Ms. Namita Nayyar
Is Kapalbhati suitable for the person suffering from Hypertension or not? Can you share an experience with your patient?
Ms. Fharzana Siraj
Kapalbhati is a rapid breathing technique and is like forced hyperventilation. Though kapalbhati is contraindicated for hypertensive patients, research says that systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate increase significantly during kapalbhati but when compared pre kapalbhati data with post-kapalbhati data; the increase was insignificant. This is what I have discovered in my practice too. In fact, gentle and monitored kapalbhati practice helps in reducing stress and emptying the mind of its thoughts (reducing the ‘vega’ or speed of thoughts). I have used Kapalbhati not at the beginning of pranayama practice but sandwiched in between two nadi shuddhi practices. This has helped many hypertensive patients get rid of their hypertension medications.
Ms. Namita Nayyar
How far does one’s diet influence yogic healing? Foods one should omit from the diet? Tips to follow when opting for therapeutic yoga?
Ms. Fharzana Siraj
Diet is the centerpiece of yoga’s sister science, Ayurveda. India’s traditional system of medicine characterizes foods based on their taste and makes dietary recommendations based on how foods with different tastes affect people of different constitutions.
For example, people with fiery pitta constitutions might be advised to refrain from overly spicy foods in favor of foods with bitter, astringent, and sweet tastes.
Hyperactive vatas, Ayurveda suggests, benefit from eating warm, nutritious meals on a regular schedule, emphasizing sweet, salty, and sour tastes.
Kaphas, with their tendency toward inertia, may be told to cut back on sweets and high-fat foods, opting instead for spicy, bitter, or astringent foods. Ayurveda’s analysis of diet is intricate and subtle but as a thumb rule and to make it simple one must follow the sattvic diet. In general, sattvic foods are ripe, raw, or lightly cooked and freshly prepared.
Foods that are old/stale or not prepared properly are not sattvic. GMO foods are not sattvic . Processed and fried foods are not sattvic. Animal meat is not sattvic.
The sattvic diet is high in nutrient-rich plant foods. It includes:
Sprouted whole grains, whole grains, Fresh fruit, Land and sea vegetables, nuts and seed milk, Cheese, Legumes, Nuts, Seeds, Sprouted seeds, honey, Herbal teas, and Ghee.
