Purvottanasana for high blood pressure

NB: I'm not a medic and if you have high blood pressure, the first place you need to go is to see your doctor. If they agree that exercise might help - and they almost always will - then please use my videos and see what they do for you. It's always better to go to a teacher than use online videos but if you want to experiment with these to begin with, that's OK, that's what they're for. To get a taste of the benefits, and then you will go to a local class I hope and practice with a teacher. Purvottanasana (front of body stretch). This one is a bit more of a challenge but requires only a few seconds each time. You’re using your upper body to lift your torso off the floor from sitting, either with bent, or, if you’re stronger, with straight legs. Sometimes you have to re-create the sensation of stress in a healthy environment so you can learn how to deal with it. All the poses that build strength in Yoga work on this principle, and so does any exercise regime. You create 'good stress' and that makes you more resilient, more experienced in dealing with it in a healthy way (by letting go of anything unnecessary, by building up confidence in your own strengths) when you have to face challenges in less predictable situations. 1. You can start in Dandasana (sitting upright on the floor with the legs straight out in front, together) and if you're new to this, bend your knees and put the soles of the feet on the floor (when you get really strong, do this with straight legs, pushing the soles of the feet onto the floor - but it's tough!) 2. Lean back slightly with a straight back and with straight arms, wrists underneath your shoulders, put your palms on the floor. 3. Inhale where you are, lifting up your chest and as you exhale, push your hips up towards the ceiling. With bent legs, you'll push up into a 'tabletop' position, if you imagine the front of your body and thighs as the table top and your arms and shins as the table legs. 4. Take a few long breaths, lengthening the exhalation, and feel the effort, but relax any thing that doesn't need to hold (your face, maybe, or your jaw). Oh, and don't fling your head back - it's safest if you keep your chin tucked in a little. 5. To come out, just relax the hips back down and sit for a moment in the starting position. Pay attention to how you feel.