Yoga guide
Low blood pressure is a reading below 90/60 mmHg. It often causes no symptoms, and if yours is naturally low and you feel well, it doesn't need raising. The trouble usually comes when you stand up: a drop in blood pressure as you get up from lying, sitting or bending can make you light-headed, dizzy or faint. In yoga, that means the moments between poses, coming up from a forward fold or getting up after relaxation, more than the poses themselves.
No trial has tested yoga as a treatment for low blood pressure, and no pose has been shown to raise it. What does help is plain: moving and squeezing your legs before and as you stand, keeping your head up, drinking enough, avoiding heat, and getting up slowly.
This guide shows how to build those into your practice, which poses and transitions to change, what to do if you feel faint, how to tell low blood pressure from PoTS and vertigo, when dizziness needs checking, and a free 25-minute class. Yoga goes alongside a check-up for dizziness or fainting, never in place of one.
The NHS defines low blood pressure as a reading below 90/60 mmHg; it doesn't always cause symptoms. Blood Pressure UK says naturally low blood pressure probably won't cause you any problems and won't need treating. Yoga can't, and doesn't need to, raise a healthy low reading.
Symptoms when you stand up or change position point to postural (orthostatic) hypotension. A brief, larger drop in the first 15 seconds after standing is common in older adults. In yoga, that means coming up from a fold, standing after lying still, standing still for long, heat and practising soon after a big meal.
Our searches found no trial of yoga, tai chi, qigong or breathing for low blood pressure or dizziness on standing. Small single-centre trials in India suggest yoga may reduce reflex (vasovagal) fainting, which is a different condition.
Crossing your legs and tensing your leg, buttock and tummy muscles raises blood pressure within seconds, and learning these moves cut repeat fainting from 50.9% to 31.6% in a 223-person trial. In small studies, moving and tensing the legs before and while standing reduced the drop.
The NHS advises drinking more water, small frequent meals, not standing still for long and getting up slowly. About 500 mL of water raised standing blood pressure within half an hour in older adults and people with autonomic failure. Heat makes standing harder, and blood pressure tablets and antidepressants are common causes.
No study has tested inversions in people with low blood pressure. In healthy young adults hanging upside down, pressure rose only while they were inverted, and coming back up is when the drop happens.
Below 90/60 mmHg, and only one of the two numbers needs to be that low, Blood Pressure UK says; the British Heart Foundation writes the same line as under 89/59. The NHS lists light-headedness or dizziness, feeling sick, blurred vision, generally feeling weak, confusion and fainting as symptoms.
Most people with low blood pressure have no symptoms, NHS inform says. It may be low because you're fit and healthy or because it runs in your family, the NHS says, and Blood Pressure UK adds that the lower your blood pressure, the lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
When you stand, blood pools in your legs and your body has to tighten blood vessels and speed your heart to keep blood going to your brain. In healthy people, systolic pressure falls by less than 10 mmHg. Orthostatic hypotension is a sustained fall of at least 20 mmHg systolic or 10 diastolic within 3 minutes of standing.
A brief, larger drop in the first 15 seconds after getting up, called initial orthostatic hypotension, happens only when you stand up actively, and cohort studies have found it in 25% to 70% of older people. Standing up triggers 3% to 10% of faints. That's why getting up, not the pose itself, is the risky part of a class.
Medicines: blood pressure tablets, antidepressants and beta blockers, Blood Pressure UK says, and medicines for Parkinson's disease and erectile dysfunction, the British Heart Foundation adds. Meals: in 13 studies (3,021 people), 4 in 10 older adults had a fall of 20 mmHg or more within 2 hours of eating. Heat: in healthy adults, heat stress made standing much harder to tolerate. Time of day: symptoms are most likely in the morning and after meals.
Some people develop low blood pressure as they get older. The British Heart Foundation calls it fairly common in pregnancy and not usually a cause for concern; our yoga in pregnancy guide covers the changes. Parkinson's UK calls postural hypotension common in Parkinson's; our yoga for Parkinson's guide covers it.
In postural (orthostatic) hypotension, blood pressure falls when you stand. In postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS), your heart rate rises by 30 beats a minute or more on standing (40 or more at 12 to 19) without that fall in blood pressure. Vertigo feels like you or everything around you is spinning, and inner ear problems are the most common cause.
Dizziness or light-headedness when you stand up or change position can be a drop in blood pressure (postural hypotension), not vertigo. Get up slowly, from lying to sitting to standing, and see a GP if you keep getting dizzy or fainting. Our exercise for PoTS guide covers postural tachycardia syndrome.
