One thing I feel strongly about is that there is no one way when it comes to treating an ailment. When you need help go and get it. Start with common sense if you have an accident or are injured or very ill go first to the emergency room. If you are catching something take an allopathic doctor's appointment.
Once you have your allopath's opinion and his treatment has commenced then if you are unsatisfied look at other means to heal yourself in CONJUNCTION with what is prescribed by your allopath. There are so very many alternative therapies and holistic treatments ranging form alternative medications like homeopathy and ayurveda to the energy therapies like reikhi, pranic, theta healing and physical therapies like yoga, acupuncture, acupressure, cupping etc. Try them out see what feels good for and to you and just do it.
Most people would think if a qualified, certified and experienced yoga therapist, pranic healing instructor, theta practicing intuitive therapist like me writes this there has to be a catch, well there is none. I honestly think allopathic medicine is great at treating the physical body and known ailments and illnesses. It is also great for zapping our known bacteria and some viruses and it works for the most part rather quickly compared to some alternative therapies, but there are huge drawbacks and risks too.
The most common therapy offered by allopaths are drugs, although they do help in pain management and do whatever they are supposed to do they zap us of a lot of what is natural and healthy within our physical body as well which in turn saps us of our energies. A dramatic example of this is chemotherapy, which kills cancer cells, but also ends up murdering lots of our healthy cells that cause havoc within the physical body apart form the obvious vomiting, hair loss, pain and weakness.
Allopathy has a poor track record of guaranteeing a permanent solution for ailments because allopathic diagnosis starts and stops with the body. Allopathy fails to recognise the power of thoughts, emotions, feelings and even if you consider that all airy fairy allopaths do not take into consideration one's mental state.
If pushed and they are unable to make a clear diagnosis allopaths label patients as hypochondriacs and dismiss what is wrong with them or they go with the nearest an allopath does to acknowledging a ones mind and shunt their patient off to the pariah of allopathic thought the psychotherapist!
The issue is not simply one of arrogance or ego it is simply ignorance or the inability to accept the frontiers of health lye beyond the physical human body. Allopathic diagnosis starts and stops with the physical body and its components. An alternative therapist is just not limited. If necessary they start with the physical body and then go to consider every possible phenomena that the individual is exposed to and experiencing right from diet to feelings, thoughts, beliefs etc.
An alternative therapist will actually weigh all those factors too our and get to the root issue which when resolved will permanently cure one of their ailment. Unfortunately most people only come to an alternative therapist when their condition is so chronic it reflects in the physical body. At that stage it is crucial for the patient to see an allopathic practitioner in conjunction with their alternative healer. Holistic and alternative therapies when used in together bring about an extremely speedy recovery.
It is always a good idea to keep both your Allopathic and other healer updated on what the other is doing. In some cases your Doctor may advise against something prescribed by your other healer. As a highly qualified, certified and experienced Alternative and Holistic Therapist I always say stick to what your medical professional says!
If you are consulting a homeopath or an ayurvedic or any other type of therapist who gives a prescription do bear in mind that regardless of their title as Dr. they are alternative physicians. You do ALSO need to consult an allopath depending on the severity of your ailment. If your allopath has recommended prescription drugs you may be able to use alternative prescriptions at the same time but it is crucial to consult with your alternative physician before you start using allopathic drugs as to how you should continue with their prescription or alter it.
Saturday, 4 June 2011
Monday, 16 May 2011
Healing Boutique: Parenting - a question of Love or Fear
Something to mull over, how were you parented through love or fear? How do you parent your kids? What is the spiritual role of parents?
Parenting - a question of Love or Fear
I heard an unusual story yesterday that really make an impression on me. A friend told me of an acquaintence who decided to elope who informed her local police station about her wedding before her family as she was terrified that she and her husband may become victims of an honour killing. To me this sounded like a tale from deepest darkest Afganistan in what other place would a girl be so terrified of the people who conceived, nurtured, loved, protected and invested time and money on her for 30 years. I now know it happens everywhere and such a threat has nothing to do with Mullas or religion at all.
