The reduced nonlinear low &bgr; tokamak magnetohydrodynamic equations are extended to the case of high &bgr;. A large aspect ratio ordering is used. The dynamics can be described using only three variables: the stream functions for the poloidal magnetic field and velocity, and the pressure. The equations are solved numerically to find two‐dimensional equilibria. These equilibria can be unstable to ballooning modes, which tend to grow to large amplitude in nonlinear, three‐dimensional computations.