Our yoga for vertigo guide covers spinning and inner-ear dizziness.
We searched PubMed (18 records for yoga, tai chi, qigong, pranayama or slow breathing with orthostatic hypotension; 88 when widened to low blood pressure and fainting) and Europe PMC, and found no randomised or controlled trial. The nearest are a 10-woman pilot of lying-down yoga in ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome) with no comparison group, and a study in which yoga practitioners coped better with a test that pulls blood into the legs than non-practitioners, which can't show that yoga caused it.
Reflex (vasovagal) fainting is a different condition from low blood pressure. Two single-centre trials in India found fewer faints with yoga over 12 months: 97 people (about 1 against 4 episodes) and 55 people (about 0.7 against 2.5). A review of 4 studies (309 people) pooled about 2 fewer episodes and asked for better trials. None was blinded or compared yoga with an equal amount of attention, and a 157-person series mixed a standing yoga manoeuvre with fluids, stockings and drugs.
In the PC-Trial (223 people with repeated reflex faints and some warning beforehand), 31.6% of those taught counter-manoeuvres fainted again over about 14 months, against 50.9% with usual care. Crossing the legs while tensing the muscles raised systolic pressure from 65 to 106 mmHg during a faint brought on in a lab, starting within 3 to 5 seconds. In 7 people with severe orthostatic hypotension from autonomic failure, leg crossing raised pressure by 13 mmHg and squatting by 44. The Heart Rhythm Society calls the moves risk-free, but they don't work without a warning feeling first.
In 42 people aged 65 and over with orthostatic hypotension, at one centre and not randomised, 10 leg pushes against a band while lying reduced the initial fall in systolic pressure on standing up. In 13 young patients with initial orthostatic hypotension, tensing the lower body while standing up from a squat raised the lowest pressure by 19 mmHg, and 8 of 10 using it reported fewer symptoms. These are small studies, but they agree, and Parkinson's UK suggests pumping your feet up and down 10 times before you stand. They are the basis of our class.
In 11 people with autonomic failure who drank 480 mL of water in under 5 minutes, standing blood pressure rose from 83/53 to 114/66 mmHg 35 minutes later. In a larger study, systolic pressure rose by 33 to 37 mmHg in autonomic failure and by about 11 mmHg in older adults, but not in young people. Other drinks don't have the same effect, an expert panel says.
Leg and tummy compression bandages kept 90% of older people with orthostatic hypotension free of symptoms on a tilt table, against 53% with a sham. An automatic tummy binder matched the standard drug in 19 people with autonomic failure. Waist-high garments work best and knee-high stockings don't, an expert panel says. Blood Pressure UK says to speak to your GP first, because stockings aren't suitable for everyone.
Heat stress reduces tolerance of standing in every study, a review concludes. In a survey cited by a 2025 review of hot yoga, 60% of participants reported dizziness and 61% light-headedness. In one Bikram session, diastolic pressure fell about 10%, mostly in the floor postures towards the end.
No study has tested inversions in people with low blood pressure. In 18 healthy adults hanging upside down (not yoga), blood pressure rose by about 20 mmHg only while they were inverted, and in 40 young men a 2-minute headstand shifted heart rate variability towards the body's stress response. Coming back up is when the early drop happens.
Yoga breathing lowered systolic pressure by 2 to 10 mmHg straight after practice in small studies, mostly in high blood pressure, which isn't what you want here. In heart failure, 10 to 12 weeks of slow breathing didn't change the share of people with orthostatic hypotension. No study of breathing practices in low blood pressure was found.
Three small studies of strength training in older adults with orthostatic hypotension, none with a comparison group, disagree; the latest found it didn't correct the drop. An expert panel suggests exercise that doesn't challenge you to stay upright, such as a recumbent bike, rowing machine or swimming, being well hydrated, and care when standing afterwards. Strength is still worth having for its own sake (our reading).
Our editorial steps, from the NHS's advice to move slowly from lying to sitting to standing, Parkinson's UK's 10 foot pumps, the band leg exercise study in older adults and the lower-body tensing study; the counter cue is our yoga for vertigo class's.
See the movement on the 3D figure: Sit to stand, pushing on the thighs
Lie down and raise your legs until you feel better. If you can't lie down, sit, if possible with your head lowered between your knees, and drink some water.
