Hypertension: Management Through Yoga

Dr. Ram Kumar Agarwal, born at district Rath Hamirpur,(U.P.). He is completed his B.A.M.S. in 2005 & M.D. (Swasthavritta & Yoga) in 2009 from Faculty of Ayurveda, Institute of Medical Science, B.H.U., Varanasi. Presently, he is working as a lecturer Swasthavritta in Government Ayurveda College & Hospital Gwarighat, Jabalpur (M.P.).

The author has published many scientific papers at various National and International journal, also has many scientific papers presented at various conferences/ seminar and several guest lecturers at various platforms.

In the present times a person is busy in attainment of comforts and luxuries. Due to which their health is neglected and resulting in the emergence of various lifestyle disorders like Hypertension is one among them. The book is aiming to provide the conceptual knowledge of Hypertension including its causes, symptoms, progression etc from Ayurvedic view point. It lays stress on Yogic treatment for better results. The practical lessons for performing Yoga are been mentioned for the better understanding of the readers. The successful findings of this book would have been incomplete without the study of classical and traditional concepts of Ayurveda in relation to Hypertension.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to my teacher and guide Dr. Neeru Nathani for having written foreword for this book. My teachers Prof. Manjari, Prof. Neeraj, Prof. B. M. Singh, Dr. Mangalagowri V. Rao, Dr. Shivji Gupta who were a constant source of encouragement and motivation throughout the construction of the book.

I solemnly thanks Prof. Ravikant Principal, Govt. Ayurveda College, Jabalpur, My seniors Prof. Ahirwal, Prof. R. K.Gupta, Prof. R.K. Tiwari, Dr. B. Mishra, Dr. Manoj Singh, Dr.Trapti , Dr.Vijay, Dr.Sarvesh and my friends Dr. Gopal, Dr. Prashant, Dr.Vimal, Dr. Nirmal, Dr. Pankaj, Dr. Rakesh, Dr. Shaival, Dr. Shekhar, Dr. Ravi Narayan Prajapati, Moh. Raza and specially thanks to my Co-author Dr.Nitin Pandey who have encouraged me to undertake this work along with the accomplishment of the task.

I have no words to express my gratitude towards my mother Mrs. Kamla Devi Agarwal, without her bliss this work would have been impossible, I express my humble regards to my elder brothers Mr. Rakesh, Mr.Sanjeev and Mr. Rajkumar for their constant moral support.

Last but not the least I would like to thanks my life partner Mrs. Mukta Agarwal and lovable Daughters Ojasvi and Shaurvi for her endless support and co-operation in this journey of book. I am expressing my gratitude to Mr. Atul Gupta and others family members of chaukhambha Oritenlia for having kindly consented to publish this book.

Beginning of 21st century brings gift of anxiety and mare stress far modern society. This stress and strain of day today life affects ones bodily organs through several psychological mechanism. Mare ever with the industrialization and civilization man has led himself in to the paws of a lot of diseases. Through with the advancement, the progress of medical science has helped us to conquer diseases like plaque small pox etc. But stress related diseases are rapidly increasing. Among the psychosomatic diseases, the cardiovascular disorder like hypertension is quite, significant disease.

Hypertension is a chronic disorder, posing a major public health challenge worldwide. Even a mild case with very few symptoms lowers the life span and decreases the quality of life of the remaining years. Hypertension may also be called as silent killer, as it does not causes symptoms until it leads to complications. Control of hypertension significantly decreases the cardiovascular and renal morbidity and mortality. Despite this knowledge large segments of hypertensive population are either undiagnosed or improperly treated.

Modern medicine is rapidly developing as instant relief medications, but the hazards of beta blockers, ACE inhibitor, CCB, Diuretics etc. anxiously turn the view towards the alternative modalities in the management of hypertension. Till now, there are no. ideal anti-hypertensive drugs available. They are accompanied with many kinds of drawbacks and contra- indications, hence it is the right time to discover and assess the role of other alternatives such as yoga and various systems of Indian medicine an Hypertension. World Health Organization (WHO) from time to time advises far mare researches new drug development programs including alternative medicine as treatment choice far vast majority of hypertensive patients population.

Hypertension : Management through Yoga Yoga is one of the oldest and most popular systems of knowledge in the treasure of Indian literatures. In the modern era yoga draws the attention of a large group of people due to its positive effects on health and diseases. Yoga is ancient Indian paradigm for harmonizing the body-mind complex. Asana and pranayama, the important parts of yoga, improve physical, mental and spiritual health. For the hypertensives, asanas, Pranayama and meditation are inexpensive, non- pharmacological techniques without any side effects and the patient can do it easily at any stage of life, with little training. Regular' observance of yogic practices may reduce the dose requirement of drugs or helps to withdraw the pharmacological therapies in the patients of hypertension. Due to the safety and efficacy of yogic practices, these can be incorporated in the routine treatment of Hypertension.

'Hypertension' (persistent raised arterial pressure) although, the handy literature is not observed in Ayurvedic classic, review of previous textual references and clinical works on this topic point out certain mode of involvement of dosha and dushya in the genesis of it. Most of efforts show a prime role of vata in association of remaining dosha pitta kapha. Also, Acharya Charaka permits to treat such disease without nomenclature by judging the involvement of dosha dushya only.

Ayurveda is supposed to be the oldest medical literature available worldwide. But no any disease in the Ayurvedic classics can exactly correlate with hypertension. It does not mean that the ailment was not obtained in those days. Certainly it was observed, but the descriptions are disperse here and there, in the classics; so it is a need of present time that we must group them together with addition of some new points. Charaka provides us opportunity to comprehend the nature of the disease by the detailed evaluation of vikara, prakriti, adhisthana and samuthana vishesha and to treat accordingly (Ch.Su. 18/42-45).