Yoga for Thyroid

THe starting of my post should be devoted to apologizing to my blog/post viewers and readers. I have away for considerable amount of time, much so longer to be called as extinct.

When in started my blog on yoga, I had thought that i would write on my experiences, learnings and my own little innovations that i tried to do for my health, lifestyle and routine to keep myself healthy. i have recently changed jobs, location and came closer to my immediate family to take care of them due to a family loss.

While the new location is my hometown, the new job has been quite stressful to me and due to my habits, job issues, my health deteriorated. this is around 2-3 months back. I started having weakness in general accompanied with leg pains and exhaustion. after this continued for a while, i decided to get it checked from a doctor. The doctor seeing my symptoms prescribed for TSH test (which checks for thyroid stimulating hormone in body). The reading came out to be on a higher side as 6.92 (a healthy maximum being 5). I was horrified to say the least as i have always tried to be healthy but despite my  best efforts, circumstances have had a better gain on me. I was very stricken and decided to alter my routine, eating pattern and exercise for my health. i reduced on my oil, sugar and carbohydrates intake for my diet control and starting with pranayama in morning and exercise in evening after coming from work whenever i used to get time.

The morning pranyama was a no compromise routine for me along with reduction of carbohydrates at night meal and sugar. During the morning pranayama session, i used to start with pay more focus on Ujjayi and Kapalbhati pranayama often extending its duration to 20-30 minutes each. Though i also used to practice bhastrika, anulom-vilom, udgeeth pranayama. I did not do any specific asana aimed for thyroid but tried to focus on the Ujjayi and Kapalbhati pranayama. Ujjayi pranayama focuses on the throat area muscles and activates the thryoid gland. This can also serve as a tool for people who want to reduce obesity by regulating/increasing their metabolism if they feel that whatever they eat simply gets stored in their body.

Though the doctor had advised me to take 25mcg throid tablets, i decided to cure this on my own. this led me to choosing this sought of routine and the specific pranayama routine. I contuinued this routine for a month and decided to take a blood test to check the efficacy of this method. The blood test result showed improvement in my TSH levels from 6.92 to 4.8 during a month bringing the TSH level to a healthy normal.

I was glad to say the very least with the results and i decided to continue this further.

I am writing this incident to help people who think that allopathic medicine is the only cure for diseases like thyroid, etc. I would like to propel thinking of people into  a direction which makes them take their health in their hands for their own betterment and thier future.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask me!

 

 

The Meaning of PRANAYAM

What is the value of one drop of water?, One grain of rice?, do we need to eat pizza to survive or do we absolutely need to have a burger for lunch on a Sunday? Can we live without grains i.e. wheat and rice? Just on vegetables? Do we need to ne non-vegetarian or do we like to eat non-veg? how do we justify gorging on voluminous amounts of food in a meal when half of the people do not get a grain to eat before they go to bed?

These are the questions (and many others) that went racing through my mind as I started to write this post? As a person who follows the core values of Yoga, finding answers to these questions are not needed because he/she starts the day with these thoughts. The things that we take for granted are perhaps the ones that we won’t be able to live without. Yoga is a concept and a way to lead life rather than just being the means to keep oneself healthy and agile. Once you immerse yourself in yoga, you will realize that Yoga is ‘larger than life’. I am not preaching here to absolve oneself of worldly things but to look it at this way: ‘a lotus blossoms even in a pond filled with dirt, mud’.

My purpose of writing the above two opening paragraphs was to give you a pre-thought with which you can read the following content. If you practice pranayama with values like humility, respect for others and all living creatures, helping others, being generous and a positive attitude, it is going to work much faster in healing your mind and body together than you can imagine. I have practiced this and have derived the pleasure of ‘just’ sitting in a posture with an omnipresent feeling of satisfaction, happiness.

If practiced properly (with proper mind and body), Pranayama is the most powerful and most effective asanas ever devised. It has the capacity to completely revive one’s body and mind, remove all toxins, and purify the soul. At an advanced stage, pranayama translates into ‘Sadhna’ and ‘Siddhi’ which leads to ‘Kundalini jagran’ or ‘kundalini awakening’ or in English termed as ‘enlightenment’.