The gentleman the lady in question had eloped with, apart from some degree of financial disparity, was of the same in religion, class, cast and as a couple they could infact be considered as socially very compatible. The lady in question is educated as is her family they live not in cave or a tent but a codo in a city with running water, electricity and all the amenities that normal people enjoy. She does not wear pardah or any head scarf at all. She even wears a swim suit when she swims!
So when such a lady goes to the police and informs them she fears her life from her parents it really makes no sense as there is no issue between the lady and her previously loving, caring parents other then the fact that their social conditioned ego had been punctured by her decision to choose her own husband.
It is the norm in certain cultures to for family elders to make every conceivable decision that relates to their child's existence in any way. This is severely compounded in case of women in most Eastern cultures. I had no idea how very strong and potent this was until a few years ago when I met a lovely lady of Asian origin who lived in London who was disowned by her family for leaving her head uncovered and choosing to cut off her hair in order to fit into English society.
As I reflected on these stories of these women I realised that we condition ourselves to accept certain idiocyncratic behaviours and beliefs presented by society. Most men love to assume the mantel of supreme controller of their families it is a powerful feeling which makes them feel wanted and important. Men feel this is a priviledge that they deserve as they are the bread winners of the family. Although today most women contribute to the family coffers as well the belief that the man is the one in control is firmly maintained even if he earns less then the women of the house.
What happens when the control such a man has over his family challenged? Does he dispose of his errant (in his belief system) child or does the accept his child's decision which will cause him great discomfort as his ego will be injured? It is hard to say as there is no statistical mean formulae or precedent here as these matters are private. Everything evolves on a case by case basis. Howeverthere is always choice, the choice is love over ego.
Most of us fail to remember that a soul chooses us to be their parent to learn lessons in the physical form to attain some advancement on a spiritual level. Parenting is a privilege and not a chore. So how we parent should reflect that great honour of being a parent. Unfortunately once an ego gets in the way instead of guiding and teaching one's child through love one switches to bullying one's child and getting their child to function through fear. This is the case with most parents who worry about loosing face. In such cases the honour is lost, the honour of parenting that is to the ego. Such are the parents their progeny to conform with their belief systems whether right, wrong, relevant, outdated or even just morally reprehensible.
Once in a while parents who function on the level of love also get seduced by their egos, be it in fits and starts, to scare their children to conform with what is socially acceptable. To love unconditionally and keep teaching and guiding with that level of commitment and love is a task that God is capable of doing and does. When we become parents though this is what is expected of us as we undertake a huge spiritual responsibility towards our children. As our children have honoured us as their guides to to learn to live which in turn enables them to learn their life lessons would it not be fantastic if we can teach them of love and through love rather then through the fears rooted in Ego and self?
The gentleman the lady in question had eloped with, apart from some degree of financial disparity, was of the same in religion, class, cast and as a couple they could infact be considered as socially very compatible. The lady in question is educated as is her family they live not in cave or a tent but a codo in a city with running water, electricity and all the amenities that normal people enjoy. She does not wear pardah or any head scarf at all. She even wears a swim suit when she swims!
So when such a lady goes to the police and informs them she fears her life from her parents it really makes no sense as there is no issue between the lady and her previously loving, caring parents other then the fact that their social conditioned ego had been punctured by her decision to choose her own husband.
It is the norm in certain cultures to for family elders to make every conceivable decision that relates to their child's existence in any way. This is severely compounded in case of women in most Eastern cultures. I had no idea how very strong and potent this was until a few years ago when I met a lovely lady of Asian origin who lived in London who was disowned by her family for leaving her head uncovered and choosing to cut off her hair in order to fit into English society.
As I reflected on these stories of these women I realised that we condition ourselves to accept certain idiocyncratic behaviours and beliefs presented by society. Most men love to assume the mantel of supreme controller of their families it is a powerful feeling which makes them feel wanted and important. Men feel this is a priviledge that they deserve as they are the bread winners of the family. Although today most women contribute to the family coffers as well the belief that the man is the one in control is firmly maintained even if he earns less then the women of the house.
