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Stress, anxiety and high blood pressure - Entry level question

PhaseSevenPhaseSeven
in Buddhism Basics
I'm stressed, I'm anxious and I have high blood pressure. Can anyone recommend types of meditation which you've experienced or know to be especially beneficial for these things? Specific methods of benefit.

For now I'm going to do the basic breathing, breathing in out from the stomach, focusing on the breaths and then the pause in between in and out.

Any methods to expand on that?

Comments

  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    Metta meditation.
    PhaseSeven
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Body scan and yoga. Jon Kabatt Zinn is a great teacher for this. He focuses on the body a good deal, whereas other books/teachers focus on the mind. People with all sorts of disorders have seen improvement including light or moderate problems and very serious such as heart disease, cancer, and AIDS.
    PhaseSevenlobster
  • PhaseSevenPhaseSeven
    Jeffrey said:

    Body scan and yoga. Jon Kabatt Zinn is a great teacher for this. He focuses on the body a good deal, whereas other books/teachers focus on the mind. People with all sorts of disorders have seen improvement including light or moderate problems and very serious such as heart disease, cancer, and AIDS.

    I'd never heard of that one. I'm lazy, so I like the sound of it - what with lying on your back and all. The only difficulties I can see is my cat will no doubt try to walk all over me while I'm doing it! ;)

    On a somewhat related question. In improving mind and body, quitting smoking, drinking and starting meditation, mindfulness and exercise. Should I put my exercise(traditional, like jogging, or something) before or after meditation, or space them as far apart as possible? Exercise is meant to a good way to get rid of nervous energy and anxiety also, so I'm thinking a good time to meditate is shortly after it, when my body and muscles are loosened up. But maybe I've failed to consider something.

  • thickpaperthickpaper Veteran
    Start with a simple seven-eleven type meditation for the stress and metta practice for the happy. That's my suggestion:) Oh,and maybe try 5HTP and a different diet. And longs walks in the country. And St John's Worth. Good luck.
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    A couple of things to consider. #1 the best time to do it is when it works for you. It doesn't do any good to say "I should do it at X time" when X time just doesn't work and thus means you don't do it half the time (whether "it" is meditation or exercise.)

    With that in mind, #2, meditation tends to be best done right away in the morning when the mind is still quiet and hasn't gotten on a roll for the days events. When you first wake up, you have a short time frame usually before your mind starts spinning, and if you can get into meditation in that time frame, it is usually easier and (for me) more beneficial. I meditate shorter times scattered through the day, but morning is my main meditation time.

    #3, depending on the exercise you are doing, your muscles tend to be the most warmed up and flexible later in the afternoon. So if you are doing strength training, this tends to be the most optimal time to do that. If you are jogging, or doing yoga, you have a little more sway in it, but if you choose to work out in the morning make sure you spend ample time warming up your cold muscles.

    #4 what works for me, or anyone else, might not work for you. Your body might be very different from the average body, and maybe you are best exercising, or meditating at 8pm or noon, or whatever. The only way to know is to try a variety and see what works for you but remember not to get frustrated in the process of figuring it out, sometimes it takes a while but is worth it when you find the magic combination :)
    Tosh
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    PhaseSeven said:

    Jeffrey said:

    Body scan and yoga. Jon Kabatt Zinn is a great teacher for this. He focuses on the body a good deal, whereas other books/teachers focus on the mind. People with all sorts of disorders have seen improvement including light or moderate problems and very serious such as heart disease, cancer, and AIDS.

    I'd never heard of that one. I'm lazy, so I like the sound of it - what with lying on your back and all. The only difficulties I can see is my cat will no doubt try to walk all over me while I'm doing it! ;)

    On a somewhat related question. In improving mind and body, quitting smoking, drinking and starting meditation, mindfulness and exercise. Should I put my exercise(traditional, like jogging, or something) before or after meditation, or space them as far apart as possible? Exercise is meant to a good way to get rid of nervous energy and anxiety also, so I'm thinking a good time to meditate is shortly after it, when my body and muscles are loosened up. But maybe I've failed to consider something.