At the core of Pranayama is the concept of ‘shwaas’, i.e. ‘breathing’. Breathing in and out keeps us alive by pumping oxygen through our Red Blood cells that deliver the oxygen to the other parts of body. Unfortunately, this oxygen which is the life-giver also has the property of oxidation. A simple example would be the formation of rust on surface of iron by oxidation. This oxidation degrades the quality of cells, tissues continuously until they are dead and are replaced by new cells, tissues. This is aging process. Imagine if you were able to slow this down so you would age slowly. This is precisely what pranayama can do. The breathing process can be slowed down so that the metabolism rate slows down thus requiring lesser oxygen and hence the person keeps alive for more number of years and so lives longer. This is what saints aim to practice in seclusion, control over the breath and the power which keeps them alive.

“Pran” is a hindi term meaning life or something which gives life. “Ayama” means control. So, by extension, pranayama is ‘the control of life force’. Now, what is this life force that we are talking about and what does it do and why is it so important to control it? Our body is composed of five elements- earth, water, fire, ether and air. The last element is the most important because we can actually work with it which hence, gives us the ability to work with others as they are interconnected in the body. The air that we inhale and exhale is our ‘pran’ or ‘life force’. The various particles and elements present in our body cannot move by itself within the body. Air has that capacity that it can move them around in the body from one place to other and is present everywhere in the body- through our lungs, skin. If you are rid of this air, you get rid of life i.e. you are dead. Such is the power of this ‘pran’. A control over it can give endless fruits and can convert the body into a fort.

All the types of pranayama that I discussed in my last post aim at gaining control over this very ‘air exchange process’ from and to ‘lungs’. At their core are these fundamental procedures:

• Always inhale through nostrils. The air gets purified from dirt and particulate matter before it reaches lungs.
• Breathe into your lungs and not stomach. The inhaled air should fill till the diaphragm and not your stomach because lungs are the place where exchange of oxygen into RBC and carbon-dioxide from RBC happens.
• Do not take short breaths. They reduce your life on this planet. Everyone has a limited number of breaths available. If you can expand these number of breaths over a time, you live longer otherwise you live short. This is the simple principle over which saints can live so long because they can control their metabolism rate (reducing the oxidation rate) thus reducing the intake of oxygen and hence breathing less often. This gives them more time period to use a fixed number of breaths.
• Inhale and exhale slowly. It gives the time required to use oxygen from inhaled air to mix with RBC and for the carbon-dioxide to get out in exhaled air.

To gain full benefits of pranayama in extending them to ‘siddhi’, one should immerse in the almighty that has created this world and think that as he/she is breathing, one is taking in the pure air-filled with almighty’s blessings and giving off toxins in the form of exhaled air. Once you combine yourself with the almighty, you roam with ‘him’ through the universe experiencing it ‘his’ way and seeing what ‘he’ sees. This gives you the never before acquired wisdom and a profound way to express it to fellow human beings. Your brain can now use the remaining 98% or its capacity and you possess the ability to see with closed eyes the world without the need to move physically. This state of awareness is known as ‘enlightenment’ or kundalini awakening. The path to this is not easy and normal people do not indulge in it. Even otherwise, one can gain huge benefits as gain in concentration, alleviation of migraine, no breathing disorders, and increased eyesight. I have personally experienced the increase in eyesight and can tell you that it is a phenomenal experience. The mind just becomes very clear; you gain clarity in thoughts and become a more refined person.

Pranayama (प्राणायाम)

Yoga was invented by one of the most learned saints the Hindu culture has ever known. They were brilliant engineers and devised path-breaking ways to attain niryoga (the condition of being free from any disease) and to sustain it being within the limits of nature and using just the human body as a temple of learning.

Pranayama is unarguably one of the easiest and most effective asanas ever devised to keep your body healthy. It does not require any special preparation and in the easiest practices delivers great benefits to your body. There are several types of pranayamas that can be practiced. One only requires a good ventilated place, a mat to sit on (made of bad conductor of electricity-cloth, synthetic cloth etc) and full presence of mind with body.

