My earliest encounters with Naturopathy

|| You might not know about my father. He was a staunch Communist all his life, a Card Holder for over 55 years- he joined CPI with the struggle for 'Socialist India' and died with the same conviction. He was one of the organisers for the Party and a Peasantry leader of highest order in the country. He never occupied an office of profit, though extremely popular in a large area, everytime a proposal to forward his name for Assembly or Parliament came he persuaded his supporters that he be allowed to do the 'service' without taking a position.

He was a reader all his life. Apart from the books on Marxism- Leninism, Politics and Agrarian movements of which he was a great representative, he also had a large collection of books on Naturopathy and Indian Philosophy. He was also a regular subscriber of a monthly Naturopathy Journal 'Aarogya' - which still gets published in Hindi language by one of the oldest and most renowned Naturopathy Centers of Northern India, 'Aarogya Mandir, Gorakhpur', founded by Vittal Das Modi.

I was a different child. I was known as one of the most meritorious students of my Govt. Middle School in my village (this school was founded by my father and my mother was a senior teacher who died as headmistress in the last year of her service. This School is one of most performing govt. village schools of my state with over 1500 students and about 30 teachers). I got two Govt. Talent Scholarships- one in Class 4th- 6th and the second, Class 7th to 10th.

I mentioned this because as a child I did not play any game or sports (I did not have time for this!). The only thing I did other going to school and being the most obedient of 5 brothers; was to read books from my father's collection. Naturopathy Books became my interest and every month I started reading Aarogya, the Naturopathy Journal I mentioned earlier. These were my first encounters with Naturopathy.

My father wanted me to be an IAS. Like my teachers and everybody who knew me, this should have been their natural choice. But, thanks to the books I had developed my interests towards Life Sciences. After 10th, I specifically chose to study Science so I could become a Doctor.

I came to prepare for Medical entrance to Patna (Bihar being one of the top most populous states of the country has just a few hundred medical seats and you have to compete with thousands for one single seat). But, I had become a Student leader (also attended AISF National Conference as a delegate at 18 years) and Ideologue among the group during my stay in Patna and medical entrance exam was no longer my focus.

I had also thought of giving a try to consider Naturopathy as my career and enrolled as ND student of Aarogya Mandir, Gorakhpur. About the same time, I visited Gorakhpur to see the institute for the first time. But, I was not yet convinced about Naturopathy becoming a skill enough for my bread and butter. The Course had about 30 books on naturopathy to study and be a subscriber of their Journal for at least a year before going to stay in the Institute for two months for internship and take an exam for ND.

I had also enrolled myself for 'Certificate in Yoga Therapy' conducted by University health Center of Patna University. It was a year long program and classes were conducted every weekend mornings on Yoga and a few theory lessons by the Center's CMO Dr. Prabhakar Devaraj, MD.

One day, I was sitting with one of my friends turning pages of 'Employment News' when i saw an advertisement for the post of Director, National Institute of Naturopathy. The mere existence of National Institute of Naturopathy by Govt. of India interested me enough to note down their address in Pune. Next day, I wrote a letter to the Director, NIN for want of all Naturopathy Centers in the Country. Leena Mehndale, an IAS officer who used to be on deputation at NIN as Director replied to my letter with about 35 institutions in annexture.

I started looking for some long term course in Naturopathy, as the training I had as ND from Aarogya Mandir did not equip me enough to be confident as a Naturopathy Practitioner. So, I started visiting all the institutions given in the annexture. I was in Delhi for about a month for the purpose where among others I visited Bapu Nature Cure Hospital.

There, I met two young BNYS doctors for the first time. It was the year '96 and the Doctors I met were the first batches of BNYS! One was from Hyderabad College and the other from SDM was Dr Narendra Shetty. I had a long chat with Dr. Shetty where he advised me to go for BNYS at SDM.

I had my doubts. One was the financial situation of my family. SDM was charging fifty thousand donation besides regular fees and I simply thought spending about a lakh a year for five years will be too difficult for my family. The other College was a Govt. College but was open for only Andhra students.

But, he also suggested that a new College had started in Bangalore that year by Jindal Naturopathy Hospital where fees were less and they might also offer Scholarship to a few students. I took their address from him, thanked and shot off a letter to the Principal, ICNYS, Jindal Nagar.

In '97 I got admitted to Jindal, India's Premier Nature Cure Institution where I was promised one thousand Rs. scholarship a month and where annual fees were just 8500 Rs. plus 500 for mess. This for me was OK to try; even though I had to spend 5 years in a curriculum nobody ever was aware of in my whole state.

I was learning a new thing everyday about this profession. Employment opportunities available for the first few batches of BNYS were very limited. People worked in Jindal for 4500 Rs. a month. Those who had spent about 15 years in Jindal were still at about ten thousand a month. Within a year of my study at Jindal College we heard whispers about it closing down and we got shifted to SDM with some fees waiver arrangement and some scholarship promise by SJ Jindal foundation.

I made it a point to continue visiting Naturopathy and Yoga Institutions of the Country whenever I had an opportunity. In second year, I convinced my room mates and then Interns Dr Appu Bagath Gurudev and Dr Nalvazhu to take a trip with me to many parts of Maharastra.

In about ten days, we had visited Yoga Institute, Santacruz, Bombay; Kaivalyadhama, Lonavla; National Institute of Naturopathy, Rammani Iyengar Yoga Institute, Osho Ashram, Nisargopachar Ashram- all in Pune and a famous Health Resort in Karjat run by Osteopath Son of Vittal Das Modi, Dr. Krishna Murari Modi. This trip in particular was a very enriching experience for all of us. Everywhere we were given a red carpet welcome and we interacted with the highest functionaries of these Institutes first hand.

Third year in BNYS, I convinced many of my classmates to join me in the first ever camp by a group of BNYS students in Bangalore's Century Club much to the annoyance of our then Principal. 20 BNYS students participated in the camp. This opened new doors for many of us and opened our eyes for the opportunities available in the field. I had also started organizing workshops in the Pathanjali Hostel every Saturday evening. We also formed a group to learn basics of Internet and started visiting the only Cyber Cafe available, in Mangalore.

