Can You Do Yoga With High Blood Pressure? Inversions, Medication And A GP Teacher’s View
Can you do yoga with high blood pressure? Yes. And some upside-down poses are taught because of it, not in spite of it. That surprises most people. The real question is not whether to do yoga, but which yoga, and how. Here is what a GP who is also a senior Iyengar yoga teacher says, in plain words. Last updated: 4 November 2026.
Yoga with high blood pressure: the short answer
Yoga with high blood pressure is safe and worth doing when it is the calm, supported kind. Reviews of dozens of trials found yoga lowers blood pressure, and the yoga that did best paired poses with slow breathing and rest. What changes is the mix: fewer fast, hot, straining poses, more supported and cooling ones, and no breath holds. Your tablets stay exactly as they are, and inversions with high blood pressure are not all off limits.
The article follows in short form:
- Yes, you can do yoga with high blood pressure, taught the right way.
- “Controlled” on tablets is still high blood pressure, so the care still applies.
- Never stop tablets suddenly: pressure can jump back up.
- Some poses wait: Warrior I, Sun Salutations, Headstand, strong backbends.
- Some help: supported Plough and Legs Up The Wall are recommended.
- No breath holds after the in-breath.
- Regular beats occasional: on and off practice can make readings swing.
Supported forward bends come first
Yoga with high blood pressure starts here: the head rests, the breath slows, nothing strains.
Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and LIVE online.
Who is Dr Arjun von Caemmerer?
Dr Arjun von Caemmerer is a general practitioner (a family doctor) and a senior Iyengar yoga teacher. In 2006 he taught at the Hobart Iyengar Yoga School and trained and assessed teachers for the national Iyengar yoga association, now called Iyengar Yoga Australia.
That year he wrote “Yoga and High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)” for Yoga Vaani (issue 86, June 2006, pages 15 to 17). Yoga Vaani is the journal of Iyengar Yoga Australia. The issue sits in the association’s members’ e-library.
His article was written for teachers. What follows is our summary of his main points, in our own words, with a few short quotes. Where we add something, we say so.
Is high blood pressure still high if tablets keep it normal?
Yes. This is his first big point. Many people think that once the tablets bring the numbers down, the problem has gone. It has not. In his words, students on medication with “well-controlled” hypertension “still have hypertension.”
Why does that matter on a yoga mat? Because the tablets are doing work in the background. Some of them dull the body’s normal quick adjustments. So the light-headed moment you might feel coming up from Downward Dog, or standing quickly from the floor, can be stronger when you take blood pressure medicine. In Iyengar classes we come up slowly anyway. With high blood pressure it matters more.
Australia’s own figures make the same point. The National Hypertension Taskforce found only about 32% of Australians with high blood pressure have it under control, and it aims for readings under 130/80 for most people (Medical Journal of Australia, 2024). Readings that stay at 140/90 or above count as high (healthdirect).
Legs Up The Wall: an upside-down pose that calms
Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani): one of the two supported inversions the GP recommends with high blood pressure.
Can I stop my tablets once I start yoga?
Not suddenly. Dr von Caemmerer warns that stopping blood pressure medicine abruptly can send the pressure sharply back up, and that this can be dangerous.
Geeta S Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter and a great teacher in her own right, put the teacher’s side of this simply. In Basic Guidelines for Teachers of Yoga, as he quotes her, teachers should “not disturb their psyche by asking them to stop medication.” Instead, she says, teach the poses that help, and let students build confidence.
That is how we work at Flametree. We never ask you to change your tablets. Your medicine is between you and whoever prescribes it. Our job is the yoga. Dr von Caemmerer’s own view, as a GP, is that anyone who hopes to use yoga to cut back their medicine should do it slowly, with their readings being checked as they go.
Is high blood pressure just stress?
No, and this one catches people out. He is clear that high blood pressure is not the same thing as stress. Stress can push some people’s pressure up, but many people with high blood pressure feel perfectly calm.
He also notes that high blood pressure usually has no symptoms. Headaches, a full feeling in the head and light-headedness are often blamed on it, but in his view they are often not caused by it. Most people find out at a routine check. Healthdirect, Australia’s government health information service, says the same: most people with high blood pressure have no symptoms.