Seven Pranayams are explained here which should be practiced atleast everyday to keep oneself healthy. These should be practiced in the order they are mentioned here:

• Bhastrika Pranayama:  This pranayama involves ‘deep breathing’. One can sit in ‘sukhasana’, ‘ padmasana’, ‘siddhasana’ pose to practice this or any of the following six pranayamas. If unable to sit properly, it can be carried out by sitting on a chair also. After sitting properly, the person needs to breathe deep into his/her lungs so as to fill them completely with air till diaphragm. The stomach will not receive any air in this process, only lungs. At start, this process can be carried out slowly and with practice, it can be increased in duration. Generally, with the other six pranayamas, it can be practiced for 3-5 minutes.

Benefits:  helps in relieving cold, cough, asthma, sinus, and other breathing problems. Lungs become stronger and you become more energetic. Diseases associated with thyroid and tonsils are taken care off. The mind becomes more stable in thinking.

• Kapalbhati Pranayama:  This involves breathing in and exhaling rapidly by using muscles of stomach and the whole respiratory system. The velocity of air going in is less and of the air going on will be higher. This is done breath by breath. Initially, it can be practiced for 3-4 minutes with breaks in between. With practice it can be taken to 5 or 10 or even 15 minutes continuously. Achieving this state will require lot of practice and effort.  This is one of most powerful pranayamas.

Benefits: Increased glow on face and a halo effect creation. All diseases related to breathing, heart, mind is cured. It is particularly useful in Obesity, diabetes, kidney problems, prostate issues and constipation. Arteriosclerosis can also be cured by its regular practice.

• Bahaya Pranayama:  This calls for exhaling all the air from body through respiratory system and maintaining the body as such till one can sustain. During this time, the stomach should go inside completely, head should be bent 90 degrees towards the chest and the anus should be retracted. Maintaining this posture requires considerable effort. After one is tired, he/she can start inhaling slowly.

Benefits: This is useful for diseases of liver, abdomen, digestion. It also boosts manhood.

• Anulom-Vilom Pranayama: This involves inhaling through one nostril and exhaling through the other. During this process, the one nostril will be closed with the help of thumb of the other side hand and three fingers of same hand when the other nostril is to be closed. Its duration should be kept same as of ‘Kapalbhati Pranayama’.

 Benefits: Completely removes Arteriosclerosis and all heart problems. Keeps cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL in check. It provides benefits for diseases associated with breathing also.

• Brahmari Pranamaya: This involves inhaling completely and during exhaling, index finger to be rested on forehead, thumbs closing ears and rest three fingers on eyes of both hands. Also, during exhaling, voicing of ‘Om’ is done.

Benefits: Helpful in High Blood Pressure, heart diseases, stress, aggressiveness and for meditation.

• Udgeeth Pranayama: During this pranayama, regular inhaling and exhaling goes on and while exhaling, the word ‘om’ is pronounced till the breath dies.

Benefits: Helps in strong meditative powers and achieving concentration.

• Ujjaayi Pranayama: This involves inhaling by keeping the neck constricted so that there is  a drag noise while inhaling, keeping the air in for a while and exhaling by keeping one nostril closed.

Benefits: helps in snoring, all thyroid related problems.

Before Asanas

Many people on the account being told about the magical powers of Yoga jump on it and start practicing random set of asanas. Seldom does the thought of preparing for Yoga crosses their mind. They want to experience the benefits of yoga within an hour of practice. This is like seeing your retirement money when you have just started investing for it.

Since, yoga is a science, it needs diligent preparation. Just as one would prepare for running by warming up, Yoga also needs warming up. Though ‘Asanas’ are meant to bring greater flexibility in our body and gradually heal the body making it free of diseases, Constipation is the greatest enemy of Yoga. Yoga should never be practiced if one is suffering from constipation. It brings more harm than health to body. There are some exercises and asanas that help alleviate constipation along with a little change in routine. Tea, coffee should never be had empty stomach, instead warm water should be taken. Water is a natural toxin reducing agent and helps remove constipation. Diet should consist of more roughage (that is salad) which helps in bowel movements. Buttermilk is also a good addition to lunch to cool the body. Walking empty stomach after consuming 3-4 glasses of water in morning reduces constipation also. ‘Triphala churna (an ayurvedic medicine)’ when administered at night before sleeping reduces constipation.  ‘Mandukasana’ and ‘Kapalbhati Pranayama’ are very helpful in reducing constipation permanently. As we will see in later posts that ‘Pranayama’ is in itself a big part of Yoga, its variants have different powers and as such combined, it is very powerful.

