High Blood Pressure and You!

One of my readers asked about healing high blood pressure. You’ll read the results of my meditation regarding high blood pressure below, but first lets take a look at some research.

According to an article at: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/high_blood_pressure/article_em.htm, "High blood pressure has become the second most common reason for medical office visits in the United States."

Further this same article warns us:
"Important complications of uncontrolled or poorly treated high blood pressure include heart attack, congestive heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, peripheral artery disease, and aortic aneurysms (weakening of the wall of the aorta, leading to widening or ballooning of the aorta)."

So clearly, high blood pressure is not something wise for us to ignore. There are many physical causes spelled out quite well in this article form WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/blood-pressure-causes. I recommend reading this to see if there are any changes you need to make in your life that could be contributing to high blood pressure.

Many of us are now aware that studies indicate salt can contribute significantly to high blood pressure. (Some source as above.) So if you are a heavy salt user, that is one thing you can change immediately.

The two articles above also indicate that in 95% of the cases multiple causes may be involved and there are incidences in which no clear cause can be determined. This is where taking a look at the emotional root could be helpful.

Before I share with you what I received about the emotional root, I’d like you to consider this excerpt from medicinenet.com, http://www.medicinenet.com/high_blood_pressure/page4.htm: "The vast majority of patients with essential hypertension have in common a particular abnormality of the arteries: an increased resistance (stiffness or lack of elasticity) in the tiny arteries that are most distant from the heart (peripheral arteries or arterioles). The arterioles supply oxygen-containing blood and nutrients to all of the tissues of the body. The arterioles are connected by capillaries in the tissues to the veins (the venous system), which returns the blood to the heart and lungs. Just what makes the peripheral arteries become stiff is not known."

This stiffness is significant. Let’s consider what came to me in meditation and see how the symptoms (which I read about after the meditation) correlate with the spiritual guidance I received. "Energetically, high blood pressure is about stressful, unrealistic pressure you place on yourself. This pressure often leads to a sense of overwhelm, helplessness, frustration and exhaustion. Being too rigid (stiff) in your expectations, you find it difficult to trust yourself or others."

When I asked about what you can do emotionally to address high blood pressure, this is what I heard: "Give yourself a break. Relax your standards. Surrender your need to control, know the outcome or be right. Find compassion for the imperfections in life and notice all the imperfections of nature that actually make it so wonderful and relaxing. Discover the humor in human imperfection."

Let’s see how this compares to the intuitive wisdom of Louise Hay. She suggests that high blood pressure is about a "long-standing emotional problem not solved."

Let’s look at one more physical/emotional relationship. It is also believed that inflammation may be a predictor of high blood pressure. So if you are eating a diet of foods you are allergic to, you may be stimulating an inflammatory response by putting your body under too much stress. If you have toxins in your body, such as bacteria, metals, parasites, yeast, molds, or viruses, they create significant stress on your body.

Inflammation, according to Louise Hay, is about "fear, seeing red, inflamed thinking…Anger and frustration about conditions you are looking at in your life." In my experience the word itself tells the story: "feeling inflamed and angry about what you seem unable to do."

We’ve got a lot here, so let’s put it all together. Emotionally, you may be feeling frustrated, overwhelmed and out of control about your life. You are probably a bit or lot of a perfectionist and have little tolerance when your expectations are not met. You are rigid about your standards and therefore have a difficult time trusting that you or anyone else can meet them.

Your diet may include too many foods that are inflaming you (in parallel to the inflamed state you feel internally). You may not be getting enough of the right kind of exercise to keep you limber and relaxed. You may have too many toxins in your system, causing your body to inflame in response.

Many of us grew up in emotionally stressful homes where expectations for performance were unreasonably high. Many of us had parents that had no idea how to be with their frustrations, and so we didn’t learn proper methods for learning how to be with anger’s true lessons. Some of us came from families with rigid political or religious views and so we learned to hold on tightly to our perspectives. We ate sugary and carbohydrate-laden foods that critters such as bacteria, yeast, molds and parasites feed on. And we may also have learned very little about how to keep ourselves physically fit.

We grow up to work in stressful environments where the same habits we learned at home are repeated. Now, 72 million people in the US alone are diagnosed with high blood pressure. It isn’t really a surprise is it?

So what can you do?

1) First I suggest reading the articles mentioned above to see what changes you could make in your life-style, exercise and diet.

2) Give yourself permission and opportunities to get comfortable with a little more chaos, lower standards and no control. I know it’s really scary at first, but your health is worth it. Nature is a great place to learn about the wonders of chaos and imperfection because it is all around us, and we can actually find peace in its raggedy edges, unpredictable growth patterns, and erratic sounds. Read the second chapter of my book, “The Root of All Healing” for more ideas. http://misahopkins.com/bookstore/

3) A good bio-feedback technician can help you discover what may be causing inflammation in your body. Then you can choose an appropriate course of action for eliminating toxins and addressing food allergies that may be stressing your body.

4) Use the Creation Meditation to be able to hold your frustration and anger in compassion. Compassion naturally dissipates the charge and allows you to experience emotional clarity. http://www.newdreamfoundation.com/forums/index.php?topic=75.0

5) I have had two clients that have successfully used my sound medicine CD, Body Harmony, with appropriate herbs to reduce their blood pressure significantly. It’s a far-out sound healing CD, but it has been helpful according to my clients. http://www.spirittreasures.com/Body_Harmony.html

6) Most of all, laugh at life, as much and as often as you can. Notice that comedians make their livings out of poking fun at all of our “mistakes.” Without our foibles and imperfections, life would be so dull and boring.

You are probably a colorful and dynamic person just waiting to express yourself in wild abandon. You may need to do that one small step at a time, but enjoying yourself and enjoying your life in all its minute detail is a journey worth taking.