Open Your Heart to Yoga - Yoga for Heart Diseases

In Medical terminology, Coronary Heart/arterial Disease, CAD, is defined as a condition when accumulation of plaques (semi solid emulsion of LDP and calcium) in the arteries constricts them and as a result oxygen supply to the heart gets restricted and heart muscles become weak. With this restricted passage for oxygen rich blood, heart needs to pump more, further straining itself.

Before we discuss further how yoga can help to cure for heart disease, and what is the yoga poses for heart health, let us examine the causes and symptoms of the disease and how yoga does wonder prevent disease and gives better health.

Causes and Symptoms of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)
The main culprit is the atherosclerosis, a medical condition when plaque gets accumulated inside coronary arteries and results in their hardening. The other contributors are Hypertension, smoking, and high cholesterol (LDL) and CAD develops over a long time. Since it is a long process, people miss the symptoms till they are around 50 years of age. Chest pain (angina), short breaths characterize CAD. Unfortunately for some people, heart attack could be the first sign of CAD.

Who Are Affected By CAD?
As the researches show, Men and women are equally prone to be affected by CAD. But usually the danger sign for men is after age 45 and for women after 55 years of age (post menopause). Statistics show 50% of men and 63% of women of over 50 years, die from heart attack due to CAD.

Those who have a family history are at risk even at young age.

Coronary Artery Disease Risk Factors
Smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, bad cholesterol above 240 mg/dL (LDL) are the risk factors. Heredity is also a major risk.

How Does Yoga Help In Combating This Disease?
A study, published in Journal of The Association of Physicians of India (JAPI), establishes that yoga has tremendous benefits in curing heart disease. Study was on angiographic ally proven CAD patients, of whom 71 formed the study group and 42 the control group. And the results proved that the serum total cholesterol levels had reduced by 23.3%, disease had regressed in 43.7% and progression was arrested in another 46.5% of the patients. The anxiety levels of patients dropped significantly and serum cholesterol, LDL and triglyceride levels were reduced to great extents with the help of Controlled yoga combining calming and stimulating measures.

Yoga Poses for Heart Health
Yoga for heart disease has been popular since ages. Of late, it is getting better coinage following concerted studies which have shown how symptoms of coronary artery disease have been reduced.

Kapalabhati Breathing
Kapalabhati breathing, popularly known as pranayama technique. Kapalabhati involves breathing along with controlling the movements of the diaphragm (a membrane separating abdomen from chest) consciously. The breathe control is through breathing in rapid succession. This results in holding air in the lungs for few seconds’ thereby increasing oxygen absorption in the lungs in a short time. Each and every tissue in the entire respiratory system gets benefited. This ensures richer blood to reach cardiovascular muscles regardless of its quantity, thus removing the major complaint.

Yoga Mountain Pose
Tadasana, an indispensable part of all standing yoga postures is performed in standing position. Touch your heels and big toes to each other. Ensure to balance the weight evenly on metatarsals (bones in foot) and toes spread. Stiffen and pull-up calf muscles, knee caps, thighs and hips. Take stomach in; expand chest, neck and spine. Release fingers, drop hands straight and keep them stiff.

Yoga Asanas to cure Heart Disease
There are types of poses you can practice offered by yoga for heart disease cure as follows:

Warrior Pose
Begin from the mountain pose and jump change to fully stretched legs and arms (horizontal) sideways. Rotate outwards right foot by 900 and left foot by 700. Bend the right knee till thigh becomes parallel to ground keeping the plane of the body unaltered. Breathe in a few times and return to tadasana and repeat this for the next half of the body.

Triangle Pose
Stand straight and keep your feet spread slightly wider than shoulder. Lift both arms and bend towards right, hold right ankle with right hand without twisting the body. Hold it there for 30 seconds. The triangle is the shape formed by your trunk now.

Tree Pose
Vrukshasana. Proceed from tadasana to rest your left foot on the root of right thigh and lift hands up straight till they touch palm to palm. Hold the position till 20 seconds.

Lotus Pose Yoga
Improvement over the classic cross-legged squatting. Make sure to rest both your feet on the opposite thighs with soles facing up. You may want to pull your feet initially. It is a classic position for pranayama with chinmudra.

Can Yoga Cure CAD?
Studies similar to Journal of The Association of Physicians of India (JAPI) have shown tremendous benefits in CAD patients and the symptoms and conditions have improved contrary to the poor performance of modern medicine. Just yet, this doesn't suggest that yoga cures CAD, however.

Yoga and Heart Attacks
Dr. Satish Sivasankaran recently conducted a study on the effects of yoga in preventing coronary artery disease. The initial study on the ways to get rid of chronic stresses such as CAD, with the help of yoga, indicated improvements in the conditions of epithelial cells that line our arteries from inside. Dr. Satish has studied 33 persons (10 had cardiovascular diseases) of average 55 years. Parameters like body mass, heart rates, blood pressure and cholesterol and blood sugar levels were checked including epithelial linings before and after the study. The study lasted for 6 weeks with 3 sessions of 90 minutes each in every week. Sessions were on yoga and meditation. Significant improvements, across the group, for example reductions in hypertension, body mass and pulse rate were reported by Dr. Satish. Specifically those with previous CAD history also showed improvements in the functioning of endothelial cells.

It may be too early, but efforts on yoga for heart disease are taking researchers in the right direction. The fact that the symptoms of coronary artery disease have reacted positively should motivate them further.

