Ananda bhairavi and blood pressure

carnaticpriya · Post by **carnaticpriya** » 04 Apr 2009, 09:46

I read an article in the Hindu long tiem back about Ananda bhairavi ragam reducing hyper tension. I have been listening to the raaga for the past 6 months every single day and my blood pressure has dropped from 145/95 to 105/75 with no chane in the lifestyle or diet. Has anybody else also benefited from this ragam?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 04 Apr 2009, 12:24

Before the thread moves too far from the intriguing subject of this thread, I am curious about this relationship to blood pressure with AB. I vaguely remeber a discussion of that sort before. Since this is a common ailment, may be when the pressure is not far from the ideal range, people can try this for a few months before starting to take any medication. Even if it does not work, atleast you have got some great music listening enjoyment out of it.

( moved the general ananda bhairavi discussions to a separate topic )

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 04 Apr 2009, 16:21

We are very happythat your bp has come down considerably after listening to ab continuously for 6months. But before trying music therapy were you taking any medicines for bp and discontiued ?, My doctors advise that I SHOULD NOT STOP THE MEDICINE EVEN FORA DAY. But , I am77, even 160/90 is supposed to be normal.(of course with regular medicine). Aboveall, one's family circumstances,worries, lifestyle contribute to the increase or reduction in bp . if you are younger than me, my asirvadhams to you for a very happy, healthy , tension free life. Be enjoying ab. GOBILALITHA

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 04 Apr 2009, 18:21

I think it was Kunnakudi who made that claim - regarding his father.

I am certain that any form of good music (not just AB), TM, bio feed-back, yoga, prANAyAma etc. are all good to excellent stress busters, and can be tried for a few months (2-3 at best) in patients with mild elevations of their BP. But even if this doesn't work, and pharmacotherapy is required, these measures should continue, and form the basic underpinning upon which the drugs work. I simply do not understand the concept that dictates that once pharmacotherapy is initiated, all other non-pharmacologic measures are to be discontinued - classic and most prevalent being 'medical nutrition therapy (aka diet) and exercise' therapy - they cease to be followed once therapy with a pharmacologic agent is initiated for type 2 diabetes!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 04 Apr 2009, 21:43

Ravi: Does cardiovascular and some weight training help with blood pressure? If someone is already on medication to control the blood pressure, how does one know which this exercise is helping since as GBL said, the doctors caution not to miss the medicine even a single day? ( is that folklore even for those with a 10% elevation in BP from normal range? )

carnaticpriya · Post by **carnaticpriya** » 04 Apr 2009, 23:16

Thank you for your ashirvadham gobilalitha.I have been on medicines( mild dosage) for the past 1 year.
My blood pressure was 145/95 with the medication 6 months back and is 105/75 now with the same dosage.My doctor was threatening to increase the dose if i don't exercise or alter my diet to reduce my BP and that is when i started listening to Ananda Bhairavi and I am glad i did it. I plan to continue to listen to this miracle raga everyday!

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 04 Apr 2009, 23:40

Listening to various raagas and singing helped me recoup very fast from my open heart surgery 3 years ago. On a daily basis continuing to practice 2 hours of music and 40 minutes of high elevation treadmill walking at 3mph help me to control my blood pressure to 115/75. Of course diet with low sodium content must be supplementing the effort to reduce BP.

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:02

We had a thread about Dr. Satish Kumar in Coimbatore playing Ananda bhairavi to patients before and after surgery and finding out that the rAgam is effective in helping patients during and after their surgery. Our own Vidyaarthi is another vidvAn who believes that music helps in healing...

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:24

If stress is the underlying factor then relaxation is the appropriate therapy. Meditation will be very helpful as are yogic exercises (Savaasana especially). Any CM should help...

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:30

Arasi, the problem I have with this is that a truly blinded experiment to test these hypotheses is not possible, and so, bias is likely to enter into any of these interpretations. I have no issues with the fact that music as an entity helps, but to pin point certain rAgas over others is where I see the stretch.