Fourth year in BNYS, I had conducted a camp first time in my village where some of Juniors in BNYS with me attended over 1200 patients for ten days period.

Fifth year in BNYS, I had got selected for NIN internship for six months. I had founded Body Mind Spirit Foundation with friends in College and covered Kasaragod, Kerala; Dhanbad, Jharkhand; Siwan, Bihar; Lucknow and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh with huge success among other places, with our innovative Nature Cure Camps.

From second year onwards I kept myself abreast of all major developments in the field of Integrative medicine and personally visited Dr. Bijlani and Dr. K K Deepak when All India Institute of Medical Sciences started its 'Holistic Medicine' Center in Delhi.

I also kept in touch with Institutions of naturopathy in America and Europe and tried to study their books and methods. I also tried to know and was always interested in what our BNYS graduates- Seniors, Colleagues and Juniors are doing after the completion of their degree.

This was my own style of training of Naturopathy while I was not still a Naturopathic Doctor. ||

I have always believed that a proper training curriculum is essential for any professional to be equipped with right knowledge, resources and experience. BNYS does just that. However, one will have to learn many more things and learning first hand from others, other than what is available in a School, is very necessary to succeed personally.

Training environment also needs an improvement but, we can not focus too much on what is not in our hands. For example, any institution and its administration works to achieve it's own objectives and constraints of resources, including but not limited to human resources available with it.

It is the duty and responsibility of professionals to formulate their own goals and objectives. Once you are clear as a profession about what you want to achieve, any lobbying with Govt. regulatory bodies, People's representatives, Academic Institutions, Mass Media and General Public will be able to yield results.

We need new authors from amongst us who could translate all the inherited knowledge resources in the context of modern world. We need entrepreneurs who could establish Institutions of their Dream. We need Clinicians who would benefit their Patients. We will need Ideologues who would keep our objectives focused. None of that is less important.

Excerpts from my recent message to Dr. Shakthi Vijayan, BNYS; a young and dedicated Naturopath from Tamil Nadu.

"China: The New Yoga Superpower"- Article and Comments

Dear Friends, I will be off to Shanghai, China for about ten days starting 10th of August to attend 'I Live to Lead- worldwide Summit'.

Laura Bode, President of I live to Lead Foundation, USA with invitation also sent me an article 'China: the next Yoga Super Power', which I have attached for your knowledge and information.

I wrote following comments to Laura and a few others on this article. I am also attaching their comments. I would love to hear from you all.
-------------------------
I wrote,
"Dear Laura/ Jamie/ Erkin/ Natacha,

It is exciting to hear more about this upcoming trip to China.

Laura, thank you for sending me the article 'Yoga Superpower'. It is very well written and extremely informative. Mr Daniel has done a real good job by putting minute and necessary details to understand a country so mysteriously unknown to the rest of the world. The article allows me to guess what is happening with the people, their mind and their thought processes in a distinctly political and economic setting.

Here are my comments and after-thoughts-

It is true that India and China have long borders between them and equally true that India's influence on China has been very strong for thousands of years in history, yet we are not ordinary neighbours. Two countries with the biggest populations never became close after the Chinese Revolution. We had highest mountains in between us but that did not prevent cultural exchanges in ancient times. Chinese travelers' travelogue during their trip to India remain most authentic historical evidences about India between 5th and 10th Century AD.

But, hatred created in last 60-70 years in the run up to Chinese ambition of becoming world SuperPower and its uneasiness toward a regional axis created around India- has harmed any possibility of a direct interaction between the two countries. People to People contact, which is a backbone of any real exchange between cultures and traditions have not been possible. In every possible term, it is America which is closer to China, not India. It doesn't surprise me that Yoga has reached China through America.

I have worked in the Northern Hemisphere and seen very closely about what has happened to Yoga there. What is more pathetic is that, Yoga has come back to India through the same route, America! Thankfully, it is only the recognition of Yoga's importance and the fact that an average Indian is more spiritually aware than most of Yoga teachers in America that - American Yoga Trainers are not so big in India. Not as yet. Occasionally, I hear about Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga etc. in some Fitness Clubs of Metros but Yoga for most Indians is meant for much deeper purposes than simply 'stretching' and names like Shivananda, Satyananda, Kuvalyananda are the ones of the nature, they are more aware of.

Then recently, there is Swami Ramdev who has done exact the chinese thing in India (mass production)! He has reached masses of India through live demonstrations of his 'yoga teachings' on popular television and himself owns one such television channel. He also sells Ayurvedic Medicines/ Herbs and has turnover close to a Billion Dollar.

The only consolation from the spread of what-ever-form-of Yoga in America, China, India or elsewhere is that people have recognized the fact they should live an active life and do some kind of exercise. This is a good thing. Even if they swallow this necessary pill in the name of yoga, it will help them. It may not however, help Yoga. Hopefully, Yoga will survive in-spite-of all adulterations, alterations and superficial and popular forms of it."
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Laura wrote,

"These first emails have me even more interested in meeting. I just regret that I will be so busy with the program I won't have extensive time to learn more from you. Rajesh, your comments on yoga "surviving" despite its popularization -- were fascinating. India is the most spiritual place I've ever spent time in."
-----------------------------

Erkin (my Entrepreneur friend and Student) wrote,

"Rajesh is clearly upset with this.

Every art or thing has a similar journey in the world, not just yoga. Masses take things at the surface, only some rare selected beings go practice things authentically, the majority is teaching or practicing just some superficial way.

Any other thing that I have touched or seen is generally like that. The financial markets move often with noise, not the substance, the wars start for stupid reasons, movies made for quick gain without essence, music world is chasing the money, authentic things take a back seat and the deepest things are often least appreciated or even unnoticed. And at times, truth shows up and prevails. Yoga has the same treatment as everything else basically, any true artists or practioner can relate to this. I had a similar discussion with Euzhan Palcy, the film director, who is often disenchanted with state of the movie industry. It takes some individuals who really care so much about the subject to really make a difference.