‘Shatkarm’ is also the purest form of preparation before practicing Yoga. It is a Hindi word meaning six exercises. These are ‘Neti’, ‘Dhauti’, ‘Nauli’, ‘Basti’, ‘Tratak’ and ‘Kapalbhati’. All are Hindi words and signify cleaning of different organs.

Neti cleans the nasal tract. It can be done with water, a thread, milk or even ghee. The head tilts in one direction and from the other direction, water/milk can be poured in through the nostril so that it comes out from the other nostril. This activity cleans the nasal passage for respiratory asanas like Pranayama.

Dhauti cleans the digestive passage. It is performed with a thin muslin cloth. Lubricated with warm water, it is swallowed to the stomach, stomach movement performed, and then it is retracted. This is a hard ‘kriya’ and takes practice to perform it to satisfaction. It cleans the complete stomach, esophagus and the mouth passage.

Nauli cleans the abdominal passage consisting of the intestines and stomach. It is performed in a slight bent pose with hands on knees for providing effort. With exhaling, an act of taking the air in through the anus is performed and the stomach is moved in a circle.

Basti is the act of cleaning the colon area more vigorously. It involves taking the water in through the anus, cycling it through the intestines and expelling it thereafter.

Tratak is for cleaning of eyes and provides power to them. It involves gazing at a point (a lamp, or a mark on wall) until the eyes water.

Kapalbhati cleans the respiratory passage. It involves forcing the breath through nostrils while exhaling so that the abdominal muscles are involved. It provides power to lungs, heart and the respiratory veins, arteries.

The place to practice Yoga also has a bearing. The place should be open, free from pollution and noise and ideally facing east. A mat (which is a bad conductor or electricity) can be used to sit during practicing Yoga. Practicing Yoga in the morning gives the maximum benefit to the body and mind.

Routine

Why this topic? There is a need to be educated about basics before studying advanced courses, correct? So, before we imagine our self to be a ‘Yogi’, we need to know about our body, how it reacts to different kinds of food and what keeps it going.

A healthy mind sits in a healthy body; similarly, a healthy body cannot sit without a routine. People, who do not have a routine, have and continue to abuse their bodies. We should be grateful of the body as a gift and should preserve it and return it to God upon their request in the best condition we can.

Laws of nature should always be followed because our body is composed of natural elements (five in number-water, air, fire, earth and void or null). The closest one remains to nature, the healthier one is-this should always be remembered before eating or doing anything.

The day should always be started early. And by early, it means before sunrise. This not only helps in getting the fresh, unpolluted air in your lungs but also, it keeps your eyes healthy and sharp. The first thing to be done after getting up after cleaning the mouth is to drink 3-4 glasses of water. Water is a natural element and helps remove toxins from body through blood. If obese, hot water can be taken with honey and lemon in it. Honey activates the metabolism and lemon cleans the tracts. The heat of the water melts the extra fat. Reverse of this, which is cold water with honey, puts weight on. Any form of exercise is necessary in the morning. It can be as simple as walking. Walking and swimming are low impact exercises and can be chosen to give good results. The only difference is in the rate of calories (actually counted in kilocalories) burned. Climbing stairs is another good example with high rate of fat burning. Avoid climbing down and take the elevators instead. All these exercise should reduce the fat content to make the body more suitable for Yoga. There are several ‘yogic’ pre-exercises that I will mention later which make the body suitable for asanas and finally meditation. Breakfast should be taken after bathing. Bathing opens the skin pores and body gets more oxygen with which it can burn more food into energy which is required at the start of the day.

A good breakfast should contain all elements in appropriate content. Sprouted grams with lentils (both soaked overnight) is an excellent breakfast. To add taste, tomatoes, green chilies, onions and salt can be used. Sprouted grams and lentils have high amount of proteins and carbohydrates plus the roughage which the body needs for proper bowel movement. Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin A and C, chilies also in Vitamin C. Bananas if added complete the meal. Bananas have a very high amount of carbohydrates along with high amounts of potassium. This potassium with sodium chloride of salt completes the electrolyte needs of body for ions transport. Tea if needed should be without milk and sugar (sugar can be substituted by honey). Green tea is much better than black tea because it has a high amount of anti-oxidants in it.