What happens when the control such a man has over his family challenged? Does he dispose of his errant (in his belief system) child or does the accept his child's decision which will cause him great discomfort as his ego will be injured? It is hard to say as there is no statistical mean formulae or precedent here as these matters are private. Everything evolves on a case by case basis. Howeverthere is always choice, the choice is love over ego.
Most of us fail to remember that a soul chooses us to be their parent to learn lessons in the physical form to attain some advancement on a spiritual level. Parenting is a privilege and not a chore. So how we parent should reflect that great honour of being a parent. Unfortunately once an ego gets in the way instead of guiding and teaching one's child through love one switches to bullying one's child and getting their child to function through fear. This is the case with most parents who worry about loosing face. In such cases the honour is lost, the honour of parenting that is to the ego. Such are the parents their progeny to conform with their belief systems whether right, wrong, relevant, outdated or even just morally reprehensible.
Once in a while parents who function on the level of love also get seduced by their egos, be it in fits and starts, to scare their children to conform with what is socially acceptable. To love unconditionally and keep teaching and guiding with that level of commitment and love is a task that God is capable of doing and does. When we become parents though this is what is expected of us as we undertake a huge spiritual responsibility towards our children. As our children have honoured us as their guides to to learn to live which in turn enables them to learn their life lessons would it not be fantastic if we can teach them of love and through love rather then through the fears rooted in Ego and self?
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Accepting the inevitable...Humans Change!
The one thing you can count on in a human being is his or her ability to change. It is not ironic its a fact. We change in every single way imaginable. Superficially we change our hairstyles, make-up, clothes, shoes etc. Physically we grow as per our genetic make up, emotionally and mentally we constantly alter our perceptions, thoughts and are ability to deal and handle situations.
We actually have the potential to change in every second of every day as we process millions of thoughts through our mind, which produce numerous emotional and psychological changes. Those in turn trigger our nervous system which causes the release of hormones and other physical bodily reactions. In this way our physical state also probably unknown to us to some extend does change constantly too.
There are a few things which we can't change and one is the fact that we need to grow out of many things in life due to the fact that we are constantly changing. Shoes, clothes, hairstyles, mobile phones, computers etc all get replaced by newer ones due to many variable factors like fashion, affordability, technological advances etc. we seem to go pretty much as they say with the flow on those superficial things.
One of the saddest things to grow out of is not our sexy youthful bodies or our even our hopes and dreams, it is to outgrow our friends and lovers. One of the hardest things to accept in life is the end of a relationship that one thought would last forever. No matter how bad things get we try to focus on past happiness and keep the relationship there. So many people have friends they have absolutely nothing in common with, or are even downright embarrassed to be seen in public with as their behaviour and attitudes are so contrary. Yet one still plods on like a martyr in the relationship as they just cannot bear to let go. The memory of old loves and fun times are so etched in their memories that they just cannot let go.
The very same is applicable to certain couples who have been in relationships for a very long time. Everyone knows those couples, they exist universally, they never have anything much to say to each other and they at times even seem to loath each other but they just cant let go of each other and are simply tied down by their inability to face the future alone and their partnership is nothing but a crutch to get through life in the safety of a witness to their existence. Such people do not live but live survive like two people shipwrecked onto a raft in a deep and dangerous ocean.
"But why? We were so in love!" is the most common question asked when one is stuck in such a relationship. Oddly enough the reason for this is usually is not "my partner got fat and ugly" or "I am not sexually attracted to my partner" or even "my partner cheated on me", all those things can be remedied and fixed to some extent. What is irreconcilable are changes that result due to life experiences, which in turn affect one's mental and emotional make-up or one's change in attitude to one's spiritual path. In a relationship any if one person progresses or regresses emotionally, mentally or spiritually it will be very difficult for the relationship to stay intact as is known to both partners.
What keeps most relationships intact is when partners change together whether they progress or regress it is done together. It is indeed an outstanding relationship if two people have drifted in their emotions, thoughts and spiritual beliefs and remain "genuinely" together and have a "real" relationship not one for their children or any other reason involving a third party or societal pretences.