Yet I can relate to the disenchantment that the world is not better today than it should be, not just yoga but the whole world is having same kind of issues.

We can do our input with our own lives and examples I hope.

Some great musicians must be complaining in vain that classical or folk music is not more appreciated than it is, and instead the noisy unbeneficial stuff is all around making mass exposure. The original intent of music doesn't get proper respect and treatment.

Bob Mover was telling me recently from his touring in England, France and Italy that people actually have no idea about music and some are just buying stuff, that things don't have to be good to be appreciated.

This is talk provocative and I suggest to pick it up in the group when we are all in China over a glass of wine or some snake delicatessen."

HERE is the Article: 

The New Yoga Superpower


By Daniel Simpson

When China’s first yoga studio opened nine years ago, its founders were a couple of women from California. Robyn Wexler had been teaching asana in the gym of a luxury Beijing hotel while looking for a space more conducive to holistic practice. Her partner, Mimi Kuo-Deemer, took photos for a living but was eager to devote more time to yoga instruction. Together, they decided to create what they had sought in vain: “a clean room with a simple wooden floor.”

“We got the idea on holiday in San Francisco,” Kuo-Deemer recalls. “I mean, how hard could it be to create that in Beijing?” They found it in a Qing Dynasty residence. Secluded from busy traffic in a quadrangle, Yoga Yard was a haven of tranquility. To Wexler, it epitomized “consistency, stability, and continuation in a city undergoing so much transformation and change, building up and tearing down.”

Initially, classes were in English. Though Kuo-Deemer and Wexler speak Mandarin, most students were expatriates. That didn’t last long. Across Beijing, Shanghai, and other metropolises, more and more gyms were offering yoga, hiring instructors who’d learned from DVDs and hyping it as the hottest trend in fitness. Practicing was the acme of modernity: a way of channeling energy to succeed. “It’s a symbol of the outside world,” Kuo-Deemer explains. “Like thin women on the beach.”

In less than a decade, yoga studios have sprouted all over China. They’re dotted along urban sidewalks, and classes can even be found in the hinterlands. They’ve spread so fast that no one’s keeping count. Estimates suggest that 10 million Chinese now practice regularly, compared to about 16 million Americans. Long before it displaces the U.S. economy, let alone its military, China will be the world’s new yoga superpower.
“Yoga went to China via America,” explains Faeq Biria, one of B. K. S. Iyengar’s leading disciples, who’s been visiting Beijing to train teachers since 2008. “They see it from an American point of view. At the beginning, they’re attracted by the byproducts: to be handsome, to be pretty, to digest well, sleep well, have a nice body, be intelligent, unstressed. It’s hard work to take them toward the deeper aspects.”

A burgeoning industry tempts them with distractions, hawking figure-hugging sportswear on models with Westernized features. Most styles of yoga are available, although the emphasis is squarely on physical practice. It’s often an aspirational activity: the price of a class in Shanghai can be higher than in Los Angeles.
But there’s more to Chinese yoga than meets the eye. As Biria observes, there are internal connections to indigenous arts, from Taoist tai chi to traditional Chinese medicine. “The moment you connect to the energetics of yoga, they catch it so fast,” he says. “Their eyes shine and they grasp it, because it’s in their culture.”

For now, most young Chinese neglect this heritage. It’s out of sync with their urge to consume new products. But that materialism is only skin-deep. Beneath the surface of its rapid transmutation, the country is troubled. While a few get improbably rich, a billion others struggle with inflation, unemployment, and migration. These widening inequalities breed resentment and despair, which drive increasing numbers to suicide.
“There’s an urgent need here,” says Chen Si, a journalist working to promote more classical yoga teaching. He organized a conference this summer that brought Iyengar and a dozen of his protégés to Guangzhou, China, face-to-face with 1,300 students. Billed as the China-India Yoga Summit, the event was endorsed by officials in New Delhi and Beijing, whose relations have been strained since the 1950s, when India opposed China’s seizure of Tibet and gave refuge to the 14th Dalai Lama. Border wars promptly ensued.

Trade has diminished their hostility, culminating in a visit to India last December by Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, who paid tribute to Gandhi, quoted the Upanishads, and waxed lyrical on how Buddhism shaped China. To top it off, he announced that his daughter practiced asana.

Unlike the Dalai Lama or Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline banned in China, yoga is being embraced by the state. Chinese authorities talk it up as a force for “harmony,” echoing their counterparts in India. “There is a growing social conflict due to our relentless pursuit of material objects,” an Indian diplomat told the summit. “Yoga can be a useful instrument for promoting social harmony. After all, only individuals at peace and in harmony with themselves can build a peaceful and harmonious society.”
By inviting an Indian master to teach, Chen aimed to empower the Chinese to practice yoga more deeply, and thereby foster social change. While these are sensitive issues in a one-party state, he feels fairly secure. “China has a tradition of embracing foreign cultures and making them its own,” he says. “That’s why it’s been so vibrant.”

A FINE LINE

But it’s not always that clear-cut, for reasons the Communist Party stressed in July, when it marked its 90th anniversary. “Since British invaders launched the opium war in 1840, the Western capitalist powers came one after another to China, and China was thus reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society,” an official exhibition declared. Visiting London later, Wen added: “This has taught the Chinese never to talk to others in a lecturing way, but to respect nations on the basis of equality.”

Fearing unrest, the government is wary of outside ideas, especially if they mention liberation. While Communist regimes were crumbling in Eastern Europe in 1989, non-violent protestors were massacred in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. A decade later, Falun Gong was denounced as a cult, its followers tortured for meditating en masse. Yoga proponents have had to walk a fine line, demonstrating that the practice enhances individual well-being without undermining collective order.