Lunch should be light. Wheat bread with vegetables as sandwich can be had. Spicy content should be avoided. Salad should constitute for most part of food. Buttermilk can be consumed to keep the body cool. Never sleep after lunch or during the day. It breeds diseases. After lunch, rest can be given to body.

Evening requires a walk or an exercise of any form. If practicing yoga, it should be done after atleast 4 hours after eating. Fruits should be consumed in the evening. Seasonal fruits are best kind of fruits that can be taken during this time of day. Non-seasonal fruits should be avoided.

Dinner should be the lightest component of food, preferable without any main cereal like wheat or rice. Vegetable curry or salad is the best dinner because it is light and gives the required amount of nutrients without asking the body to store unused carbohydrates as fat. Sleep early to get up early.

In this whole routine, the idea is to remain as close to natural products and ways as possible. Prefer natural air over air-conditioned air, prefer walking over driving a short distance, prefer fruits over baked, dried, fried or artificially made products. Prefer to smile over frowning, prefer positive thoughts over negative, prefer playing tennis than playing chess.

Yoga in conjunction with a good routine works wonders on body and makes both the body and mind beautiful!

What is Yoga-2?

Yoga is a way of living life. One’s actions govern for most part what we have in store for us in future. Actions originate from thoughts. Some thoughts are random, some rational. The rational thoughts decide our most necessary actions. Random thoughts decide our impulse actions. Our routine comes from the necessary actions and has a bearing on our general well being. Yoga teaches us to concentrate on these necessary actions and suit them to meet our physical needs of well being. For example, yoga teaches us to follow a particular routine for a day. This routine has at its base the important parameters of time and energy. It sets the time to get up in morning, what to do after getting up in an order that will promote healthy lifestyle, what to eat and what kind to eat at what time of day is also a critical factor as food determines the energy obtained from nature. Going through the day and how to end is also involved.

Along with the time and energy factors, another important factor- our thoughts that we harbor during the day is also a major component that decides our mental well being. The types of thoughts decide what kind of energy-positive or negative that flows in and from your body. This will decide one’s relationships with others on a day to day basis. A good thought process like returning a smile, helping others, sharing others happiness and sorrows etc breeds positive energy.

What is Yoga?

A person inclined to better his/her physical and mental health would have surely come across this term. People start preaching at the outset. Nobody says what it is, or where it came from but rather DO IT! It is very good for health. A reasoning attitude would put off lot of people at the starting who could have had benefitted strongly from Yoga and its great side-effects.

‘Yoga’ comes from a Hindi term ‘योग (read as Yog)’ meaning ‘to join or unite’ but to join what? Yoga is a scientific technique devised by great Indian saints centuries ago to control and cure the body at the same time. They believed that the human body is a temple of learning which needs to be understood completely before they forayed at other creatures. Just as one would go to a temple in search of knowledge and wisdom, so did they. Yoga does the job of a physical healing through its ‘asanas’ and the job of mental healing through ‘meditation’ both of which are at the core of the technique. Infact, the asanas were invented by the saints to make the body pure, free of diseases and conducive to meditation so that the utmost concentration could be achieved. Yoga UNITES oneself with the higher one through mind. Mind realizes its potential through meditation and unlocks the mysteries of universe. This stage is called ‘Enlightenment’ and often leads to salvation or moksha. The part leading from meditation to Enlightenment is called as ‘Kundalini Yoga’ and it is a secret science. Because of this power, Yoga was a secret science and only few chosen (disciples) were bestowed with the secrets by their masters.

Most of us in our present day lives care little about Enlightenment and more about our general wellbeing. Yoga accomplishes this as well through its asanas and one can forego the latter stage of meditation which requires perseverance, persistence and dedication. A person can start with very simple and basic asanas and through practice relish the early benefits which can lead way to difficult asanas. Infact, prior to starting asanas, there is a body cleansing mechanism in which an individual should engage himself so that asanas have the desired effect and do not harm. Asanas have the possibility (small one though) to harm if not done in a correct way.

The key to Yoga is ‘time’ and ‘continuity’. If one is continuous and gives good amount of time to practice, he/she can cure CANCER, such is the power of Yoga! (and this is true)