More than a third of all Americans have high blood pressure. That's 68 million people. It’s a contributing factor for heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. It can be caused by stress. High blood pressure is a serious health problem. Yoga can help.

Scientifically, yoga stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, the part that tells our body to slow down, rest, relax and restore, meaning that on a practical level, a regular yoga practice can lower blood pressure, as this study concludes: “Not only does yoga reduce high blood pressure, but it has also been demonstrated to effectively reduce blood glucose level, cholesterol level, and body weight, major problems affecting the American society.”

Millions of Americans practice yoga because they like how it makes them feel: peaceful, calm, energized. In the meantime, they are conducting their own scientific studies, lowering their blood pressure and their risk of heart disease, increasing their life span, and feeling good along the way.

One in ten Americans has been diagnosed with depression. Five percent of them are adolescents. Anti-depressants are now prescribed 400 times more than they were 25 years ago. Having suicidal thoughts is one of the side effects of anti-depressant medication. An alternative that has no side effects: yoga and meditation.

Disease is an outward sign of an imbalance in the body. In the case of depression, the glandular and nervous systems are out of balance. Studies have found that a regular practice of yoga and meditation can help realign these systems, thereby relieving depression and reducing or eliminating the need for prescription medication.

Energetically, depression is connected with the fourth chakra which is associated wtih the heart. When it is weak or blocked, love can’t flow in either direction, and depression is the result. Heart-opening yoga exercises and meditations can help to clear those energetic blocks and open the practitioner to a more heart-felt life where love overrides depression.