In the early days of the yoga boom, teachers felt watched. “We had some very awkward stiff men who’d appear in class,” one remembers. “Like totally out of context, with fake leather belts.”

This mutual suspicion has subsided, as China adapts to a breakneck pace of change. Falun Gong’s popularity horrified hard-liners, who thought it was building a network beyond their control. In contrast, yoga studios have been slow to form a national federation. The government seems to see them as allies, not as hotbeds of subversion, apparently hoping they’ll calm a restive populace. Booming business also helps. At the summit in Guangzhou, most discussions were focused on marketing.

Yet as recently as 2009, officials shuttered a Chinese version of Yoga Journal, citing political objections. Editors are confused about what happened, and some say other factors were involved, such as jockeying for power at the magazine’s state-run media partner. Regardless, everyone was fired. “It was an immediate reaction,” says John Abbott, Yoga Journal‘s former publisher, who set up the venture in China with government backing. “It was closed and we were notified.”

Abbott was told that an anonymous “rogue website” had been discovered, hosted in Singapore, and “titled something like Yoga Journal Against China.” It apparently listed references to Tibet in the U.S. edition and included photos. “I understand that one of the photos was me in a quasi-embrace with the Dalai Lama,” Abbott says. Yoga Journal says it’s “in the early exploratory phase” of plans to reopen.

According to Wang Zhicheng, a philosophy professor at Zhejiang University: “We basically have religious freedom in China, unless somebody uses religion to stir up tensions.” Yoga, he adds, is “more like a spiritual-mental practice, a way of thinking, or a way of keeping healthy and happy,” and “Chinese culture very much appreciates the ‘cultivation of character,’ which is basically a humanist idea.”

It’s also at the core of Confucian ethics, which held sway, at least in theory, for over 2,000 years. Order was defined in terms of moral standards, to be upheld by everyone from paupers to the emperor. Mao Zedong exploded this ideal, saying power derived from the muzzle of a gun. In their efforts to reconcile commerce with control, his successors have revived the spirit of Confucius. “The state strengthens the building of socialist spiritual civilization through spreading education in high ideals and morality,” reads the Chinese Constitution.

This amounts to propaganda, at odds with the yogic goal of shedding illusions. But state “ideals” are hard to instill in practice. Despite placards extolling “a peaceful society,” there are protests all the time in modern China, in places few outsiders ever hear of. Farmers riot when land is grabbed for factories and apartments, as urban sprawl eats badly needed crops. In the cities, migrant workers fight police, and polluted water and smog trigger rants at apparatchiks.

The government tolerates limited dissent. Critical blogs are prolific, yet comments are censored. Letting off steam is tacitly allowed, but cross the line into rallying resistance and you’re in trouble. Journalists sometimes get beaten and activists jailed. Minorities are enemies within. Talking about devolution is taboo. And the number of people executed is classified. It’s said to be more than the rest of the world combined.

Most people’s lives are full of challenges: affording food as prices soar; finding wives when men outnumber women, thanks to sex-selective abortion and a one-child policy; securing jobs; and surviving grueling hours without the right to unionize. Workers at Apple’s Chinese supplier have dived to their deaths from factory windows. Women often kill themselves by drinking pesticide. Domestic violence is rampant.

“What we call modernization brings so much mental and physical stress,” says Chen Si, the yoga summit organizer. “Compared to drugs and psychiatry, yoga is a much better tool for social harmony.”

But is it reaching the masses, or just urban elites? So far, it’s mainly the latter, though as people explore connections with Chinese arts, more might practice by themselves.

A BOOMING MARKET

China’s largest chain of yoga studios, which boasts more than 20,000 students, has a two-tier price plan. In big cities, Yogi Yoga charges $1,000 for unlimited access for a year—a quarter of average annual income nationwide. At provincial franchises, fees drop to $10 a month. Yogi Yoga made $4 million last year, including earnings from teacher training and equipment sales. Revenue has quadrupled since 2005.

“There is a big market,” agrees Birjoo Mehta, a visiting teacher from Mumbai, “but what happens if the brand doesn’t meet its promises?” Addressing Chinese businesses at the summit, he urged them to develop their understanding of yoga and present it more authentically: “Do not restrict yourself with the technology you have. There needs to be a continuous technological development.”

When Yogi Yoga opened in 2003, it promised to “bring pure yoga from India.” This arrived in the form of Yogi Mohan, a teacher from Rishikesh. But when he settled in China, he was shocked: people asked if he’d studied yoga in America.

To educate them, he and his partner at Yogi Yoga, the Beijing publisher Yin Yan, translated books. They began with Iyengar’s Light on Yoga, then a couple of texts by Swami Kuvalayananda. In 2005, they invited Iyengar to teach. He declined at first but sent several senior pupils. Workshops by foreign yogis have grown more common, as have 200-hour teacher-training programs, some with Yoga Alliance accreditation.

Priorities are starting to change. Indian teachers are now in demand, and those who are willing to emigrate get paid well. “People have become more appreciative of what yoga is really about,” Yin says. “They’re not just working on the physical level.”
Away from better-run centers, however, instruction varies wildly. Some teachers claim to be qualified when they’re not. “I’ve basically been crossing their names off a list,” says a woman who lives on the coast, north of Shanghai. “These days I mainly practice at home alone.”

Meanwhile, countless companies cash in. The premier Chinese sports brand, Li Ning, is launching a yoga line, while some of the attire sold by rivals looks fit for the disco. Built-in push-up bras are popular among practitioners, most of whom are women under 35. Other products also prize form over function. A thick towel-like variant on the sticky mat is slippery when dry. Meanwhile, premium goods are shipped abroad, supplying the likes of Lululemon, which sell at a markup. Once Chinese firms master marketing, they could export directly.

“There’s more interest in yoga because of celebrities like Madonna, but it’s also because yoga is well marketed,” Yin says. She ought to know. One of her ventures is a free online magazine called Yoga Digest, which has 200,000 readers compared to the 30,000 who bought Yoga Journal, which she also edited. Like its forebear, Yoga Digest plugs her studios. Marketing “makes a strong force to push people into practice,” she says.