Another thing that humans find hard to accept is change from life to death. It is an irrefutable part of life that we will die one day or another. When you live in fear of death all the time why bother to live! You wont live you will waste your entire life waiting for death. Death is a progression into the subtler form. It is like going up a grade or a level in a video game. All you do is drop your physical form like a pile of old clothes that is the only thing you part with. What is left of you will be your best, your personality, character and your true being. If you spend your entire time in your physical form warding off death what you tend to do is warp your personality character and true being thereby failing to achieve all you must in your lifetime. You can't avoid death but you can make the most of your life even if you have one breath left make it count.
We actually have the potential to change in every second of every day as we process millions of thoughts through our mind, which produce numerous emotional and psychological changes. Those in turn trigger our nervous system which causes the release of hormones and other physical bodily reactions. In this way our physical state also probably unknown to us to some extend does change constantly too.
There are a few things which we can't change and one is the fact that we need to grow out of many things in life due to the fact that we are constantly changing. Shoes, clothes, hairstyles, mobile phones, computers etc all get replaced by newer ones due to many variable factors like fashion, affordability, technological advances etc. we seem to go pretty much as they say with the flow on those superficial things.
One of the saddest things to grow out of is not our sexy youthful bodies or our even our hopes and dreams, it is to outgrow our friends and lovers. One of the hardest things to accept in life is the end of a relationship that one thought would last forever. No matter how bad things get we try to focus on past happiness and keep the relationship there. So many people have friends they have absolutely nothing in common with, or are even downright embarrassed to be seen in public with as their behaviour and attitudes are so contrary. Yet one still plods on like a martyr in the relationship as they just cannot bear to let go. The memory of old loves and fun times are so etched in their memories that they just cannot let go.
The very same is applicable to certain couples who have been in relationships for a very long time. Everyone knows those couples, they exist universally, they never have anything much to say to each other and they at times even seem to loath each other but they just cant let go of each other and are simply tied down by their inability to face the future alone and their partnership is nothing but a crutch to get through life in the safety of a witness to their existence. Such people do not live but live survive like two people shipwrecked onto a raft in a deep and dangerous ocean.
"But why? We were so in love!" is the most common question asked when one is stuck in such a relationship. Oddly enough the reason for this is usually is not "my partner got fat and ugly" or "I am not sexually attracted to my partner" or even "my partner cheated on me", all those things can be remedied and fixed to some extent. What is irreconcilable are changes that result due to life experiences, which in turn affect one's mental and emotional make-up or one's change in attitude to one's spiritual path. In a relationship any if one person progresses or regresses emotionally, mentally or spiritually it will be very difficult for the relationship to stay intact as is known to both partners.
What keeps most relationships intact is when partners change together whether they progress or regress it is done together. It is indeed an outstanding relationship if two people have drifted in their emotions, thoughts and spiritual beliefs and remain "genuinely" together and have a "real" relationship not one for their children or any other reason involving a third party or societal pretences.
Another thing that humans find hard to accept is change from life to death. It is an irrefutable part of life that we will die one day or another. When you live in fear of death all the time why bother to live! You wont live you will waste your entire life waiting for death. Death is a progression into the subtler form. It is like going up a grade or a level in a video game. All you do is drop your physical form like a pile of old clothes that is the only thing you part with. What is left of you will be your best, your personality, character and your true being. If you spend your entire time in your physical form warding off death what you tend to do is warp your personality character and true being thereby failing to achieve all you must in your lifetime. You can't avoid death but you can make the most of your life even if you have one breath left make it count.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Take back the Power
We are born free and no matter what we do in our lives we die free. Unfortunately none of us is free. All of us is a slave to needs, wants and desires. Nothing wrong in that however if everyone pursues their own needs, wants and desires paying no heed to their fellow earth inhabitants then really we have a world of chaos.
The energies of the earth have sustained us and all we have done is depleted it without providing replacements for our very own children. Even if we have actively never cut down a tree, built over a swamp, encroached into the rainforest or hunted a wild being for pleasure we have stood by and watched others do so in silence.
Silence makes us an accomplice regardless of whether we just could not be bothered or we had more self preserving and enjoying pursuits to follow. The 'silence' is also a sign of us giving up our power as citizens of this world to demand what is right. Most of us are blessed to inhabit democracies. We have the power however no one acknowledges this.
