Yoga practitioners often claim the health benefits of yoga: better body alignment and posture, stronger muscle strength, increased self-awareness, greater flexibility, lower blood pressure, and more resilient mental and physical capacities. Every time practitioners need to describe the facts to conclude how yoga can be beneficial in the prevention of stress and hence diseases. Although present pandemic has showed how regular practice of yoga offers numerous health (mind-body-soul) benefits. 

It is known to us that many antihypertensive agents have been associated with numerous undesirable side effects. For the fact seekers, it has been very convincingly demonstrated in a randomized controlled study that even a short period of regular yogic practice at 1 h/day results the effects of medical therapy in controlling blood pressure in hypertensive subjects.

Stress-induces many disorders like angina, hypertension, depression and during this hard times these are fast-growing epidemics and bane of “modern” society. Yoga has time and again shown that it is the best method for prevention and management of stress and stress-induced disorders. Yoga, together with relaxation, transcendental meditation, biofeedback, and psychotherapy, has been found to have a convincing antihypertensive effect. 

Reports says that even a short lifestyle modification and stress management education program based on yoga reduces risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Yoga has proven efficacy in managing secondary cardiac complications due to chronic hypertension. Sarvangasana is beneficial in preventing and treating hypertension-associated with diastolic dysfunction & ventricular hypertrophy . Various studies suggest that yoga has an immediate quieting effect on the HPA axis response to stress. While the precise mechanism of action has not been determined, it has been hypothesized that some yoga exercises cause a shift toward parasympathetic nervous system dominance, assumed via direct vagal stimulation. One of the German study published in 2005. Here the women who described themselves as “emotionally distressed” were treated with 90-min yoga classes a week for 3 months. At the completition of these months, women in the yoga group reported improvements in perceived stress, energy, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and well-being. While the depression scores improved by 50%, anxiety scores 30%, and overall well-being scores by 65%. 

Although many forms of yoga practice are safe, some are strenuous and hence may not be suggested for everyone. The scientific study of yoga demonstrates that mental and physical heal are not just closely allied, but is essentially equivalent. With every passing day the evidence is growing that yoga practice is a relatively high-yield approach to improving overall health. Considering the scientific evidence, it is fair to conclude that yoga can be beneficial in the prevention and cure of diseases. 

Life Spring Yoga Institute aims at an individual’s holistic development by imbibing the ancient science of yoga tradition with modern wellness therapy, essential for a healthy and balanced life. We are now proudly associated with reputed organizations such as Indian Yoga Association (IYA) andAsian Yoga Therapy Association (AYTA) .

Know more about Dr. Ritesh Patel & Mrs. Poonam Patel – The Founders to Life Spring Yoga Institute