So yoga for high blood pressure is not only about relaxing. It is about choosing poses and breathing that bring the whole system down a notch, day after day.
Supported Plough: recommended, not banned
Supported Plough (Halasana), with a bolster and props. With high blood pressure, the support is the point.
Can you do inversions with high blood pressure?
Some, yes. This is the part most people get wrong. Many assume every upside-down pose is off limits. Dr von Caemmerer says not. In his view, a pose’s calming or stirring effect on the body matters more than simply where the head is. So supported Plough (Halasana) and Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani) are positively recommended when blood pressure is high.
Others wait. He lists Headstand (Sirsasana) among the poses to leave out. The difference is effort. Headstand asks a lot. A supported Plough, with the legs resting on a chair, and Legs Up The Wall, with a bolster under the hips, ask very little. They quieten.
At Flametree these come in when your teacher can see you are ready, in their supported forms. That fits our Blood Pressure And Yoga guide, where Geeta Iyengar’s notes bring in supported upside-down poses after the calming work has begun.
Which poses wait, and which help?
His rule of thumb: avoid poses that over-stimulate or over-exert, and lean on the ones that cool and calm. In our words:
These wait for now:
- Strong standing poses such as Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I)
- Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar), the fast, flowing sequence
- Headstand (Sirsasana)
- Active backbends, where you push yourself up
- Any pose where you hold or restrict the breath
These help:
- Simple seated poses
- Supported lying poses, on bolsters and blankets
- Supported forward bends, with the head resting
- Supported Plough, Shoulder Stand and Bridge (Setu Bandha), set up with props
- Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani)
- Lying and gentle seated breathing, then rest (Savasana)
He calls these the “cooling” poses: the ones that switch on the body’s rest-and-digest side and quieten its fight-or-flight side. For a fuller list of poses, see our post on the best yoga for high blood pressure.
Poses that wait, poses that help
Yoga with high blood pressure, in one picture: calm and supported, never strained.
Supported Bridge: lifted, not pushed
Supported Bridge (Setu Bandha) on a brick: the chest opens while the body rests.
What did Geeta Iyengar teach for high blood pressure?
He points to the sequence Geeta Iyengar gives in her book Yoga: A Gem for Women. We do not publish sequences, because a sequence needs a teacher who can see you. But the kinds of poses in it are telling. It opens and closes with forward bends, seated and standing. In the middle sit Downward Dog, Plough, Bridge (Setu Bandha) and Shoulder Stand.
In other words, the head is low and quiet for most of it, and the inversions are there, but in their calm, supported forms. He adds a fair warning: it takes time and guidance to do these poses without struggle, even with props. A student who strains in a supported forward bend is not getting its benefit.
What about breathing?
Breath matters as much as the poses. Dr von Caemmerer says to avoid holding the breath in after the in-breath (Antara Kumbhaka). Holding and restricting the breath in poses waits too.
What he recommends is lying preparation for Ujjayi (the soft, even “ocean” breath), then Ujjayi itself, and Viloma 2 (a “staircase” breath, where the out-breath comes in small steps). All slow. All calming. Our post on box breathing explains why we leave breath holds out for anyone with high blood pressure.
Lying pranayama: where breath practice begins
Lying on supports, the chest opens and the breath can slow without effort.
The research backs this up. A 2019 review of 49 trials found yoga programmes that included breathing and relaxation lowered blood pressure about twice as much as yoga without them (Wu and colleagues, Mayo Clinic Proceedings). And in the one trial of Iyengar yoga for blood pressure, 24-hour readings fell within the yoga group over 12 weeks (Cohen and colleagues, 2011). The full research is set out in our Blood Pressure And Yoga guide.
Restorative poses quieten the whole system
A supported restorative pose: the “cooling” kind of yoga the GP recommends.
Why does regular practice matter so much?
Here he says something few people expect. In his view, yoga done irregularly and on and off for high blood pressure is likely to make readings swing more, not less. He says yoga can definitely help bring raised pressure down, but it asks for a committed student and an experienced teacher.
His summary of the goal is worth keeping: “minimise fear, maximise confidence and avoid harm.” He also warns that some students habitually push too hard, and that a teacher needs to watch for it, even in supported poses.