If each and every one of us stand firm and demand that our politicians do all they can to perserve and regenerate our habitat they will have to. After all a politician is merely a servant of the people.
The nuculear accident in Japan is a huge wake up call for the entire world. We are blessed Japan is isolated as an island and yet it is a country so well planned and organised that it will survive and rise like a phoenix due to the dedication of its people. Had the same incident befallen in a country with no infrastructure and politicians who dip into ever coffer, who knows what would have happened to the world today.
What we need to do now is accept these events as a blessing and voice once and for all a huge NO to anything that can harm our planet and our children in any way. Next time we may not be so lucky. If it were Pakistan, India or Iran it would be God's way of extermination of all as a form of punishment for abusing his most beautiful unique creation our planet.
The energies of the earth have sustained us and all we have done is depleted it without providing replacements for our very own children. Even if we have actively never cut down a tree, built over a swamp, encroached into the rainforest or hunted a wild being for pleasure we have stood by and watched others do so in silence.
Silence makes us an accomplice regardless of whether we just could not be bothered or we had more self preserving and enjoying pursuits to follow. The 'silence' is also a sign of us giving up our power as citizens of this world to demand what is right. Most of us are blessed to inhabit democracies. We have the power however no one acknowledges this.
If each and every one of us stand firm and demand that our politicians do all they can to perserve and regenerate our habitat they will have to. After all a politician is merely a servant of the people.
The nuculear accident in Japan is a huge wake up call for the entire world. We are blessed Japan is isolated as an island and yet it is a country so well planned and organised that it will survive and rise like a phoenix due to the dedication of its people. Had the same incident befallen in a country with no infrastructure and politicians who dip into ever coffer, who knows what would have happened to the world today.
What we need to do now is accept these events as a blessing and voice once and for all a huge NO to anything that can harm our planet and our children in any way. Next time we may not be so lucky. If it were Pakistan, India or Iran it would be God's way of extermination of all as a form of punishment for abusing his most beautiful unique creation our planet.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
What's up with Mother Earth
We are born baldish and without teeth completely dependent on whomever we are thrust upon. We progress to childhood, then bud into youth, blossom into a golden age commonly known as adulthood or maturity then we become over ripe at middle age and then one begins to droop and whilt. The ravages of age gnaw at us until one finds the cycle complete, one is in a baldish sate with few or no teeth once again completely dependent on whomsoever one is thrust upon. Such is the life cycle of a human and its pretty much the same for every inhabitant of the earth known to man.
Ironically the Earth that provides us all with life giving resources and sustains our life cycles does not seem to have such a well defined life span. There are wide ranging differing opinions how she was created the Big Bang or by the Lords Hand and then there are those who try the two theories what has been established is that she exists and has been around a while now. She has experienced life in many forms and many different expressions and has managed to nurture living forms to culminate into what we have become today.
She too like every other form on earth has been subject to cycles, whether it be seasons, revolutions around the sun, timely release of larva, movements in her tectonic plates she has seen it all but in a cyclical from.
If we have a look at the state of her being today all we can do is be ashamed of ourselves. We have sabotaged every nurturing aspect of her. The food she allows us to grow food to nurture ourselves is scientifically modified and she reacts to it like an allergy. We also saturate her bounty with chemicals which kill ecosystems of beings close to her. We may not like insects or worms but they do have their place in the bigger scheme of things.
Even if we managed to grow crops without modifying or blasting them with insecticide we do still do everything to mess up the water with a plethora or poisons and pollutants. Ironic as every single living being needs water to live on or live in! We have also manage to polluted the air to such horrific proportions that that we has sizeably damaged the ozone layer. The ozone layer used to function as a universal filter a miracle sunscreen that prevented the harsh UV rays of the sun from harsh cancerous UV rays which do not discriminate against plant, animal and human when annhilating all equally.
Once upon a time it was some sort of myth that the icebergs in the polar regions would melt and we would be purged into oblivion in Noahesque floods. The polar ice caps are now melting but whats scary is the weather change. Scientists are going wild predicting another cataclysmic ice or other equally dread inducing prospect.
