Often when someone is diagnosed with high blood pressure or hypertension, they can be prescribed medicine to help alleviate the problem. While I always think you should follow the advice of your doctor, I believe that there are many things you can do to counter these symptoms without the use of prescribed medicine.
In this study that consisted of over 2000 people, where 1296 people did one hour of tai chi sessions three days per week for 21 weeks vs. the control group of 919 people who did not practice anything. The results showed that those who practiced tai chi considerably lowered their blood pressure compared to the other group. Clearly, this is not a reason to give up your medications and start doing tai chi. However, with the guidance of your doctor and a progressive plan to implement a more natural approach you may be able to ween off the meds with a consistent tai chi practice.
While there are many exercise plans you could adopt to get a cardiovascular workout, not everyone is in good enough physical condition to take up running or join their neighborhood boxing class. Tai chi is low impact and can be practiced by anyone it also offers many benefits that normal cardiovascular exercise does not. While it may appear to be simplistic in nature tai chi is very complex and can keep you intrigued for the next 100 years.
In this article, I would like to teach you a simple exercise, that if used regularly will lower your blood pressure and reduce your stress levels.
Check out this video on how to use these methods to lower your blood pressure:
Normal Abdominal Breathing
This is a simple breathing method and can be practiced standing, sitting, or lying down. In the beginning, it is helpful for students to use their hands as a guide to feel the breath. Whatever position you are in check your posture and make sure you are upright and relaxed. Place one hand on your belly and the other on your chest. As you begin to inhale let the hand on the belly move first and visualize expanding the belly. Then when the belly is full, let the hand on the chest begin to move as the chest fills with air. Both the belly and the chest will feel full but not tight. Then on the exhale relax the belly and chest then repeat the cycle. This should be natural and relaxed. If you do this for even 3 minutes you will feel your heart rate start to come down.
If you are considering trying this, I recommend taking the next 30 days to make a committed effort to the practice and I guarantee you will see a difference. If you do this once a day for 10 minutes and 3 to 4 times a day for 3 minutes, you will be amazed at how much control you will have gained in as little as 30 days.
The most important part of this practice is not just keeping up with the repetitions or your committed practice time, but when you practice it is the quality of your attention, breath, and presence that needs to be 100%.
If you stick with this for the next 30 days, I would be very interested in hearing about your results. Please reach out through our Facebook page. I have been teaching for over 36 years and have seen this practice help hundreds of people. Please just give it a try you have nothing to lose.
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