Phase 1 · Six Breaths a Minute

Part of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Healthy Blood Pressure

25 Minute Yoga Sequence for Blood Pressure

The first four weeks. Six minutes of slow breathing at the start, then a quiet practice built to end lying down.

There is a measurable, well described thing that happens when you slow your breathing to around six breaths a minute. The baroreflex, which is the mechanism that adjusts your blood pressure moment to moment, becomes more sensitive. In a controlled study of people with hypertension it nearly doubled, from 5.8 to 10.3 milliseconds per millimetre of mercury, and blood pressure fell while it happened. That is why these sessions open with breathing rather than closing with it.

25 min · Level 1

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When it helps

For the first four weeks, three times a week, with the ten minute session on the days between. Twenty-five minutes. A cushion to sit on, a blanket and a wall. 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

Alternate nostril breathing at roughly six breaths a minute, which is the rate the baroreflex research used.

Physical effect

Side bends, a gentle twist and one chest opener. Nothing strenuous and nothing that requires holding your breath.

Settling

The session ends lying down for a long time on purpose. Savasana was the most common single pose across the effective programmes in this research.

Six breaths a minute

Six minutes of breathing before anything else. This is the part with the clearest mechanism behind it.

Sukhasana

6 min

Easy Pose

Sit up on a cushion. Alternate nostril breathing, thumb and ring finger closing one side at a time. In for about five seconds, out for about five. Never pause at either end.

Around six breaths a minute is the rate at which the baroreflex becomes more sensitive. The pausing is what to avoid: holding the breath pushes blood pressure the wrong way.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Dandasana

1 min

Staff Pose

Legs long, sitting tall, ordinary breathing again.

A minute of nothing between the breathing and the movement.

Learn more about Dandasana

Gentle work

Three positions, all of them mild, all of them with the breath moving.

Parsva Sukhasana

1 min each side

Seated Side Bend

Cross legged, one hand down, the other arm reaching over.

A side bend opens the ribs without asking anything of the heart rate.

Learn more about Parsva Sukhasana

Bharadvajasana 1

1 min each side

Bharadvaja's Twist

A seated twist, both sitting bones staying down, turning from the ribs.

Twists appear in most of the protocols in this research. Gentle and unhurried, not deep.

Learn more about Bharadvajasana 1

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

45 sec, twice

Bridge Pose

On your back, feet down, hips lifting a little. Keep breathing evenly the whole time and never hold at the top.

The one chest opener in the session, and the most active thing in it. Breathe throughout.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Let it settle

Nine minutes at the end. That proportion is deliberate.

Viparita Karani

4 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall. This is a gentle inversion and generally fine. Full inversions such as headstand and shoulderstand are not part of this program.

Four quiet minutes with the legs raised, which most people find settles everything faster than lying flat does.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Savasana

5 min

Corpse Pose

Flat on your back, nothing to do. Let the breath find its own rate.

Savasana was the single most common pose across the effective programmes. It is not the bit at the end, it is part of the treatment.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 4

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Six Breaths a Minute, the first phase of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Healthy Blood Pressure. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

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Integration

Three times a week for the first four weeks. Take your blood pressure at the same time of day rather than after a session, since a single reading after twenty-five minutes of lying down tells you very little about the rest of the week.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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