Mother Earth's menstrual cycle of seasons has been swaying off course for a while, her ecosystems like a memopausal woman's beauty is in the process of getting ravaged. Very obviously she has been suffering from the effects of hot flushes and she has been reacting to those in the form of erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, acid rains, droughts, forest fires and other natural phenominon we cant even comprehend.
She is a mother who is at wits end. She is loosing her precious children in the form of certain animals, plants and other of her inhabitants to extinction. Humans who used to tend to her, care for her and even worship her have abondoned her and she is tremendously broken hearted. Some of are busy terrorising and murdering others, while some torture her by polluting and trying to murder her, others are too busy in the worship of materiality and then there are the ignorant and those who choose to be ignorant and and show no respect for her. The remainder are torn up in shock of how cruelly she is dealing with their kith and kin.
And now there are those who have spread virulent rumours about her demise in 2012. Scientifically there seems no reason for her demise but really if you look at things her way one may start to thing what is stopping her from giving up on all of us and committing suicide?
Ironically the Earth that provides us all with life giving resources and sustains our life cycles does not seem to have such a well defined life span. There are wide ranging differing opinions how she was created the Big Bang or by the Lords Hand and then there are those who try the two theories what has been established is that she exists and has been around a while now. She has experienced life in many forms and many different expressions and has managed to nurture living forms to culminate into what we have become today.
She too like every other form on earth has been subject to cycles, whether it be seasons, revolutions around the sun, timely release of larva, movements in her tectonic plates she has seen it all but in a cyclical from.
If we have a look at the state of her being today all we can do is be ashamed of ourselves. We have sabotaged every nurturing aspect of her. The food she allows us to grow food to nurture ourselves is scientifically modified and she reacts to it like an allergy. We also saturate her bounty with chemicals which kill ecosystems of beings close to her. We may not like insects or worms but they do have their place in the bigger scheme of things.
Even if we managed to grow crops without modifying or blasting them with insecticide we do still do everything to mess up the water with a plethora or poisons and pollutants. Ironic as every single living being needs water to live on or live in! We have also manage to polluted the air to such horrific proportions that that we has sizeably damaged the ozone layer. The ozone layer used to function as a universal filter a miracle sunscreen that prevented the harsh UV rays of the sun from harsh cancerous UV rays which do not discriminate against plant, animal and human when annhilating all equally.
Once upon a time it was some sort of myth that the icebergs in the polar regions would melt and we would be purged into oblivion in Noahesque floods. The polar ice caps are now melting but whats scary is the weather change. Scientists are going wild predicting another cataclysmic ice or other equally dread inducing prospect.
Mother Earth's menstrual cycle of seasons has been swaying off course for a while, her ecosystems like a memopausal woman's beauty is in the process of getting ravaged. Very obviously she has been suffering from the effects of hot flushes and she has been reacting to those in the form of erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, acid rains, droughts, forest fires and other natural phenominon we cant even comprehend.
She is a mother who is at wits end. She is loosing her precious children in the form of certain animals, plants and other of her inhabitants to extinction. Humans who used to tend to her, care for her and even worship her have abondoned her and she is tremendously broken hearted. Some of are busy terrorising and murdering others, while some torture her by polluting and trying to murder her, others are too busy in the worship of materiality and then there are the ignorant and those who choose to be ignorant and and show no respect for her. The remainder are torn up in shock of how cruelly she is dealing with their kith and kin.
And now there are those who have spread virulent rumours about her demise in 2012. Scientifically there seems no reason for her demise but really if you look at things her way one may start to thing what is stopping her from giving up on all of us and committing suicide?
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Yoga Injuries...Fact or Myth
So are Yoga Injuries a myth? … yes and no. If you have a properly trained therapist assisting you through your practice, one who is aware of atleast the effects of every practice they teach, your chances of a Yoga Injury are minimal. You could only get injured if you don’t follow instructions and are trying to abuse your body.