Cross one leg in front of the other while standing, then tense your leg muscles and clench your buttock and tummy muscles. You can also rock up and down on your toes, or clench your fists. Keep breathing while you hold the squeeze, sit or lie down as soon as you can, and practise when you're well so the moves come quickly (our suggestions).
"If you feel dizzy or that you might faint, sit with your legs raised or lie down until the feeling passes." Tell your GP or Parkinson's nurse, and ask for your blood pressure to be checked lying, sitting and standing.
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If you feel faint, stop, lie down and raise your legs. Use the counter-manoeuvres if you can't lie down.
Slow breathing: 2 minutes, lying with your knees bent, in for about 4 and out for about 6 (our yoga for vertigo class's dose); take smaller breaths if you feel light-headed, as its page says. Ankle pumps and circles: 10 pumps, then 5 circles each way, each foot (our yoga for circulation class). Heel slides: 10 slow each side, pushing the heel away firmly (adapted from the move page's dose). Glute bridge: 2 sets of 8, breathing out as you lift, your head on the floor (our yoga for diabetes class).
Seated march: 1 minute, after rolling to your side and pushing up to sitting (our yoga for circulation class; adapted from the move page's dose). Seated calf raise: 15, heels as high as you can, then lower slowly (our yoga for circulation class). Breath reach: 5 breaths, exhale longer than inhale (the move page's dose), arms only as high as is comfortable. Thoracic rotation: 5 each side with 5-second holds, seated, arms crossed (our yoga for heart health class).
Sit to stand: 5 slow reps, squeezing your thighs and buttocks as you rise, then waiting with your hands on the counter (our yoga for vertigo class does 5 to 8; the squeeze is from the lower-body tensing study). Mountain pose: 5 slow breaths, twice, legs gently working, fingertips on the counter (adapted from the move page's dose); stand within reach of a wall if you get light-headed standing still, as its page says. The rest are from our yoga for circulation class. Slow calf raise: 2 sets of 10 to 15. Chair pose: 3 holds of 20 to 30 seconds, arms forward. Warrior II: 5 breaths each side, side-on to the counter. High lunge: 5 breaths each side, back heel lifted so your calf works. Tree pose: 30 seconds each side, fingertips on the counter. Standing march: 1 minute between poses rather than standing still.
3D demoSit to stand, pushing on the thighsBeginner · A bench or box
3D demoMountain pose (Tadasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSlow calf raiseBeginner · A wall
3D demoChair pose (Utkatasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoWarrior II (Virabhadrasana II)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoHigh lunge (crescent lunge, Ashta Chandrasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoTree pose (Vrksasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoStanding marchBeginner · No equipmentTable slide: 8 slow reps, a seated forward bend with a long back and your head no lower than your heart (our yoga for heart health class). Slow breathing: 3 minutes, sitting (our yoga for vertigo class). Before you get up at the end, march your feet and squeeze your legs, then stand slowly with a hand on the counter (our suggestion).
Headstands, shoulder stands and the plough: leave them out; no evidence they help low blood pressure, and coming up is the risky moment. Fish pose: its page says to skip it with uncontrolled high or low blood pressure. Forward folds and downward dog: keep your head at or above your heart, with hands on a wall or chair, or come up in stages with your knees bent and legs squeezing; the wide-legged fold's page says to come up slowly if you feel dizzy. Sun salutations repeat the fold-to-stand moment many times: do fewer rounds, slowly, with half folds, or leave them out on bad days (our suggestion). Legs up the wall: keep it if you like it, but come out slowly, rolling to your side and sitting for a moment before you stand, as its page says, and pump your feet first. Box and 4-7-8 breathing: leave out the breath holds, which can bring on light-headedness, as their pages say. Hot yoga: avoid it while you have symptoms.
3D demoSupported headstand (Salamba Sirsasana)Expert · A wall
3D demoSupported shoulderstand (Salamba Sarvangasana)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoPlow pose (Halasana)Advanced · No equipment
3D demoFish pose (Matsyasana)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoHip hinge foldBeginner · No equipment
3D demoWide-legged standing forward fold (Prasarita Padottanasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoDownward-facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSun salutation A (Surya Namaskar A)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoLegs up the wall (Viparita Karani)Beginner · A wall
3D demoBox breathingBeginner · No equipment
3D demo4-7-8 breathingBeginner · No equipmentOur suggestion: drink a glass of water before class, from the NHS's advice to increase the amount of water you drink and the water studies above. Blood Pressure UK suggests around 2 litres a day. With a heart condition or a daily fluid limit, check with your doctor first, as the British Heart Foundation says.
