Asanaverse

Phase 1 · Six Breaths a Minute

Part of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Healthy Blood Pressure

10 Minute Yoga Sequence for Blood Pressure

The short daily one. Consistency does more here than length, and every review of this literature says so.

One of the more useful findings in this research is that longer programmes were not reliably better than shorter ones. What mattered was doing it. This is the session for the days between the longer ones, and for after the twelve weeks are over. Four minutes of slow breathing, three gentle positions, and a rest.

10 min · Level 1

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Wann hilfreich

On the days between the longer sessions, and afterwards for as long as you like. Ten minutes, a cushion, a wall and a blanket. This is an addition to your medical care and any blood pressure medication, not a replacement for either. Do not hold your breath at any point, and leave out full inversions such as headstand and shoulderstand.

Breath

Four minutes at roughly six breaths a minute, which is the shortest dose of the mechanism worth doing.

Physical effect

Movement tied to the breath, and one chest opener with no strain in it.

Consistency

The evidence here favours regular practice over long practice. A short session you keep is worth more than a long one you drop.

Ten minutes, most days

Short enough that it happens, which is the whole point of this one.

SchneidersitzSukhasana
01
4 min

Schneidersitz

Alternate nostril breathing. In for five, out for five, no pauses.

Roughly six breaths a minute. The mechanism does not need long to engage.

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KatzenposeMarjaryasana
02
45 sec

Katzenpose

Hands and knees, rounding the back as you breathe out.

Movement tied to the breath, and it keeps the same slow rhythm going.

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Kuh HaltungBitilasana
03
45 sec

Kuh Haltung

Chest forward as you breathe in. Move between this and the last one, eight rounds, slowly.

Cat and Cow at the speed of the breath is the gentlest movement in the program.

Mehr über Bitilasana erfahren
SchulterbrückeSetu Bandha Sarvangasana
04
45 sec, twice

Schulterbrücke

A small hip lift, breathing evenly, never holding.

The chest opens and the legs do a little work, without anything strenuous.

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Das Siegel der UmkehrViparita Karani
05
2 min

Das Siegel der Umkehr

Legs up the wall.

Two minutes that settle things faster than lying flat.

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TotenstellungSavasana
06
2 min

Totenstellung

Flat, quiet, breathing at its own pace.

Every session in this program ends here.

Mehr über Savasana erfahren

Integration

On most days, throughout the twelve weeks and after. If a day is short, do the four minutes of breathing on its own. That still counts.