World Yoga Day 2025: Can yoga really help ease chronic pain, diabetes and hypertension?

Yoga benefits: For conditions like arthritis, high blood pressure or diabetes, yoga is like a manual reset for the body, easing internal imbalances that lead to long-term illness (Image: Canva)

Chronic pain, diabetes and hypertension are common conditions that are often linked to your lifestyle; your daily routine, stress levels, eating habits and physical activity. These health issues require steady, long-term care. While conventional treatments like medication focus on controlling symptoms, yoga offers a more gentle and holistic approach. It works through both your body and mind, helping you move with ease, breathe more fully and feel more balanced.

With regular practice, yoga can ease discomfort, reduce stress and support your wellbeing in a lasting way, says Dr Brijesh Singh, Assistant Professor in Yogashashtra, Somaiya Vidyavihar University. “Yoga is not a therapy. It’s lifestyle management. It changes mind patterns and psychic habits to improve health from the inside,” says Dr Singh.

He adds that in traditional texts, yoga therapy is seen as a process of relaxation, regulation, realisation and rehabilitation. “This four-fold approach impacts the nervous system, improves immunity and shifts the body from stress mode to rest-and-heal mode,” he says, adding that "for conditions like arthritis, high blood pressure or diabetes, yoga is like a manual reset for the body, easing internal imbalances that lead to long-term illness."

Benefits of yoga asanas: Diabetes management needs hormonal balance and better metabolism. Yoga helps both (Image: Canva)

Modern medicine focuses on treating symptoms; yoga helps transform the system, says Dr Singh, “Targeted yoga therapy alters the flow of prana in the body and rewires physiological functions by regulating the nadis and nervous system.” This, he says, makes it especially effective for conditions driven by inflammation, stress and hormonal imbalance.

Dr Singh suggests the following tips on how yoga can offer relief and support for three common chronic concerns: pain, sugar levels and blood pressure:

Ease chronic pain through gentle movement and breath: For arthritis, fibromyalgia, or back pain, gentle anti-rheumatic yoga can loosen joints and reduce inflammation.

• Practice: Marjariasana (Cat-cow pose) and Supta Tadasana (Reclined palm tree pose) to release tension.
• Breathe: Nadishodhan and Bhramari Pranayama calm the nervous system and act like natural painkillers.
• Relax: Yoga Nidra activates deep parasympathetic healing, aiding muscle recovery and pain reduction.

• Practice: Dhanurasana (Bow Pose), Ardha Matsyendrasana and Setubandhasana to stimulate the pancreas.
• Breathe: Kapalbhati and Anulom Vilom improve insulin response and reduce cortisol levels.
• Relax: Even 30 minutes daily of yoga can improve glucose regulation, especially when done regularly.

• Practice: Postures like Matsyasana and Setu Bandhasana improve blood flow and relieve chest tightness.
• Breathe: Sheetali and Sheetkari Pranayama to lower body heat and reduce pressure.
• Relax: Add mantra chanting and meditation to regulate emotional stress and improve sleep.