Yoga Breathing or Pranayama

Whenever we think of the term Pranayama, the only thing appears in our mind is that it is a breathing exercise. But Pranayama means a lot more than just breathing for relaxation.

Different Yoga experts have defined Pranayama in different ways having a broad range of meanings. It also stands for cosmic power, or power of the whole entire universe that reveals itself as a conscious living entity in us through the miracle of breathing.

As defined in the Yoga Sutras, by Vivekanand Needam, Pranayama is “regulation of incoming and outgoing breath coupled with retention.

In Sanskrit, the word Pranayama is a combination of two parts having different meanings, viz. Prana and Ayama.

While Ayama means control; means the act which is done in Pranayama. Prana – as most of us know – is vital energy. It is that energy that is represented naturally as the self-energizing force driving our body in daily course of life. When our body is dominated and controlled by this vital force, it is called Pranayama.

Pranayama does not emphasize on to bring the inhalation and exhalation into synchronization with each other. Nor the aim is to make our body habitual of a particular length of breath. The different pranayama practices pose variety of opportunities for following the breath, as well. When you focus on breath, your mind is concentrated only on the breathing activities. Pranayama prepares us, in this manner for the stillness of meditation to come.

Yoga Breathing or Pranayama - A Broad Overview
Pranayama, the breathe control technique in yoga is an indispensable part of the Yoga science. It is an essential step of most of the asanas or poses. As described in the Vivekanand Needam Yoga Sutras, asana and pranayama play a vital role to help us control ourselves mentally and physically, attaining purification of body, soul and mind.

While practicing yoga one can feel heat sensations internally, which is nothing but the inner fire of purification. As per yoga experts this heat is the byproduct of the purification process of the Nadis. These are subtle nerve channels in the subtle body. The result is healthy mind and body to it’s high.

Pranayama emphasizes to concentrate on your breath. Hence, make sure that while practicing Pranayama the mind is alert and focused. This is because the processes being observed are extremely subtle. Unlike asanas, body movements are almost nil in Pranayama. In the beginning of Pranayama the inhalations and exhalations are felt within your respiratory tract, and later, the sensations of breath movements are felt throughout your body. The only animated process will be breathing. Vivekanand Needam, in his Yoga sutras, has given tips and practical suggestions so that one can concentrate on breath movements.

To begin with Pranayama, you must start paying attention on a part of your body, where you feel or hear your breath. Alternatively, you could try following the movement of breath in your body. Try to sense the inhale extend from the center of your collarbone, down through your rib cage to your diaphragm. Then follow your exhalation upwards from your abdomen.

One more trick to concentrate on your breath is by feeling where it enters and leaves your body around the region of your nostrils. If you want to hear your breath, then try to make a noise by gently tightening your vocal chords. This is a Pranayama technique called Ujjayi.

Benefits of Pranayama

Pranayama meaning literally the “breath of life”.

In other words Pranayama can be described as a technique of breath control using sequential deep inhalations and gentle exhalations. An indispensable part of ancient Indian yoga, Pranayama can be carried out using different techniques, all of them involving step by step deep inhalations and gentle exhalations.

Pranayama poses lots of benefits to our body, soul and the mind, if practiced regularly and in proper way.


Pranayama benefits:

• We all know that breathing is an indispensable part of life, but ironically most of us are not even aware of the fact that we are not breathing properly, despite continuous breathing. Pranayama is the only technique that teaches how to breathe properly so that the body gets maximum benefits of breathing. Instead of slow and deep breathing we have got habitual of taking quick, shallow breaths and that too from the stomach instead of chest.
  
  
• By practicing Pranayama regularly, we can change our breathing habits and start breathing deeply from the belly.
  
  
• We do not even know that one third of our lungs is always deprived of the air (or oxygen in other words) that we inhale because shallow breathing does not allow the air to spread fully in the lungs. By following the deep breathing techniques taught in Pranayama, we can give a chance to the lungs to breathe effectively because the lungs spread fully as the air flows in, hence making more oxygen available to parts of the body that were previously deprived of it and as a result, the body gets energized many more times than it used to get earlier.
  
  
• With the increasing oxygen supply to the body, the efficiency of various organs and systems also increases and body works more efficiently. This helps to increase the metabolic rate. As a result, the accumulated fat in the body burns faster and digestion is also improved.
  
  
• Pranayama also increases the body immunity as the enhanced oxygen and blood supply gives strength to the body.
  
  
• Pranayama is a boon for those who suffer from lung based diseases especially asthma or bronchitis as the lung capacity is many times increased if Pranayama is practiced regularly. Pranayama can also retard and reverse the effects of lung damage in smokers.

Pranayama Techniques
Pranayama has many techniques that result in lowering or increasing the blood pressure depending on the technique of Pranayama that is used. Other Pranayama benefits include improved abdominal tone. Not only the energy blockages in the body get opened but the congestion of nasal passages is also removed. There can be no other convenient way rather than practicing Pranayama to flush out toxins from the body. Patients suffering from ailments such as allergies, heart conditions, insomnia, chronic pain and imbalances in the endocrine system also get benefits to cure these diseases with the help of Pranayama.

Last but not the least, Pranayama also helps to control the mind. In a world full of stress and only stress, Pranayama helps us to get relaxed and De-stress not only the mind but the body also. We can concentrate in a better way and improve our focus. Regular practice of Pranayama, can also help to balance and center the mind.