Yoga for Hypertension
Enrique Saguil, MD
Hypertension
“high blood pressure”
“high blood”
“white coat response”
“stress response”
“pressure issues”
“renal hypertension”
“salt sensitive”
“type A personality”
“holds a lot of aggression”
“old fashion Italian”
Newtonian definition

As per the JNC 7 (2003):
Systolic <140mmHg
Diastolic < 90mmHg
With diabetes or chronic kidney
disease:
Systolic <130mmHg
Diastolic < 80mmHg
Einstein-ean definition

E=MC2

Everything exists as energy

Even an atom exists as energy not a solid mass

….thus, the human body is nothing but energy!

Hypertension is too much energy in the wrong
place
More later!?
Back to nuts and bolts…
The “Plumbing” Scenario






Human vascular system is
closed.
A house is closed
There is some flexibility to
the system
There is no flexibility to the
house
If poor blood flow is getting
to an organ, heart beats
stronger
If water is not getting to a
faucet, open the flood gates
Problems with the scenario



Opening the flood gates for one faucet, they all get
more water pressure (leaks/wear and tear)
The heart beating harder leads to hypertrophy of
heart muscle tissue and the other organs get
slammed with high pressure (eye, brain, kidney)
Blindness, stroke, renal failure, heart attack,
pulmonary edema.
Leading causes of death US







Heart disease
Cancer
Stroke
Chronic LRD
Accidents
Diabetes
631,636
559,888
137,119
124,583
121,599
72,499
CDC 2006
Silent killer




Pressure fronts in the blood vessel system and
be tolerated with the elasticity of the blood
vessels
Not for daily encounters with saber tooth tigers
Rips, tears, ballooning, narrowing, an organ has
to protect itself.
Tolerance until the organ suffers (dies)
stroke
Congestive Heart Failure
Renal Failure
What happens

What makes the “closed” system react this way?
The Stress Response







Fight or flight
Adrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine.
Fast heart rate, fast breathing, high pressure,
Hyper-acute vision and hearing
No pain
Diverting blood from gut to muscle
No procreation (viva viagra!)
Good for survival (occasionally)
The Relaxation Response




Coined by Herb Benson
Studied Tibetan Monks
Lower HR, RR, BP, T
Decrease stress hormones
The Love Hormone
-Oxytocin
-Serotonin
-Dopamine
When Parasympathetic >
Sympathetic







Civilization prospers
Relationship grow
Humans feel good
Digestion is efficient
Thinking is creative
Sex is good
People find their
Dharma
Yoga!

A lifestyle not an exercise
Hot commodity in commercial sales
Predominantly female

Comes from Ayurveda


Ayurveda





Ayur = life
Veda = science of knowledge
5000 year old system of healing
Health is a balance between environment, body,
mind and spirit
Tibetan, TCM and Greek medicine have roots
Yoga



Sanskrit = yolk or union
mind body/ soul spirit
Yoga postures or asana formulated to help move
energy
Energy/life force/breath = prana
Chakra’s
Nadi’s
Meridia’s
Energy pathways = einstein-ean


When the highways are moving, the city is happy
When the 90 and 53 is bottlenecked,
tempers flare, people become late, road rage
…..the city is unhappy.
Yoga





Helps to unblock the highway or nadi’s and
move energy making the city/body happy.
Helps “still” the mind and bring bliss
(consciousness)
Helps secrete the love hormones.
Helps decrease the stress hormones.
Helps improve breathing and oxygenate the
body.
Why stretch nadi’s



Stretching nadi’s lets energy flow.
Energy flowing through the nadi’s, flows through the
chakra’s
Reflexology? (lazy man energy moving)
Postures (asana) unblock and flow
Unblocked flow = health
When anahata flows hbp goes.
The heart chakra is responsible
for love and compassion.
Standard “warm up’s”




Only hit major muscle
groups
Usually opposing groups
Less than 5 minutes
Then onto body building
movements or straight to
running
Problem with standard exercise




There’s a “high” with bodybuilding movements
enkephalin’s and endorphin’s secreted (short).
No energy flow using the energy models and just the
opposite with muscle stiffness .
There’s a “high” with running, (short) but the rhythm
and breathwork with running also bring out a
“calming” effect (long).
No energy flow using the energy models.
E. Saguil, MD
The benefits of yoga over standard:


No short high, there is and endorphin response
but included with mind stilling – long, all day for
continued tolerance to further stressors.
By stretching the nadi’s/chakra’s, energy moves
from the root to the crown and into the
universe/consciouness, the spirit stays healthy,
body also follows and maintains health.
More benefits of yoga



Due to mind “stillness”, oxytocin flows and the
inflammatory response lessens.
Interactions that are presented from the
environment becomes less provoking for the
stress response.
The breathwork or pranayama takes 4 phases of
breath and makes 26 different techniques-more
efficient lungs=more efficient heart.
Teen Mr Natural NJ 18y/o
Now 47y/o