Eat small, frequent meals, as the NHS advises, and don't practise straight after a big meal. If mornings are your worst time, practise later in the day, and stand up slowly first thing, as NHS inform suggests (our suggestion on timing).
An expert panel advises people with orthostatic hypotension to avoid exercising in heat and humidity, hot tubs and saunas. The hot yoga review says to stop and leave the heat at once for dizziness, headaches or nausea.
An expert panel suggests extra salt for some people with orthostatic hypotension from nerve damage, adding that its long-term risks haven't been well studied, and NHS inform says a professional may look at your salt intake. Our suggestion, as in our PoTS guide: don't add salt unless your doctor advises it.
Some people feel light-headed when they stand up, especially after starting or changing blood pressure medicines. Roll to your side and sit for a few breaths before you stand; the NHS advises people with low blood pressure to "move slowly from lying to sitting to standing". If it keeps happening, see your GP.
Our suggestion: never stop or change a medicine yourself. Tell your GP or pharmacist, who can check your blood pressure lying and standing, as our yoga for Parkinson's guide asks.
Do every standing part next to a counter or wall, and the whole class seated on bad days (our suggestion). Our yoga for seniors and chair yoga guides have more seated options.
Our 25-minute yoga for low blood pressure class goes from lying to sitting to standing at a counter and back to sitting, with leg pumps and a squeeze before every stand. Its structure is our editorial choice, built on small studies; no trial has tested it. Do it 2 or 3 times a week and on any day you feel well (our editorial starting point). The vertigo and circulation classes are also head-up; the chair classes suit bad days.
A 25-minute head-up yoga class for low blood pressure: leg pumps lying and sitting, a squeeze as you stand, and standing poses at a counter.
25 minBeginner17 movesA bench or box, A wallA 20-minute yoga class for people who get dizzy: slow breathing and spine moves sitting down, then strength and balance at a counter, with no head-down poses.
20 minBeginner15 movesA bench or box, A wallTwenty minutes of yoga for blood flow in your legs and feet: ankle pumps and calf raises, standing poses that make your legs work, and a rest with your legs up.
20 minBeginner14 movesA bench or box, A wallA free 20-minute chair yoga class for older adults: slow breathing, gentle seated stretches and twists, standing poses holding the chair, and a calm finish.
20 minBeginner18 movesA bench or box, Something with weightA 15-minute chair yoga routine done entirely sitting: slow breathing, neck, shoulder and wrist stretches, seated twists and side bends, and a calm finish.
15 minBeginner16 movesA bench or boxA gentle 35-minute yoga class for heart conditions: a 15-minute warm-up that builds slowly, short standing poses, a seated cool-down, breathing with no holds and rest.
35 minBeginner18 movesA bench or box, A wallThese are the warning signs from our PoTS, high blood pressure, ME/CFS, vertigo and Parkinson's guides and our yoga guides, word for word, apart from the lines marked as our suggestion or given as the NHS's words. This is general information, not a diagnosis. A&E means accident and emergency; in the US, call 911 for 999.
Call 999 if someone has any of these, and don't drive yourself to A&E:
Call 999 if:
That isn't low blood pressure. The NHS says to call 999 or go to A&E for vertigo with "double vision or loss of vision", "hearing loss", "trouble speaking" or "leg or arm weakness, numbness or tingling". Our yoga for vertigo guide has the rest.
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The NHS says to see a GP if "you keep getting symptoms of low blood pressure such as dizziness and fainting". Our guides add:
The NHS: "You must tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) if you're fainting regularly as it could affect your ability to drive."
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Come out of any pose and sit down if you feel dizzy or light-headed, and get medical advice before you train again, as the list above says. Sudden blurred vision, loss of sight or a severe headache is a 999 sign, even if it stops. Keep breathing in every pose, get up slowly from the floor, and leave a hot room if you feel dizzy, sick or get a headache (our suggestions).
With glaucoma, or high blood pressure that isn't under control, skip headstands, shoulder stands and long head-down holds. With osteoporosis, swap deep forward folds for a flat-back hinge from the hips, and twist smoothly. In pregnancy, our yoga in pregnancy guide covers the changes. NCCIH advises beginners to avoid headstands, shoulder stands, the lotus position and forceful breathing.
