Hypertension - Part 2
What is the role of yama, asana and pranayama in hypertension -
Part 2
70 Glorious Years of Yogacharya B.K.S Iyengar - Commemorative volume
B.K.S.Iyengar
Pranayama; when we do digital pranayama, you may be surprised to know that the moment the fingers come to your nostrils, your organs of perception, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the eyes, the mind, immediately become pacified, and this without your even knowing it. They become very, very passive.
As they become passive, they cannot feel the brain, therefore, it is a tricky game the yogis are playing in order to bring this psychologically disturbed mind to a state of calmness, indirectly, by bringing the fingers to the nose, to quieten the other organs of perception.
And that is why pranayama has a tremendous, a major role to play in effectively curing people of hypertension or high blood pressure.
Sometime ago, perhaps three or four years, Dr. Karandikar told me that high blood pressure and hypertension were the same. I, then, told him that one was the friend of the other and that without hypertension, blood pressure could not be high. I am glad to hear that today he has come to agree with my definition. Friend in need is a friend indeed. If the brain is psychologically affected, the nerves say,
"We'll come to your rescue", and if the nerves say,
"We are collapsed", the brain says,
"Let me see what I can do".
So, there come the bad ideas, such as drinking in order to 'feel better'.
Yoga teachers ask that the nervous system is the unconscious mind, the medium between the outer world, and the inner world that the mind is, or the psychological seat of the individual. There should be a thorough, a balanced communication between the liver, the kidneys and the heart, in the way they 'talk' to each other, between themselves – which is something we don't really know.
The mind and the nerves can probably 'talk' to each other through various means that Asanas show. Asanas can bring about, as Dr Karandikar says, what we look for when we take tranquilizers, alcohol, tobacco, cigarettes and the likes.
Therefore, if people are willing to substitute yoga to all these drugs, this natural 'drug' Yoga having no side-effects, I can get rid of this disease.
This positive method, in changing people's life-style will give them the tool they need to get rid of the duality in their personality.
Their behavior and way of expressing themselves will then correspond to a more harmonious inner self.
I do believe that Asanas as well as Pranayama can guide them into developing a single mind that does not create barriers within oneself. This is the way, I think, Yoga is going to be a great help.