Traditional Chinese disciplines work differently. “Tai chi stays in a relationship of master to disciple, so there’s nobody to push it,” Yin says. That doesn’t stop millions of pensioners meeting in parks at the crack of dawn to glide gracefully through such movements as White Crane Spreads Wings and Swallow Skims The Water. The scene plays out daily from Beijing to Hong Kong, where yoga took root before Britain surrendered its colony 14 years ago. Nowadays, hip Hong Kongers would rather splurge $35 on a flow class than flow with their grannies.

Even so, some young Chinese still do wushu, the collective name for hundreds of martial arts, including “supreme ultimate fist,” as tai chi is known. Like yoga, it aims to balance mind and body, working on posture to circulate energy more freely.
To Vicky Wong, who practices both, they’re complementary. “The two disciplines merge quite beautifully,” says Wong, a Hong Kong native who lives in Beijing. “Doing asana helps my whole body wake up, and tai chi mind-set techniques help me focus internally.”

When Iyengar taught in China, he drew upon a tradition the Chinese know well: Buddhism. “The mind has to be absorbed in the pose,” he told students. “If you use your mind it is a Zen mind.”

Zen resonates widely in Guangzhou. Roughly 15 centuries ago, an Indian monk came ashore there. Known as Bodhidharma, he is considered a direct descendant of the Buddha, and he worked his way northwards through China, disseminating wisdom. Legends of his feats abound. It’s said that he stared at a wall in silence for almost a decade and trained Shaolin monks to use kung fu. Primarily, he practiced meditation, and the sect he inspired was a fusion with Chinese arts. Called chan, it spread as Zen to Japan (and as seon to Korea), teaching experiential awareness of transcendence.
Iyengar’s arrival was hailed as the second coming. “Is it wrong that we compare him to Bodhidharma?” Chen Si asked the summit. “Guruji manifests 5,000 years of civilization on the subcontinent. China will take yoga to heart, like we embraced Buddhism. Who will be the next masters of this tradition? Let’s wait and see.”

For three days, participants were stretched. Lined up in a sports hall, most looked bendy. But they were told they’d “just come to the base level, and there’s a Mount Everest in front of you.” At 92, the Lion of Pune stood for hours on end, vowing to show “how to start from scratch and aim for the ultimate.”

He described “how to listen to the so sound of your inner voice” by observing how the senses distract you and “moving closer to the center.” The five mahabhuta (elements) and koshas (sheaths) were demystified in the context of adjusting imbalances in poses. “Alignment leads to enlightenment,” he said. “Using the power of the body with a skillful brain is nothing but surrender to God.”

For now, many people’s engagement is superficial, even if they smile while doing the splits. “It is natural to make yourself work to keep your beauty,” Iyengar conceded. But we should “practice yoga to experience the inner beauty and inner light, and not for the external beauty only.”

His parting words were blunter. “I gave you all the knowledge of yoga,” he said as they garlanded him, “which may take maybe ten years for you to digest.”

Chen believes the master’s visit was timed to perfection. “China is mad for success,” he says, a throwback to the “greed is good” 1980s. But there’s also a yearning for more on the spiritual level and a tradition of seeking new ideas next door. One of China’s classic novels is Journey to the West, known abroad as The Monkey King. Revived of late as an opera, it’s a quest for sacred Indian inspiration.

“Yoga is such a wonderful gift from India to China,” Chen says. “Chinese society is ready to understand another oriental philosophy. What you saw in America is nothing compared to what will happen here.”


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Before he moved to London and took up yoga, Daniel Simpson worked as a foreign correspondent. He resigned from The New York Times to run a music festival, which got him embroiled with gangsters in Belgrade. This inspired him to leave the Balkans and write a book. Nowadays he mainly writes about yoga.

Cancer Cure - News!

First, this news is one such which requires widest publicity if the mass media were even slightly interested in the well-being of the masses. News Channels, Websites and personal mails should have made this news to reach billions of people around the world so people become interested in their 'health' and 'disease' and what they can do about it. I say this with strongest conviction and urgency to have that attention of the people. Why do I say so?

Because, we are at a critical stage of Human History as it pertains to the threat of widespread 'illness'; coming under the category of 'lifestyle disorders' - which is unfortunately going to engulf almost everyone on earth. Yes, almost EVERYONE!

According to some estimates, in next 20 years- almost every human being is going to have one or more of these three conditions- 1. CANCER 2. DIABETES 3. HEART DISEASE. One third of worldwide population is already 'OBESE' which is a precursor and indicator of such massive scale of illness.

What is interesting is that, three lifestyle factors- 1. Diet 2. Exercise 3. Stress Management - can limit these and many other conditions at bay. And, it is not Doctors... but we, ourselves have the capacity to make these changes in our lives! To be 'ill' or 'well' is going to be largely dependent on our choices.

-Rajesh.

Woman shocks doctors by using superfoods like turmeric to treat cancer - and lives! Tuesday, July 03, 2012 by: Willow Tohi