Call 999 or go to A&E (accident and emergency) straight away for severe difficulty breathing (gasping, choking or not able to get words out), a chest that feels tight or heavy, pain that spreads to your arms, back, neck and jaw, lips or skin turning very pale, blue or grey, or sudden confusion. If you're more short of breath than usual, or your heart is racing, fluttering or skipping beats, contact NHS 111.
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A joint pain that is sharp, gets worse during a session, lingers into the next day or changes how you move is a reason to use an easier version, and to see a GP or physiotherapist if it keeps happening (the rule in our plans). Muscle soreness for a day or two after something new is normal. In a hot class, stop if you feel dizzy, sick or unwell; our hot yoga guide lists the signs of heat illness.
You can say no to any hands-on adjustment, and a teacher registered with Yoga Alliance must get your explicit consent each time.
The NHS advises getting advice from a healthcare professional first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or have recently had a heart attack or an operation.
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No study has tested inversions in people with low blood pressure. In healthy adults, pressure rose only while they were upside down, and coming up is when the early drop happens. Fish pose's page already says to skip it with uncontrolled low blood pressure.
No trial of yoga for low blood pressure or orthostatic hypotension exists, and naturally low blood pressure without symptoms doesn't need curing.
No study was found in people with low blood pressure. Breathing practices lowered blood pressure briefly in the trials, mostly in high blood pressure, and fast breathing can make you light-headed: the slow breathing page says that if you feel dizzy, light-headed or tingly, you're probably breathing too deeply.
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Dizziness on standing is usually a fall in blood pressure. The advice is to sit or lie down with your legs raised until it passes, and the NHS says to see a GP if it keeps happening.
Heat reduces your tolerance of standing, and about 6 in 10 hot yoga participants in one survey reported dizziness or light-headedness.
Blood Pressure UK: "If your blood pressure is naturally low, this probably won't cause you any problems and won't need treating."
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Fit, healthy people can have low blood pressure, and the brief drop on standing happens in young people too: the patients in the lower-body tensing study had a median age of 27.
Yoga can be done safely with low blood pressure if you change how you move between poses, but no trial has tested yoga as a treatment for it. The parts to change are getting up from lying or from a forward fold, standing still for long, and heat. Our 25-minute class builds the changes in.
Poses that keep your legs working with your head up, such as chair pose, warrior II, high lunge and calf raises at a counter, plus leg pumps before you stand. No pose has been shown to raise low blood pressure on its own.
Headstands, shoulder stands and long head-down holds, and coming up quickly from forward folds, downward dog or lying down. Change them rather than giving up yoga: come up in stages, with your legs squeezing.
Not in a lasting way that has been measured. Crossing your legs and tensing your leg muscles raise it within seconds, and that's worth learning; upside-down poses raise it only while you're upside down.
Usually it's a drop in blood pressure as you stand up after lying or folding forward, made worse by heat, not drinking enough or a big meal. Sit or lie down with your legs raised until it passes. If the room spins, see our yoga for vertigo guide; if it keeps happening, see a GP.
We'd avoid it while you get symptoms: heat reduces your tolerance of standing, and about 6 in 10 hot yoga participants in one survey reported dizziness. If you do go, drink beforehand, leave the room if you feel dizzy, sick or get a headache, and get up slowly.
None has been tested for it. Slow, easy breathing is fine, but fast, forceful breathing such as kapalbhati can make you light-headed, so leave it out.
Lie down and raise your legs until you feel better; if you can't, sit with your head between your knees, or cross your legs and squeeze your leg, buttock and tummy muscles. Call 999 if someone faints while exercising or can't be woken within a minute.
Yes, with the same changes: head up, legs working, slow transitions, a glass of water first, and a chair or counter near you. If it comes from Parkinson's, diabetes or a medicine, the matching guide and your doctor come first.
A glass of water beforehand is sensible: about 500 mL raised standing blood pressure within half an hour in older adults and people with autonomic failure. Don't add salt unless your doctor advises it, and check before drinking more if you have a heart condition or a fluid limit.
In low blood pressure on standing, the pressure falls; in PoTS, the heart races by 30 or more beats a minute without that fall; vertigo is a spinning feeling, usually from the inner ear. Our exercise for PoTS and yoga for vertigo guides cover those.
Exercise that doesn't challenge you to stay upright, such as a recumbent bike, rowing or swimming, is the expert advice for orthostatic hypotension, with fluids first and care when standing afterwards. Strength training is good for you but hasn't been shown to correct the drop.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition such as glaucoma, high blood pressure or osteoporosis, or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