    Experiment with the meditation and exercise timing.
  • footiamfootiam Veteran
    PhaseSeven said:

    I'm stressed, I'm anxious and I have high blood pressure. Can anyone recommend types of meditation which you've experienced or know to be especially beneficial for these things? Specific methods of benefit.

    For now I'm going to do the basic breathing, breathing in out from the stomach, focusing on the breaths and then the pause in between in and out.

    Any methods to expand on that?

    I just met a man who has high blood pressure. He took up cycling and is doing fine.
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    Excellent advice from everyone. Yoga nihdra and chanting (chanting gives the benefits of breathing plus extras such as acoustic healing which is used by cats and dolphins but not very well understood by science at the moment).

    If possible exercise, then meditation/chanting, then outstanding food such as porridge.

    Exercise is key to stress reduction. You could end up mellow and maybe even a buddha . . . :)
  • ToshTosh Veteran
    lobster said:


    Exercise is key to stress reduction. You could end up mellow and maybe even a buddha . . . :)

    There's dukkha in everything though; even exercise. I've been procrastinating about going out for a run for an hour now; that's stressful. My marathon is seven weeks away; I feel the pressure mounting!

    But back to the original post, I believe there is plenty of evidence to show that meditation reduces blood pressure but I agree with the members here who have suggested a more holistic approach with diet and exercise too.

    Mrs Tosh has had high blood pressure in the past and she is a super-fit lady; she runs at a fairly high competitive level, but the paternal side of her family have a history of high blood pressure.

    Maybe a glass - just one - of wine per night would help too? Or if you're currently drinking more than that; reduce it.

  • PhaseSevenPhaseSeven
    Thanks for the advice all. I tried some Metta meditation earlier, some simple breathing meditations too, I probably managed about 45 minutes before tiring myself out which was more than I expected.

    Someone mentioned acoustic healing? I had the cat sat next to my head providing the acoustic support :)
  • lobsterlobster Veteran
    Cats and pets in general reduce blood pressure.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    PhaseSeven said:

    I'm stressed, I'm anxious and I have high blood pressure. Can anyone recommend types of meditation which you've experienced or know to be especially beneficial for these things? Specific methods of benefit.

    For now I'm going to do the basic breathing, breathing in out from the stomach, focusing on the breaths and then the pause in between in and out.

    Any methods to expand on that?

    Maybe you knew this already, but the key is to slow the breath as much as possible. When you get good at this, you should need only 2-3 deep breaths/minute. That's what turns off the stress hormones, and turns on the parasympathetic nervous system.

    PhaseSeven
  • PhaseSevenPhaseSeven
    Dakini said:

    Maybe you knew this already, but the key is to slow the breath as much as possible. When you get good at this, you should need only 2-3 deep breaths/minute. That's what turns off the stress hormones, and turns on the parasympathetic nervous system.

    2-3 breaths a minute. Just guestimating for the here and now, I'm probably at about(not in my natural breathing but when doing the breathing meditation) 6 intakes of breath a minute, give or take 1 breath. Naturally, I'm a shallow breather, but I'd never considered that there could be a relationship between my short, shallow breaths and stress/anxiety hormones. Then again, I didn't notice I was a shallow breather until recently lmao.

    What's awesome with this breathing exercise/meditation is I can incorporate into my day to day activities, like sat at my chair pretending to work, for one!

    So we can cross off breathing meditation and metta meditation. I'll report back in the near future on how I'm getting on.

    Thanks for all the feedback people
  • PhaseSevenPhaseSeven
    lobster said:

    Cats and pets in general reduce blood pressure.

    When they're not stealing your food or scratching at your door at 4 in the morning :grumble:
    Jeffrey
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