(NaturalNews) Maybe you've seen those commercials where a doctor is working on a construction crew, then it shows the construction worker in the pharmacy looking for the right medicine, telling you not to do your doctor's job because you wouldn't want him doing yours. It's quite a ridiculous analogy really, insinuating that there's a similarity in a doctor running a jack hammer, and you taking care of your own body, like that's someone else's job. No one else can maintain your body or has to live with the consequences of how you do so, but you. Duh. In a similar tone, there was recently a story out of England about a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer, had the traditional treatments, but then declined the follow-up pharmaceuticals in favor of managing her health with nutrition. There seems to be genuine surprise at her success. Which is.... surprising. What's the big shocker? There are numerous books, stories and websites out there documenting the success of "alternative" treatments to cancer. Before the age of Big Pharma, "alternative" treatments such as through diet, exercise, and supplementation, were the cancer treatments, and there was less cancer then too. To fight it, you have to understand it For anyone who wants to understand how cancer works, there is a wealth of information out there that explains the causes, lifestyle factors, percentages, etc. Cancer lives in an acidic, anaerobic environment. So, it stands to reason that a strict vegan diet of organic fruits and vegetables, a good portion of them raw, would correct that environment. It swings the pH back to neutral or even alkaline, it oxygenates the blood, and it provides the body with the resources it needs to fight the fight itself. Many sources site animal protein as a culprit. It's more all mainstream food because of the toxic way it is processed and preserved. Xenoestrogens from chemicals used on non-organic plants are just as involved in ill health as hormone laden animal products. When ill, detoxing with an organic vegan diet containing lots of superfoods is the best place to start - you need lots of extra ORACs, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc. Take therapeutic doses of things like vitamin D, coq10, garlic, vitamin C. A balanced diet of all organic food is fine for maintaining health. There's no way for any of us to completely avoid the DNA damage that leads to abnormal cells. The Cancer Society says that 50 percent of American men and 33 percent of American women will develop some form of cancer in their lives. Causes are not just from poor diet, smoking or alcohol, lack of exercise, and environmental pollution. It can also come from genetics, viruses, and exposure to chemicals from a variety of places. The best we can do is to take care of our bodies in a way that limits the number of cells damaged and the severity of the damage so that our bodies can keep up with destroying the abnormal cells and maintaining cellular equilibrium. What is surprising... We can't separate what we eat from our health. It's not surprising that a good diet begets good health. What is surprising is that modern medical practitioners don't address that angle more often, though they are doing so more and more recently. What is surprising is that nutrition is not always taught in medical school. How can that be? Would you take your car to a mechanic that doesn't understand the fuel system? Don't you expect your children's teachers to be educated in education? Something else that is surprising is that using diet and ancient treatments is called "alternative" even though there is a longer history of using acupuncture or eating garlic, turmeric, and antioxidant-rich foods than the radical, barbaric modern treatments of radical mastectomies and hysterectomies. What is shocking is that we're hardly counseled in nutrition, but fully expected to take extremely poisonous pharmaceuticals that are often more deadly than the original illness. We are sharing the planet with seven billion other souls now, with more coming daily. The world is increasingly toxic and having good health is becoming more of a decision than luck. Even some of us that exercise and eat well will become sick. Good food can only increase our chances of survival, let alone quality of life. What is further surprising is why the English woman didn't change her diet sooner. She may have saved her breasts and a lot of headaches. Sources for this article include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk Balch, Phyllis, CNC. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. p. 246-253.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036369_turmeric_cancer_superfoods.html#ixzz1zdAmCygo

Lifestyle interventions to prevent Cancer

According to an extensive study review, four lifestyle interventions can prevent cancer - exercise, smoking cessation, reducing excessive sun exposure, and healthy eating. The review looked at how human behaviors change cells, producing malignancies. The researchers also identified which types of cancer can be prevented, or made less severe through lifestyle interventions.

Obesity will soon usurp tobacco smoking as the top reason that humans get cancer. Lung, colon and rectal, breast, prostate, and skin cancer, especially melanoma, are the focus of the review. All of the cancers could be prevented with specific lifestyle interventions.

Lung Cancer and Lifestyle

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among men (31 percent) and women (25 percent) in the United States. Eighty-five to 95 percent are related to tobacco use. Forty six million adults in the US smoke and worldwide, almost a billion men, and 250 million women, are smokers. Lifestyle changes that can help prevent lung cancer include a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, exercise, and smoking cessation. Exercise can also improve survival among lung cancer patients, and is also an important lifestyle intervention to prevent colon cancer.

Lung cancer patients who stop smoking have a better response to chemotherapy, and less chance of recurrence. The review of studies revealed that lifestyle interventions that include exercise, eating more fruits and vegetables, and smoking cessation can prevent lung cancer, and increase survival in those diagnosed with the disease.

Colon Cancer, Diet, and Exercise

Colon cancer has been studied extensively as related to diet. The incidence of colon cancer is high, as are health care costs associated with treatment. Consuming more than 180 grams of red meat daily is found to increase colon cancer risk in a large European study. Eating red meat seven days a week is responsible for a whopping 85 percent increase in the chances of developing colorectal cancer. Simply cutting down on red meat is a lifestyle intervention that could prevent colon cancer. Eating more fiber is also linked to colon (but not rectal) cancer prevention in one large European study. The study review also found that moderate exercise is an important lifestyle intervention to prevent colon cancer, and reduce incidence of recurrence. Colon cancer was also found to be lowest among those who exercise the most vigorously.

Lifestyle Changes and Breast Cancer

Given the high number of breast cancer survivors in the United States, the study found lifestyle changes can have “enormous” implications for breast cancer prevention and survival, yet little is still known about the cause and exactly what lifestyle factors improve survival. The effect of diet, supplement use, and weight still require more study. The study review found that exercise can reduce risk of breast cancer by twenty percent, even if started later in life, including women at high risk. Consistent, low-level exercise is an important lifestyle intervention to prevent breast cancer, and improve survival among women diagnosed with breast cancer, extracted from the review.

Prostate Cancer

Obesity seems to increase the risk of prostate cancer. The strongest support from studies for prevention begins by controlling obesity in childhood and early adulthood. One study was found linking saturated fat intake to prostate cancer recurrence after prostatectomy. The best evidence found for lifestyle intervention that can prevent prostate cancer is by consuming a healthy diet to avoid obesity and excess fat, beginning early in life.

Lifestyle Interventions to Prevent Skin Cancer

Melanoma is the second most common skin cancer in young women and the third most common in young men in their twenties. Exposure to UV rays alters DNA. Avoidance of tanning beds and excessive sun exposure are the most important lifestyle changes identified to prevent skin cancer.

In addition to lifestyle changes that can prevent cancer, the study authors say it is important to know your family history. “Our lifestyle has to accommodate our genes. Testing for carrier status of susceptibility genes for breast and colon cancers is commercially available”, and can help individuals prone to certain cancers develop a prevention plan.

