Arvind Morya1, Pradeep Dwivedi1, Sujeet Prakash1, Sahil Bhandari1, Kanchan Solanki1, Kalpit Jangid1, Anushree D. Naidu1, Sonalika Gogia1

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of various common mudras or asanas in YOGA on intraocular pressure (IOP) in healthy individuals.

Methods: 120 volunteers above 18 years of age, who were practicing various yoga asana’s/ exercises (Kapalbhaati, Anulomvilom, Shirshashna and Pranayam), each for 5 minutes/day (50 minutes. of yoga/day) for at least 5 days in a week, for total duration of 12 weeks and willingly giving consent were included in this study. IOP measurement was done at every 4 weeks before and after each asana by Perkin’s Tonometer.

Results: On pre‐post comparative analysis, all the asanas have significant mean decrease in IOP either at baseline or at 12th weeks of study, except shirshasana & pranayama, which increases IOP. On comparison of baseline to 12th week data, there was no statistically significant change in mean difference of IOP.

Conclusions: Lifestyle modification like optimizing the yoga postures and avoiding yoga asanas like shirshasana and pranayama can have significant impact in control of intra‐ocular pressure in the management of glaucoma.