VK: Certainly, any form of exercise will help someone with elevated BP (or diabetes). In fact, it is beneficial, even when it is not sufficient to induce weight loss; when weight loss occurs, the benefits get magnified. If someone on medications for hypertension or diabetes were to start on an exercise and diet program, I would expect their BP (or blood sugar) to start to stabilize by 6-12 weeks, and after that, with continued benefit, the dose of the medication can be reduced. The ultimate goal would be to get the BP (or diabetes) under control with just exercise and diet (it does happen rarely, but most people can't completely come off medication). What that means is that exercise and diet have taken the place of medication in controlling the individual's medical problem, and need to maintained at that intensity for the rest of the person's life.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:41

Thanks very much Ravi.

gobilalitha · Post by **gobilalitha** » 05 Apr 2009, 09:51

Suppose. I begin to sing different raagas to bringdown my bp, bp of those nearby may increase!!gobilalitha

karthikbala · Post by **karthikbala** » 06 Apr 2009, 18:24

carnaticpriya wrote:I read an article in the Hindu long tiem back about Ananda bhairavi ragam reducing hyper tension. I have been listening to the raaga for the past 6 months every single day and my blood pressure has dropped from 145/95 to 105/75 with no chane in the lifestyle or diet. Has anybody else also benefited from this ragam?

In the Hindolam episode of "Raga Vaibhavam", Sri Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan claimed the raga was conducive to fertility. He did not specify whether for the male or female listener or both. As my wife and I already have been blessed with twins, I request some other game forum members to explore this theory and share the findings with us.

chalanata · Post by **chalanata** » 06 Apr 2009, 20:01

carnaticpriya wrote:I read an article in the Hindu long tiem back about Ananda bhairavi ragam reducing hyper tension. I have been listening to the raaga for the past 6 months every single day and my blood pressure has dropped from 145/95 to 105/75 with no chane in the lifestyle or diet. Has anybody else also benefited from this ragam?

for me the reverse happens; when I listen to some artists my BP jumps from 100/70 to 145/95!

coolkarni · Post by **coolkarni** » 06 Apr 2009, 21:05

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 06 Apr 2009, 21:06

The issue is multifactorial and as Shankar suggests no blind trial is possible.

As again as some of your comments go the 'anandabhairavi' of one maybe the 'dukhabhairavi' for another which can have the reverse effect ; but then it will be of advantage for those suffering from 'hypotension' (Low BP)

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:25

Here in Coimbatore today, I had a chance to speak with a CM-knowledgable doctor at the same medical institution in which the study was conducted.

Apparently the researchers randomly allocated post-surgical CM-naive patients to an Anandabhairavi treatment vs. 'no music' control and found rapid rates of healing in the former. Still awaiting details of sample size and significance. I'd be curious to know how they would separate the 'A-B' effect from a 'CM in general' effect as there wasn't a non-Anandabhairavi CM 'placebo'.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:53

Interesting! Keep following it and provide jouranl reference when available.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 07 Apr 2009, 21:58

I wonder if the effect of Anandabhairavi can be generalized to effect of "calming music" or music that generally seems calming to most people (i.e. on the average). So, it may be similar to some of the flute music played in the far-east cultures (as well as flute music of native americans) - they all have a natural calming effect.

Arun

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 07 Apr 2009, 23:11

vainika wrote:Apparently the researchers randomly allocated post-surgical CM-naive patients to an Anandabhairavi treatment vs. 'no music' control and found rapid rates of healing in the former. Still awaiting details of sample size and significance. I'd be curious to know how they would separate the 'A-B' effect from a 'CM in general' effect as there wasn't a non-Anandabhairavi CM 'placebo'.

My point precisely. Also, was the investigator truly 'blinded'? If not, how can one truly believe that he/she did not subtly influence the outcome?

Shivadasan · Post by **Shivadasan** » 08 Apr 2009, 09:35

It is a well established and known fact that mental activity affects the heart and breathing. When the mind visualizes a situation as threatening it makes the heart to pump faster and lungs to increase the breathing rate. Thus mental activity is directly involved in raising or lowering the BP. There are many methods to control the mind viz., paranayamam, yoga, mantra japa, regular participation in satsangs and bhajans etc. All these activities help mind reduce the pace of its activity.
Listening to soothing music also achieves the same effect. Ananda Bharavi is intrinsically melodious and usually rendered in slow pace. Other ragas like Neelamabari, Punnagavarali, Sahana, Kuranji also might have similar effect. May be no one has tried it as yet. Even some good melodious classical pieces in piano and violin might also reduce mental tension. The more the person listens to music the less the mind has time to involve in its antics ! Music soothes the mind. That is the main point.

vganesh · Post by **vganesh** » 08 Apr 2009, 09:40

If I am right Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna has written several articles in "Kumudam" (long back) magazine about music and its curing effect on individuals.