How to Treat High Blood Pressure With Ayurveda

If left untreated, high blood pressure (hypertension) can lead to heart attacks, strokes and other serious health problems. To deal with hypertension, some people use alternative holistic approaches like Ayurveda (Indian healing science).

Instructions

• 1

  Balance the three energy types or doshas, Vata, Kapha and Pitta. Ayurvedic practitioners balance these energy types with nutrition, breathing exercises, yoga, mantra meditation, herbal remedies and medicines.

• 2

  Change your diet. Reduce or eliminate meat, salt, eggs and fats. Follow a vegetarian diet that includes garlic, parsley and leafy vegetables. You can eat fruits, such as watermelon, and use clarified butter (ghee) as a fat. Eliminate caffeine and tobacco. Exercise on a regular basis.

• 3

  Take Ayurvedic medicines. Depending on the dosha type, your Ayurvedic practitioner may prescribe serpagandha and jatamansi for Vata, sandalwood and sarsaparilla for Pitta and arunja for Kapha. Take these herbal medications in tablet, powder or pill form for the period prescribed by the practitioner.

• 4

  Prepare Ayurvedic home remedies. Grind garlic into a paste and mix with buttermilk. Drink daily. Mix lemon juice with honey and drink each morning. Mix 1 or 2 spoonfuls of powdered cumin and fennel seeds to a glass of water. Drink this mixture twice daily.

• 5

  Use yoga and meditation to lower high blood pressure. The yoga posture called the Corpse Pose is beneficial in normalizing blood pressure (see Resources). While you are in this pose, you also can meditate on a mantra which your practitioner may provide.

• 6

  Practice pranayama or breathing exercises (see Resources below). Breathing exercises may reduce hypertension, anxiety and stress.

• 7

  Cleanse the body of toxins. Practitioners recommend abhyanga (massage with herbal oils) and pancha karma (detoxification by sweat baths and induced bowel movements) as effective treatments for this condition.