In addition to lifestyle interventions, regular visits for cancer screening, physician counseling, and chemoprevention for individuals at high risk for cancer are important for prevention. A focus on four lifestyle interventions: diet, exercise, tobacco cessation, and avoidance of excessive UV radiation could prevent lung, colon, breast, prostate and skin cancer, especially melanoma.

Source: American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine

Height to Weight Ratio Chart

Calculate your ideal weight to height ratio using the handy height to weight guide chart to help you avoid obesity related illness or even future disability later in life.

Height to Weight Ratio Chart:

Health experts worldwide agree that adults who are overweight and have weight related medical problems or a family history of such problems can benefit from weight loss. Even a small weight loss of 10 to 20 pounds can improve your overall general health by lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.



Maintaining a healthy weight is very important for protection against obesity related illness or disability. If your weight is currently over the healthy range for your height, losing weight will certainly be beneficial to your health, your looks and how you feel. Check your height to weight ratio using the approximate height to weight chart guide below.

If you're underweight you may need to gain some weight, this should always be done as part of a balanced and nutritious diet, see the New Food Pyramid. In addition you should also be sure to Calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI)

If your weight is in the ok range then you're eating the correct amount of food to keep your weight in the desirable range for health. However, if you are overweight for your height, try to cut down on the amount you're eating, especially food and drinks high in fat or sugar, and try to do more physical activity, exercises, workouts, etc., as being over weight can increase your risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis. Be sure to check with your doctor if you need to lose weight and had problems losing it in the past.

So What is the right weight for my height?

How much should you weigh according to your height? This height to weight chart is a guideline to an Adults ideal bodyweight:

Female Height to Weight Ratio					Male Height to Weight Ratio
Height	Low	Target	High		Height	Low	Target	High
4' 10"	100	115	131		5' 1"	123	134	145
4' 11"	101	117	134		5' 2"	125	137	148
5' 0"	103	120	137		5' 3"	127	139	151
5' 1"	105	122	140		5' 4"	129	142	155
5' 2"	108	125	144		5' 5"	131	145	159
5' 3"	111	128	148		5' 6"	133	148	163
5' 4"	114	133	152		5" 7"	135	151	167
5' 5"	117	136	156		5' 8"	137	154	171
5' 6"	120	140	160		5' 9"	139	157	175
5' 7"	123	143	164		5' 10"	141	160	179
5 '8"	126	146	167		5' 11"	144	164	183
5' 9"	129	150	170		6' 0"	147	167	187
5' 10"	132	153	173		6' 1"	150	171	192
5' 11"	135	156	176		6' 2"	153	175	197
6' 0"	138	159	179		6' 3"	157	179	202

Height to weight chart you can print:

Right click the chart below and save it to your computer. You can then print the height to weight chart for future reference.

Asking Questions to Find Answers on your spiritual Journey!

This is something which I received from one of my friends and I still do not know the source but, it is one of masterpieces. A Must Read article! - Rajesh.

I believe that asking questions are often far more important than answering them. If you do not have questions, maybe you will never have answers. Absence of questions is an indication of indifference, apathy and often shallowness. Most people never seriously think about purpose of their lives and as they do not think about it, they do not know what they want in life. Each one of us has a destiny and a high call from God and asking questions is a process that will lead you to the answers about your life, your calling and your mission. Let me look today about some important thought provoking questions that every one of us should ask ourselves from time to time.

Would you cling to what you know or you would better try something new?
What holds you from achieving what you really want?
What motivates you on daily basis?
How do you use your time?
What has to happen for you to completely lose hope?
If you had to choose between security and freedom, which will one you choose?
How long can you do a job that you hate?
What kind of job would you choose: a boring and well paid or an interesting one and poorly paid?
Are you afraid of making mistakes?
Whose mistakes are you learning from: yours or those of others?
What do you do after making a mistake?
Career, money, friends, family, love! How would you rate them according to level of importance?
Are there white lies and in what situation you could tell them?
Do you believe that principle of “sowing and reaping” really works?
What are some of the principles or rules that you think you would not break under any circumstances?
What would you change about your life if you knew you had only twenty four hours to live?
If you could come back ten years, what would you do differently?
What do you do when you reach a ‘roof’ in some area of your life?
Would you do everything to prove you are right or you could make a compromise?
Which is more important: your beliefs or flexibility?
If you died today would you have a lot of regrets?
Do you really live or you only exist?
Do you compare yourself with more or less fortunate ones?
Do you concentrate on what you can or what you cannot?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Do you love or hate yourself?
What matters more your genes or your attitudes?
What movies and books have influenced your life most and why?
Which people have influenced your life most and why?
Which character quality would you like to develop most?
What are some of the important things that you are grateful for?
Do you believe there is a God and who He is?
Have you seen any miracles in your life? Do you believe they happen?
What is your mission in life?
What is your recipe for success?
Can external circumstances stop you from being successful?
Who or what is in control of your life?
What is the difference between being positive and positively naïve?
Are you a leader or a follower?
Can everybody be happy and why not everybody is?
What are your short and long term goals?
What do you need to change immediately about your life?
Have you made a plan on how you are going to achieve your dreams?
To what extent do you care what others think about you?
Can opinion of others stop you from doing something you want to do?
Do you help others expecting something back?
What is your greatest fear and do you do something to overcome it?
When you think about challenges do you concentrate on what you fear or what you desire?
If you caught a gold fish what wish would you ask it to grant for you?
How much have you “invested” on your self-improvement?
Where would be a ‘perfect’ geographical place for you to live?
Do you imagine what your dream house should look like?
Do you often see big problems when they are really small and small problems when they are really big?
If you thought about solution to all humanity’s problems what could that solution be?
What activities do you pursue in your free time?
Have your dreams already come true? Why? Why not?
What self indulgences do you have?
What do you think lack most in your life?
Do you think you have enough resources to achieve what you want?
Do you enjoy taking initiative or you like being given specific orders?
Do you lie to yourself and if you do why?
How do you budget your income?
Do you evaluate your progress each year?
How do you handle stress?
If you haven’t changed anything about your life anymore do you believe you will achieve your life goals?
Do you believe you have missed most opportunities in your life or the biggest opportunities are yet to come?
What are the ways that you believe you waste your free time?
If a person whom you love stands on your way to your dreams, what do you do?
How can you gain wisdom in life?
How much is enough for you in terms of money?
Do you often feel lonely?
Do you become more optimistic or pessimistic as you grow older?
Do you often stop and ask yourself questions like these ones?

