Can Guided Meditation Replace Her High Blood Pressure Medicine?

Laura asks Belleruth about guided meditation for high blood pressure, hoping there is some guided imagery that could make it possible for her to reduce her intake of medication, with all the unpleasant side effects.

Question:

Do you have a meditation for high blood pressure? I am on too many meds for it, with unpleasant side effects ,and do believe it can be managed somewhat by meditation, visualization, etc. Thank you!

Laura

Answer:

Dear Laura,

Yes, we do, and you are correct: these practices – guided imagery and meditation - have been shown to reduce hypertension and, in some people, lower or eliminate the need for meds. It's definitely worth a try. You’ve got nothing to lose.

The Health Journeys guided imagery for a Healthy Heart directly addresses the physical and emotional issues connected with high blood pressure.

And Dr. Emmett Miller’s Down with High Blood Pressure also focuses his skillful hypnosis/guided imagery program for hypertension as well. :

In addition, any good general relaxation or stress relief program can reduce blood pressure if listened to regularly. Many cardiac patients who get fidgety trying to sit still to listen to guided imagery, much prefer the walking meditation track on our Relieve Stress guided imagery audio program.

I suggest you listen to some sound samples and start out with one or two. Give it 2-3 weeks of regular listening, a couple times a day, before determining whether or not you think this approach has legs for you. You can work with your doc or nurse practitioner to titrate down the dosage of your meds, to see if the mind body methods can do some or all of the work your meds were doing.

Best of luck and happy new year.

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