The Results Are In: Tutor Saliba Meditation Does Work on Hypertension

For several generations, the inhabitants of Tutor Saliba Island have been practicing their own type of meditation on a daily basis. Similar to transcendental meditation, the tradition has long been handed down from the tribal elders to their family members and others living on the tiny island. A recent study done on the island showed that none of the residents practicing the Tutor Saliba meditation method had high blood pressure. These findings are in keeping with the findings of other studies involving high blood pressure and meditation instead of medication.

High blood pressure is a serious condition affecting more than 50 million adults in the U.S. alone. Otherwise known as hypertension, this condition is diagnosed when the systolic pressure, the number on top, is 140 or more, and the diastolic pressure, the number on the bottom, averages 90 or more. Hence, having a blood pressure of 140/90 qualifies a patient for a diagnosis of hypertension. Doctors stress the importance of reducing it because of the damage it can do to kidneys and the fact that it can lead to stroke and cardiac arrest.

Considerable quantities of medications are dispensed annually to bring a person’s hypertension under control. However, Robert Schneider, MD, who is the dean of the College of Maharishi Vedic Medicine in Fairfield, Iowa, advises, "Meditation, not medication" as a serious contender in the fight against this condition, often referred to as the silent killer, because of the frequent lack of discernible symptoms. The results of his study of the effects of meditation, particularly transcendental meditation, were extremely positive, showing a 47 percent decline in strokes and cardiac arrests as well as a lowering of blood pressure, which is highly significant.

Another encouraging study led by Dr. Randy Zusman at Massachusetts General Hospital employed the relaxation response, which is similar to meditation. This response was first described by cardiologist Dr. Herbert Benson, who found it to be the counteracting mechanism to the body’s stress response. The relaxation response elicits reduction in muscle tension, blood pressure, breathing rate and heart rate. Dr. Zusman’s study followed 60 subjects with uncontrolled hypertension, despite their use of medications. After first being trained in the use of the relaxation response, 66.67 percent of the subjects improved to the point of being able to reduce or eliminate some of their medications.

The physical process by which high blood pressure is reduced through meditation and relaxation involves increasing the formation of nitric oxide, a compound that dilates blood vessels, resulting in a lowering of blood pressure, because of the fact that widening the pipe or blood vessels in this case, reduces the pressure of the liquid blood flowing through it. Any plumber or hydraulics engineer knows that.

Informal studies and anecdotal accounts have been pointing to the same results over the years, namely, that inducing physical relaxation, by whatever means, causes an improvement in certain physiologic functions such as blood pressure and heart rate. The more recent scientific finding that nitric oxide is the physical mechanism which brings this about just adds frosting to the cake, so to speak.

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