5 Heart-Health Benefits of Yoga

It’s no secret that yoga is good for your body and mind, providing benefits like better flexibility, increased strength, and improvements in energy and mood. There’s also growing evidence that it can be good for your heart.

If you have a heart condition, speak to your doctor about which level of yoga may be right for you. And if you're just starting out in yoga or have health concerns, speak with the yoga instructor prior to class. Your instructor can offer tips and modifications so you can get the most out of the class.

1. Yoga Gets You Moving

2. Yoga Helps With Stress Relief

While researchers haven't determined exactly how stress contributes to heart disease, stress can lead to an increase in behaviors and other factors that elevate heart disease risk. These include smoking, physical inactivity, overeating, and high blood pressure.

“Most stress-relief techniques involve some attention to breathing,” says Joel Kahn, MD, a cardiologist at the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity in Bingham Farms, Michigan, and the author of The Whole Heart Solution. “One of the essential focuses of all styles of yoga is awareness of the breath and being more mindful," he says. "So either explicit or implicit attention to stress reduction is inherent in almost all yoga classes.”

3. Yoga May Lower Your Risk of High Blood Pressure

“We know physiologically what yoga does is improve the parasympathetic tone in the nervous system,” says Shamita Misra, MD, an obstetrician at the University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia, who has also studied the effects of yoga on blood pressure. “It brings down the heart rate, and the less the heart has to work, the less steps you take, the stronger those steps will be."

4. Yoga May Soothe an Irregular Heartbeat

“There may be some potential for yoga to help in the treatment of people with afib to reduce the number of episodes they have,” says Robert Ostfeld, MD, the founder and director of the Cardiac Wellness Program at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.

5. Yoga Promotes a Sense of Community

After a heart attack or other significant cardiac event, many patients may feel a sense of social isolation and can even develop depression. “The patient may not feel safe or strong enough to go out and about,” says Dr. Ostfeld. “They may be confronting their mortality in a way that’s new for them. Or they may be coming to grips with that fact that they may not be able to do all of the things that they used to do.”

Yoga classes can provide a sense of community that eases these feelings of depression and isolation. “A yoga class provides a safe environment and connection with other people moving and flowing together,” Dr. Kahn says. “It’s hard to quantify the benefits of social interaction, but I think that if you take people with health issues, and if there’s a place they have that they feel at home, they are more likely to make healthier decisions.”

How to Choose a Yoga Class That’s Right for You

Interested in trying a yoga class? While there are many yoga styles to choose from, you don’t have to stick with just one. And diving into a difficult one-hour class to start seeing benefits isn’t necessary either, says Dr. Misra.

“You really don’t need that long intervention, because when I did my study, we found results after the 15 minutes of just yoga breathing,” says Misra. “But we don't have that information on what is the critical number in minutes of intervention with yoga that produces the positive outcome.”

• Hatha yoga, a branch of yoga that’s commonly used in the Western Hemisphere, refers to the practice of physical postures. Yoga styles like vinyasa, Iyengar, and ashtanga, to name a few, all fall under hatha yoga. Make sure to check with your doctor before starting any exercise program.
• Vinyasa yoga, also called “flow" yoga, focuses on the combination of breath and movement. Classes can vary from fast-paced and intense, like power yoga or ashtanga, to a more gentle pace that’s suitable for beginners or people who have physical limitations due to health conditions, like slow-flow or an alignment-focused class.
• Hot yoga is done in a heated room. Though many types of hot yoga exist today, the most popular — and hottest form — is Bikram yoga, which involves a sequence of 26 postures and two breathing exercises practiced in a room that is dialed up to 105 degrees F. People with certain heart conditions, or anyone sensitive to extreme heat, might want to avoid practicing this form of yoga as it may exacerbate health issues, Ostfeld says.
• Iyengar yoga is a form of yoga that focuses on body alignment through different body postures. It’s different from other styles of yoga because it uses props, like a chair, blocks, and belts, and can be adjusted to each person's skill level and body type.
• Kundalini, which means “coiled snake,” is a combination of breathing exercises, chanting, music, meditation, and movement. The goal is to "uncoil the snake" and unlock the energy from the base of your spine to the top of your head to awaken the seven chakras — places where your body stores energy. A more spiritual form of yoga, kundalini can be a good option for reducing stress and anxiety.
• Defined by a slower-paced style, yin yoga holds poses for five minutes or more, which may be challenging for beginners just starting out. This style is also meditative in nature and might suit those looking for a class that’s a little more physical than kundalini yoga but not as active as vinyasa yoga.
• Slow and peaceful in style, restorative yoga focuses on opening your body through long-held stretches that allow you to focus on the breath. Helpful props, like blocks, pillows, and cushions, are used to support the body in various poses. This restful practice is good for reducing pain and increasing mental well-being.