However if you have someone who is trained to contort their body and teach others how to do so without any theoretical and scientific knowledge is likely to have a class full of consistently injured students. In such classes competition is encouraged which leads to the students further trying to force their bodies into positions and practices unnatural to their body. Such classes rarely focus on how the practice is entered into, maintained or released as the teacher is trying to perfect their own techniques. Regardless of how much money you pay to go to a famous yoga studio, a Country Club or Spa, unless the person is appropriately trained they are more likely to harm you than help you.
Now you may think I am blowing this all out of proportion so I will elaborate … Let us assume you are a patient suffering from cardiac disease or have high blood pressure. You go to a yoga class as you feel it will help you. You join in a class of 15 or more people that are just copying an instructor. You start with the practice of Asanas. Along with the 15 others you begin to perform a series of spinal flexion and extension exercises. During the class instructor who effortlessly contorts himself from time to time looks up and barks words of encouragement to everyone to push harder and stretch longer and make more of an effort. In some cases the instructor or an assistant form time to time comes around and physically pushes and pulls your body. (I have even known of cases where instructors have eagerly yanked arms and managed to dislodge a shoulder joint or two!)
Retuning to our scenario where you the cardiac patient is trying his best along with everyone else in the class who is hale and hearty, the others will all benefit from the spinal flexion and extension exercises as they will put raised amounts of pressure on their intra thoracic & intra abdominal cavity leading to increased loads on both the heart & the respiratory airways especially in compromised individuals. There is no doubt that benefits of this are super for when the pressure is released the lungs will take in huge amounts of oxygen and the blood will contain higher levels of Oxygen or in lay-mans terms the internal organs will be infused with cleaner blood.
There is just one drawback, you the cardiac patient will not benefit from the practice. Your having increased your intra thoracic pressure will most likely fluctuate your blood pressure and God forbid if you are in bad shape considerably increase your chances of a myocardial infarction (a heart attack).
However if your instructor was informed of your condition and was trained well enough to anatomically understand your medical condition the instructor could merely have modified the practice to suit your condition.
Let’s take this a step further, lets assume you’re not ready for an Asana, but you believe that Pranayama which you perceive as ‘yogic breathing’ will help you. Your thinking you have read so many articles on the internet and you have spoken to your healthy friends who swear by it what harm can possibly come of it.
Educate yourself to some extent now…most forms of pranayama have a direct co-relation with intra thoracic pressure and will probably be a faster method to raise the patient’s pressure.
Yoga can drastically also affect a person’s emotional and psychological state. A Yoga instructor who is not classically knowledgeable in yoga can unknowingly get a depressed person to go into even deeper depression or a person suffering from stress to get even more stressed.
The reason for my writing this blog is sheer disappointment at the supposed purveyors of yoga. As a healer this week I am dealing with three patients suffering from injuries resulting from yoga classes they attended, all very posh and expensive. One of the three happens to be a very dedicated instructor who practices physical forms of yoga and is forced to work her body thereby abusing it for too many hours every day.
When they asked why I never get injured or why my therapy/yoga patients never get injured I always argue that there are no injuries in yoga. My guidelines are simple. My most important rule is to leave ones ego at the door. I always explain that yoga is not competitive in any way. We are dealing with the body-mind-emotion complex. Therefore on certain days we are all more flexible and energetic than others.
I apply this rule to myself too and I have no shame in telling my patients that I am unable to perform certain practices on certain days. As yoga is beyond physical contortion I refuse to injure my physical body and as my class is educated by me on this principle no one ever seems to mind. In fact this connects me more to my students. This is not to say I don’t expect or request them to make an effort, but I explain the difference between effort and strain and strain is something all my students know to avoid.
If you are a therapist/teacher/instructor reading this I urge you to change your approach to teaching yoga. For every injured student there are ten potential yoga students that are dissuaded from taking up yoga. One hint on how to avoid injuries is to take smaller classes or work with an assistant to supervise your students.
If you are a student be very firm that you only want a qualified and experienced instructor or therapist. Ask to see their qualification, do some research on where your instructor was certified and make sure if you have any physical, emotional and mental problems to convey this to your instructor and more importantly the instructor of your choice understands your ailment.
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