By Kimaya Singh and Faye Martins
Is power yoga for heart health a thing? Many people choose yoga because it offers a gentle, relaxing way to maintain good health without other workouts’ high intensity or jarring nature. Practicing yoga can ensure strong, lean muscles, proper posture and alignment, and better circulation. Although traditional yoga gets newly oxygenated blood pumping into the heart, it doesn’t typically raise the heart rate to levels that will make it stronger. Power yoga for heart health provides the best of both worlds: You get the benefits of all the traditional yoga postures while also getting a higher-intensity workout.
Flowing Yoga Sequences
Power yoga for heart health generally entails a series of poses performed in a smooth, uninterrupted flow. Breathing is integrated throughout the series of poses, and many poses are held for a specific period. Students must concentrate and focus throughout an entire power yoga workout. It also provides a way for toxins to be released from the body through sweat. The heart gets a good workout because the body is constantly in motion. Although Power Yoga may be overlooked when people consider types of aerobic exercise, one’s heart rate can be taxed just as much by a 20-minute sequence as by a brisk walk. A flowing sequence of yoga postures can be a good substitute for a walk on a rainy day.
Vinyasa’s Relationship to Power Yoga
Within power yoga classes, vinyasa is often used as a sequence of movements that helps to transition between different yoga poses. Vinyasa can be performed at various speeds, depending on the level of the class, and can be modified to suit each individual’s needs. Power yoga classes that focus on heart health may use vinyasa to help improve cardiovascular endurance. By performing vinyasa at a moderate pace, students can work on their breathing and increase their heart rate, which can lead to improved cardiovascular health. Additionally, power yoga classes that focus on heart health may also use vinyasa to help reduce stress levels. When performed at a slower pace, vinyasa can help to relax the mind and body and allow students to focus on their breath. This can lead to reduced stress levels and a lower heart rate.
Healthy Lifestyle
In addition to eating a healthy diet and avoiding cigarettes, exercising is crucial to achieving overall heart health. Many people struggle with finding the right exercise for them. Perhaps a previous injury keeps some from being able to run or do high-impact aerobics. The beauty of power yoga for heart health is that it is still a rather low-impact form of exercise. The poses are still gentle on the joints, but when performed as a flowing series, they become a great way to get the heart pumping. It’s no secret that yoga is good for your heart. In fact, any form of exercise that gets your heart pumping is good for your cardiovascular system. But what about power yoga? Is it as good for your heart as traditional yoga? The answer is yes!
Progression of Whole Body Health
Power yoga is an excellent way to keep your heart healthy. Like any other form of exercise, power yoga increases your heart rate and makes your heart work harder. This helps to improve cardiovascular fitness and overall heart health. Power yoga also has the added benefit of helping to lower blood pressure. This is because the deep breathing involved in power yoga helps to relax the body and lower stress levels. Stress is a major contributing factor to high blood pressure, so by reducing stress, power yoga can help to keep blood pressure in check. In addition to its benefits for the heart, power yoga is also a great way to increase strength and flexibility. As you get stronger and more flexible, you’ll be able to do more difficult poses and flows. This can help give you an even better workout and improve your heart health.
Inner Strength
Power yoga for heart health enables students to learn to use inner strength to keep moving through a series of poses. They learn to breathe deliberately by filling up the abdomen, lungs, and chest with each breath and slowly releasing it. This is a healthy way to release stress and anxiety while toning all of the body’s muscles. The heart becomes stronger as it continually receives new blood and works to pump it throughout the rest of the body. Power yoga might be an ideal exercise for someone who wishes to improve the strength of the most important muscle in the body: the heart.
Skeptical Viewpoints
While the scientific jury is still out on whether or not power yoga can directly impact heart health, some promising research is being conducted. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2014 found that practicing power yoga for just four months improved participants’ blood pressure and heart rate variability – two key indicators of heart health. While there’s no written guarantee that power yoga will improve your heart health, it certainly can’t hurt. We know that movement is good for heart health. Therefore, poor yoga deserves as much respect as any other movement-based exercise.
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Related Research
Cheema BS, Houridis A, Busch L, Raschke-Cheema V, Melville GW, Marshall PW, et al. Effect of an office worksite-based yoga program on heart rate variability: Outcomes of a randomized controlled trial. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2013;13:82.
Papp ME, Lindfors P, Storck N, Wändell PE. Increased heart rate variability but no effect on blood pressure from 8 weeks of hatha yoga – A pilot study. BMC Res Notes. 2013;6:59.
Vaschillo E, Lehrer P, Rishe N, Konstantinov M. Heart rate variability biofeedback as a method for assessing baroreflex function: A preliminary study of resonance in the cardiovascular system. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2002;27:1–27.
Tyagi A, Cohen M. Yoga and hypertension: A systematic review. Altern Ther Health Med. 2014;20:32–59.
The body is constantly in motion while practicing power yoga series posture and heart becomes stronger as it continually receives new blood and works to pump it throughout the rest of the body. Nice sharing!
Power yoga poses are still gentle on the joints,
but when they are performed as a flowing series, they become a great way to get the heart pumping. Thanks for this valuable article!