High Blood Pressure

A yogic life style lived in joy and satisfaction forms the core of this life style change. It is an attitudinal change at the psychological level. If we look at all the risk factors for CHD, one can see that it requires a total change in one’s attitude to refrain totally from smoking, change the food habits, and lead a stress free life. Otherwise even this forced life style change which is usually practiced after an event of CHD could become a cause for stress and suppression. Hence yoga recommends a basic change in our attitude towards right living. Let us see how yoga can be a tool for this life style change to prevent or reverse heart disease.

Yoga, not only provides the philosophical or logical back up in the form of right concepts to answer why one should lead a life of moderation with control over one’s instinctual behavioural patterns, but also provides highly evolved time tested techniques for healthy living. For example, Yama and Niyama, the first two components of Aútánga yoga described by Patanjali, the concepts of Karma Yoga from Bhagavat Gèta, Bhakti Yoga from Narada Bhakti Sutra and Jnana Yoga from Upaniúads addresses the basic concept about one’s purpose and meaning of life style. Starting from many do’s and don’ts (Niyama and Yama) to culture the mind during interaction in the society yoga gives simple norms for right living, Yoga helps one to climb up the pedestals to the climax of Jnána or Mokúha where the individual could live in perfect harmony and bliss unperturbed by the waves of joys or depression of life.