‘High blood pressure, or hypertension, rarely has noticeable symptoms. But if untreated, it increases your risk of serious problems such as heart attacks and strokes. More than 1 in 4 adults in the UK have high blood pressure, although many won’t realise it.…… If your blood pressure is too high, it puts extra strain on your blood vessels, heart and other organs, such as the brain, kidneys and eyes. Persistent high blood pressure can increase your risk of a number of serious and potentially life-threatening conditions.’
The main concern is putting additional pressure on the blood vessels or causing some form of hemorrhage. Be careful with any pose where your heart is above your head as this increases blood pressure.
Yoga can help by:
- Reducing stress which can reduce some forms of raised blood pressure
- Calm the heart rate down
- Through longer term practice it can lessen pressure on blood vessels through improved functioning of the whole body.
Do
- Enjoy your class and go at your own pace, don’t be tempted to go faster or harder, think of the howl body healing as you practice.
Don’t
- Poses exercise caution with anything where your hands are above your heart for any length of time.
- Poses to avoid: where your head is lower than your heart: bridge, forward bends, down dog, headstands. Modify by keeping your head in line with your heart or coming in and out of the pose with the breath.
- Hold your breath in
- Exert yourself unduly, keep moving, but keep it enjoyable and steady.
- Keep your hands above your heart for extended periods