As you may see these thought provoking questions cover a lot of areas of life. They have not been structured very strictly, but have been presented in quite a loose way. I do not think that all questions can be answered in a single way. Some of the questions will actually raise other questions. Do not be afraid of that. A mature person will often have more questions than answers, but that is not a problem. Being indifferent about your life is a much bigger problem for most people do not even come closer to what they have been called to just because they are indifferent. Hope the questions will help you to awaken lifelong purposes in your soul. God bless you!

Amazing health through your daily showers!

Hydrotherapy heals through the fundamental nature cure concept of balancing and moving the blood and lymph. It might be hard to see why such a basic concept could be so rewarding but the blood is responsible for approximately 1/13 to 1/12 of the total body weight and the lymph fluid is an amazingly approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of the total body weight. Purifying and moving the blood and lymph is essential to restoring or maintaining proper health and harmonious vibration of the body. As the blood flows in, it brings with it nutrients to nourish our vital tissues. Then, as it leaves it carries out toxic and inflammatory by-products to cleanse and detoxify.

How Water Heals

Ever wonder why you can tolerate 120°F sauna but not a 120°F hot-tub? Or why winter waters are so much more dangerous than winter air? Water has a profound ability to transfer heat and carries heat rapidly to and from the body over twenty-five times faster than air. Water has the ability to both absorb and expel large quantities of heat because it has a high specific heat. Its fluidity also allows it to contact all areas easily.

Short hot, 98-104°F lasting less than five minutes, is intrinsically stimulative to the circulation. Short heat causes direct dilation of blood vessels. It increases the metabolism, oxygen absorption, carbon dioxide excretion and blood glucose levels while, decreasing tissue tone, red and white blood cell count.

Short cold, 55-65°F for less than a minute, is reactively stimulative. It has an immediate, momentary and insignificant vasoconstrictive effect followed by a direct reactive vasodilatory effect. This vasodilatory effect increases skin and organ circulation, metabolism, detoxification, oxygen absorption, carbon dioxide excretion, and nitrogen absorption and excretion. It boosts immunity through increasing white blood cells and promotes nutrition through increasing red blood cells. Short cold also increases tissue tone, peripheral white blood cell count and decreases blood glucose. Cold is a greater difference from our normal body temperature, making it perceived as more of a threat and therefor reacted to faster than hot. On days when you can't do the full treatment, try to still end with cold!

When alternating hot and cold, each subsequent application is magnified by the application prior to it. The hot application magnifies the effects of the cold, the cold magnifies the effects of the hot and so on. Alternating applications acts a pump through the tissues, magnifying the movement of blood and lymph, maximizing the peripheral heart function, de-congesting and acting as an analgesic.

Skin Products cause damage to Kidney: WHO

NEW DELHI: Can't get enough of your new body lotion that makes your skin so much softer? Unfortunately, applying them could be causing your body serious damages. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning against skin lightening soaps, creams and cosmetics like eye makeup, cleansing products and mascara, saying they could be containing mercury.

The warning is serious, especially for Indians, as WHO said 61% of the dermatological market here consists of skin lightening products. WHO said the serious adverse effects of inorganic mercury, which is a common ingredient found in skin lightening soaps and creams, includes kidney damage, reduction in the skin's resistance to bacterial and fungal infections, anxiety, depression or psychosis and also peripheral neuropathy.

The global health watchdog pointed out that mercury in soaps and creams is eventually discharged into wastewater. The mercury, then, enters environment, where it becomes methylated, and enters the food chain as highly toxic methylmercury in fish. Pregnant women who consume fish containing methylmercury transfer the mercury to their fetuses that can later result in neurological deficits in children.

WHO said skin lightening soaps and creams are commonly used in certain African and Asian nations and dark-skinned populations in Europe and North America. Mercury salts inhibit the formation of melanin, resulting in a lighter skin tone.

"Some manufacturers are no longer using mercury as a preservative in mascara and eye makeup cleansing products as a result of consumer pressure. However, most jurisdictions still allow the sale of makeup products containing mercury compounds. The soaps contain approximately 1%-3% mercury iodide, and the creams are composed of 1%-10% mercury ammonium," WHO said.

It is imperative to check for mercury content on the packaging of the soaps, creams or other cosmetics before getting hooked to them.

WHO added, "The amount or concentration of mercury in a product may be labelled on the packaging or in the ingredient list. Names to look for include mercury, Hg, mercuric iodide, mercurous chloride, ammoniated mercury, amide chloride of mercury, quicksilver, cinnabaris, hydrargyri oxydum rubrum (mercury oxide), mercury iodide. Directions to avoid contact with silver, gold, rubber, aluminum and jewellery may also indicate the presence of mercury. However, companies selling products that contain mercury, do not always list it as an ingredient."

The United States Food and Drug Administration allows mercury compounds in eye area cosmetics at concentrations at or below 65 mg/kg expressed as mercury (approximately 100 mg/kg expressed as phenylmercuric acetate or nitrate). All other cosmetics must contain mercury at a concentration less than 1 mg/kg.

"India too is bringing in laws to regulate the cosmetic industry. We will regulate mercury use in soaps, creams and cosmetics," a health ministry official said.


Published in: The Times of India, June 5th, 2012.
Published in: The Times of India, 5th June 2012