Traditional Medicine in Asia

efficiency. 9,10 Carson, et al., investigated
the effect of a relaxation technique on
coronary risk factors and found that
relaxation had a significantly beneficial
effect on plasma lipids, weight, blood
pressure and blood glucose. 10 Carson
found that the use of a relaxation technique
might be considered beneficial in reducing
the risk factors.
Tulpule used yoga in the treatment of
myocardial infarction. 11 He found that
simple yoga postures and pranayama
(sukhasana, shavasana, bhujangasana,
matsyasana, etc.) were beneficial, when
taught to 102 male patients with
myocardial infarction who practised for one
year. The results indicated that yoga is easy
to learn; it needs no medical supervision,
and it can be practised at home as part of
a rehabilitation programme. Yoga
significantly reduced long-term mortality in
the yoga group compared to controls and
had a high rate of rehabilitation. Only three
out of the 102 subjects practising yoga died
during one year, while 13 of the 103
controls died. Significantly, no patient in
the yoga group developed any evidence of
cardiac decompensation or dysrhythmia
during the one year while doing the yoga
practice.
Generally speaking, yoga is taught in
conjunction with other techniques in order
to produce a synergistic effect. There have
been several studies showing that multifactorial
approaches have many benefits
and that one approach alone may not give
as good a result. 12,13,14
Jurek, et al., showed that the addition
of a behavioural intervention (biofeedbackassisted
relaxation) produced a decrease
in blood pressure beyond that associated
with the diuretic alone. 12 Ornish has
produced reversal in coronary artery
occlusion using a combination of yoga
meditation and intensive lifestyle changes
Fundamentals of Yoga
(10 per cent fat in the diet, whole foods
vegetarian diet, aerobic exercise, smoking
cessation, and group psychosocial
support). 15 Ornish showed that a group
who maintained lifestyle changes for one
year had a 4.5 per cent relative
improvement in the decrease of their
baseline stenosis, and 7.9 per cent after
five years. These figures may seem small,
but they translate into a significant
improvement in the person’s functioning.
L.Bernardi, et al., have shown that after
one month of training in yoga pranayama,
patients with chronic heart failure had a
significant improvement in oxygen
saturation and exercise perfor-mance. 16 In
chronic heart failure, impaired pulmonary
function can itself contribute to oxygen desaturation
and reduced physical activity.
Bernardi found that by slowing the
breathing rate to 3–6 breaths per minute
using the ‘complete yogic breath’ the
patients were able to reduce ventilation by
40 per cent, but increase oxygen
saturation, with a substantial improvement
in ventilation to perfusion ratio. The
method by which this is thought to work is
that deeper and slower breathing makes
more efficient use of the diaphragm with
no increase in respiratory workload.
Apart from its capacity to improve
physiology, yoga can be seen as an ideal
form of exercise for heart disease and blood
pressure when it is practised with a relaxed
mind, and appropriate to the situation of
the individual patient. All patients need to
engage in exercise programmes to
rehabilitate their hearts and blood pressure.
However, exercise programmes are
recommended for a select group of
patients, and there are definite contraindications
to exercise testing in-patients.
This may be due to the fact that many
people strain, because they have a fixed
idea of how aerobic exercise should be.
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