That is why classes beat going it alone. A weekly class, or two or three, keeps you regular, and a trained teacher can see when you are straining before you can.
Seated breath practice, chest lifted
Sitting backwards on a chair with a belt lifts the chest, so slow breathing comes more easily.
Yoga for high blood pressure over 50
High blood pressure gets more common with age, so many of the people who ask us about it are 50 and over. The same principles hold, and props matter even more. A stiffer body strains in a pose that a supple one finds easy, and straining is exactly what we want to avoid. Chairs, bolsters, blocks and blankets let you get the benefit of a pose without the effort.
Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist, Flametree Yoga Darwin, teaches this way every week, and so do our other teachers. Our restorative yoga classes and pranayama classes suit high blood pressure especially well. For the wider picture, see our heart health guide, circulation guide, stress and burnout guide and sleep and energy guide.
Always finish with rest
Every Iyengar class ends in rest. With high blood pressure, it is part of the practice.
Start yoga with high blood pressure at Flametree
Tell your teacher about your blood pressure and any tablets you take, and the class is changed for you. That is an invitation, not a form to fill in. Our classes run at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online across Australia.
- New, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price.
- Already practise yoga? The non-beginner half price pass.
- Free ebook: Cutting Stress With Yoga, with 2 free classes for new and lapsed students.
- See every class time.
Yoga with high blood pressure: questions people ask
Can you do yoga with high blood pressure?
Yes. Calm, supported yoga with slow breathing is well suited to high blood pressure, and reviews of dozens of trials found it lowers readings. Fast, hot or straining yoga and breath holds are left out. Tell your teacher, and the class is changed for you.
Are all upside-down poses off limits with high blood pressure?
No. Dr Arjun von Caemmerer, a GP and senior Iyengar teacher, writes that supported Plough (Halasana) and Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani) are positively recommended with high blood pressure. Headstand waits. At Flametree, supported inversions come in when your teacher sees you are ready.
If tablets keep my readings normal, do I still have high blood pressure?
Yes. Dr von Caemmerer points out that “well-controlled” high blood pressure is still high blood pressure. The tablets are doing the work. So the same yoga care applies: calm, supported poses, no breath holds, and coming up slowly.
Can I stop my blood pressure tablets once I start yoga?
Not suddenly. Dr von Caemmerer warns that stopping blood pressure medicine abruptly can make the pressure rebound, which can be dangerous. Flametree teachers never ask you to change your tablets. In his view, any cutting back is done slowly, with readings checked along the way.
Is Sun Salutation safe with high blood pressure?
Dr von Caemmerer lists Sun Salutations (Surya Namaskar) among the poses to leave out when blood pressure is high, because they are fast and stimulating. Warrior I, Headstand and active backbends wait too. Supported, cooling poses come first.
Is high blood pressure just stress?
No. Dr von Caemmerer writes that high blood pressure is not the same as stress, although stress raises it in some people. Many people with high blood pressure feel calm. Yoga for it works on the whole system, not just on relaxing.
How would I know if my blood pressure is high?
Usually you would not feel it. High blood pressure rarely has symptoms, and most people find out at a routine check. Readings that stay at 140/90 or higher count as high in Australia, and the national target for most people is under 130/80.
Where can I do yoga with high blood pressure in Darwin or online?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online across Australia. Our restorative and pranayama classes suit high blood pressure well, and every class is adapted to the people in it.
Sources: Dr Arjun von Caemmerer, “Yoga and High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)”, Yoga Vaani 86, June 2006, pp. 15 to 17 (Iyengar Yoga Australia), summarised in our own words with short quotes; Geeta S Iyengar, as quoted there from BKS Iyengar and Geeta S Iyengar, Basic Guidelines for Teachers of Yoga; Geeta S Iyengar, Yoga: A Gem for Women; Schutte and colleagues, National Hypertension Taskforce of Australia roadmap, Medical Journal of Australia 2024; healthdirect, High blood pressure; Wu and colleagues, Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2019; Cohen and colleagues, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2011. Blood pressure figures are current Australian figures, not those in the 2006 article.
This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online. Find us on Facebook.
