Over time, I have seen come backs from strokes, heart attacks, and car accidents.