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electrocardiogram examinations, and if necessary X-ray examinations, because with these patients who were often old, there was an associated pathology, and we wanted to check the patients really well before asking them to practise yoga. We have also set up a group which I have followed up since 1980, for about thirteen years.
What yoga were we going to practise with the people who were there? At the beginning, I taught them the very classic yoga, as taught in Rishikesh. At the beginning of the session, I insisted on a lot of breathing practices. People who are stressed have very shallow breathing. That lasted for fifteen minutes. Then came the usual postures, and I finished with deep relaxation. Before and after each session, the blood pressure was measured.
Then I discovered yoga nidra with Micheline Flak, and it was at that time that Paramahamsa Satyananda came to give some lectures at Hospital Tenen. I appreciated the effects of yoga nidra so muchi in my own life that I was in a hurry to teach it in the hospital. The effects were remarkable. People with high blood pressure are often very stressed, and the effect of yoga nidra on the mind was especially beneficial.
Then appeared a new remarkable examination, the Holten, which gives a recording for either blood pressure or heart function. We used it for both, 24 hours non stop. This made it possible to include our yoga session within the 24 hours. We were able to see how the blood pressure gradually developed during the yoga session and which postures were the most effective to reduce it. We had the pleasant surprise of seeing that the minimal diastolic pressure went down after the yoga session. This was rather unusual as it is easier to lower the systolic pressure than the diastolic.
We continued to check our patients every three months, and then once a year. We found them to be completely transformed, not only on the physical level, concerning their blood pressure and the whole associated pathology, but especially by changes on the mental level. The lives of these people have completely changed, the way they live, the meaning they give their life. Some have even become spiritual seekers. This is, of course, very rewarding for us.
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