“The Effects of Yoga on Hypertension” by Dr. Swami Shakardevananda
MBBS (Sydney), Under the Guidance of Swami Satyananda Saraswati
Published by Bihar School of Yoga: First edition 1978, Second edition 1984, Reprinted 1998
Published by Yoga Publications Trust: Reprinted 2003, 2006, 2008, 2014
CONTENTS:
Foreword vii
Preface xiii
Preface to the Second Edition xiv
Introduction xvii
Cause
Circulatory System 3
Hypertension 17
The Medical View 26
The Yogic View 32
Mental Cause 35
The Pranic Cause 40
Stress and the Personality 45
Lifestyle 53
Heredity and Ageing 57
The Total View 61
Cure
Yogic Cure 65
Eliminating Mental Problems 71
Asana and Pranayama 79
Yogic Way of Life 94
Relaxation and Awareness 101
Meditation 110
Holistic Healing 123
Practices
Complete Training Program 135
Asana 141
Surya Namaskara 148
Pawanmuktasana 159
Pranayama 170
Meditation Practice 179
Yoga Nidra 185
Appendices
Low Blood Pressure 195
Suggestions for Diet 199
The Pillars of Life 203
Glossary 207
References 215
Introduction
Our body-mind complex is a marvel of creation both intricate and subtle in design. Man, who inhabits it, is finding out new and astounding facts about his inner workings, facts which are helping to open up his awareness, understanding and knowledge of himself. This knowledge is leading him out of the mire of disease and suffering to a state of better health and longevity.
Why is this apparent marvel of creation so prone to illnesses such as high blood pressure? What is the ultimate cause of disease? These are questions which modern science, despite its great technological advances, is still unable to answer. Yoga, however, can give an insight into these problems helping us to reach our own conclusion through meditative experience of the higher reaches of awareness.
The science of yoga offers a theoretical construct for the workings of body and mind and their malfunction in disease, as well as the practices to correct imbalance and help us gain better health and realization. Yoga provides a path to the cure of high blood pressure but it is you, the seeker of health, who must tread it. With increased knowledge of the body, its energy systems, the mind, the soul, and their interrelationships, we can learn to live more harmonious, better integrated lives, and health is a natural consequence of this.
To be healthy, mentally and physically, one must know the body-mind complex, its needs and requirements, just as a car requires a good driver as well as servicing, oiling, petrol, grease, tyre adjustment and so on. People are sick because they do not know their bodies and minds, what they need and how to keep them properly. Yoga is designed to help us maintain this body-mind vehicle in top running condition for as long as possible so that life can be joyful, free and fulfilling.
Yoga offers a sublime philosophy and a practical means to realize it, and doctors are now finding within the broad scope of yogic philosophy many solutions to existing dilemmas facing both doctor and patient. Modern medicine has discovered the jewel of yoga and is combining methods of yoga with medical treatment. The courtship of medicine and yoga is complete; now each will have to realize the other’s greatness.
Yoga is union, and in terms of healing, yoga implies the coming together of all systems and pathies; allopathy, homeopathy, chiropractic, ayurveda, polypathy, and so on. The doctor or healer should have all these systems at his disposal, selecting the relevant points from each, and distilling from this mixture the pure essence, the renowned philosopher’s stone. Yoga is, therefore, a matrix, or framework on which to unravel the old and weave the new, building up a more ideal system to cope with the problems of our modern world, of which hypertension is only one.
Through the combination of medicine and yoga, both doctor and patient can come to a better understanding of the disease process involved in hypertension and so learn from experience, growing and maturing within. In this way we become not only physically healthy, but gain a dynamic personality, mental and emotional stability, and deeper wisdom and insight. This is real healing which fulfils the function of the doctor (from the Latin docere, ‘to teach’) and lifts the patient into the higher spheres, towards union with higher consciousness.
About the Author:
Dr Swami Shankardevananda was born in 1952 in Sydney, Australia, and graduated in medicine in 1977.
In 1974 he met Swami Satyananda Saraswati and was then able to blend yoga and medicine into a unified system.
In 1976 he received poorna sannyasa diksha and from 1977 to 1985 lived at the Bihar School of Yoga, Munger, where he was Chief Coordinator of the IYFM Research Centre.
Author of three books on the therapeutic effects of yoga, in 1990 he received his MSc from the University of NSW. From 1990 to 2001 he coordinated the Sydney Yoga Therapy Research and Education Centre, and up to 2006 he travelled around the world as an ambassador of Satyananda Yoga. Dr Swami Shankardevananda continues to combine western medicine and yoga therapy to serve people.
Posted in: Integrative Health, Ayurveda and Yoga Therapy