I have just completed a week at The School For Perfect Eyesight in Pondichery, Tamil Nadu.In only one little week of eye exercises and not wearing my glasses (a terrifying prospect in a city where you have no idea where you're going and you can't tell if that's a cow, a rickshaw, or an elephant coming towards you) I have reduced my prescription by 0.5 in each eye and completely reduced the cylindrical deviation to normal.
Impossible you think? Well I am living proof. Let me tell you all about it. We arrived at the school. A beautiful colonial building which is a part of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondichery. Within minutes our eye sight was being checked. Jose apparently was mildly crosseyed (not that I ever noticed) and my eyes went in the opposite direction. Who knew! No one ever pointed this out to me before!We were given a set of exercises to perform right away - 2 times a day for the next week.
The first torture I had to endure was horrific - a drop of honey in each eye while I swayed my body in the sun! I recommend no one try this - it burns like a mofo. (lucky Jose only had to put saline solution in his eyes). The other exercises were much simpler and even enjoyable. Playing with a tennis ball, reading itty bitty print in candle light, and looking at all kinds of charts.Who would've thought! After such a simple workout my eyes would actually improved, and I would have no problem walking the strange streets of Pondichery blind. And even though we cheated for 2 days (renting a scooter and going to visit nearby Auroville
(which is a whole adventure onto itself) and thus wearing our spectacles the whole day) We both improved our vision significantly.
Another Allopathic myth busted. My optometrist (as lovely as he is) could be out of a job. And what does this cost you ask? Well besides the flight to India, the $3 a day for accomodation and the $3 a day for food and the occasional beer - we're talking nothing but what your own generous heart wishes to donate. And as we left we each receive a cute little package with an eye cup for washing our eyes, eye charts, an eye patch, and some sweet tasty honey (for my tea of course).
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Yoga Therapy part deux
To continue from the previous post:
After performing Karma Yoga, which consisted of sanding down the very rusty door to the studio and then priming it (I know you're all thinking I'm a sucker doing manual labour for free) we got to rest. This meant doing Suddoku puzzles. Then another dose of Asana practice and then dinner. We're starving by this time.
Afterwards we received a good dose of Satsang - or a lecture on spirituality to stimulate our minds. This was followed by an evening meditation and then bedtime. Needless to say they kept us busy.
But what was the point of all this???
As I said before the goal is to find self realization. Am I any closer to such a lofty goal, I have no idea. But I certainly deepened my meditation practice and somehow appear to be needing less sleep. A big achievement in my books.
Another big goal is healing and promoting health through balancing the mind and the body. Asanas are used to strengthen the body and keep in flexible - keeping the stiffness and deterioration of age at bay. According to my teacher Harilal it is a treatment for everything from diabetes and arthritis to asthma - all diseases originating in the mind. Through meditation one gains an understanding of the mind and hence these illnesses disapear.
In yoga therapy one is given specific exercises to practice. Both physical asanas as well as mental exercises. Also one receives internal cleansing protocols. Most of which I find nasty - like pouring water through the nose or cleaning the stomach by swallowing a cloth. Anyone out there ready to experiment with such things and let me know how it goes?
The name of the Ashram is Arsha Yoga Gurukulam. It is located in Idduki in the western Ghats of Kerala. I don't have their website but I promise to post it soon. The magnificent and knowledgable hosts are Harilal and his disciple Sudarsh. I highly recommend this beutiful, tranquil place. Just watch out for the ants and spiders.
Currently Jose and I are in Pondichery Tamil Nadu working on our eyesight. This place is incredible and we're both blown away by the results. For all the delicious details stay tuned to the next edition.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Yoga Therapy, shhhhh part one
Most of us have heard of Yoga, or even dabbled in a few classes. We know it's a set of postures that you do to increase strength, flexibility, and endurance. We these great Yogis in ridiculous pretzels and we hope one day to reach these heights of flexibility and hell it might improve your sex life.
But Asana (posture) practice is not even the tip of the ice berg when it comes to Yoga. It is merely an aid in calming the mind and strengthening the body for meditation. Self realization is the ultimate goal of this all encompassing practice and lifestyle.
In order to delve further into the art and science of Yoga Jose and I fled to the Western Ghats (mountains in Kerala) to spend time in an ashram dedicated to the study of yoga. Our program included pranayama, asanas, karma yoga, meditation, and mind calming meals. We lived with a mildly regimented schedule. Waking up at 6:45 to head up to the yoga hall or, weather permitting, the hill with a spectacular view of Idduki lake and wildlife reserve. Here we practiced early morning Pranayama - or breathing meditation. Pranayama actually means controlling the prana or energy (also known as chi)/ If you can control your breath you control the energy system of your body. This was also followed by what was always an intensely deep meditation - finished with a rewarding view of lake, mountains and forest.
We then got to relish a warm cup of tea before heading back up the hill to the yoga studio for Asana practice. Unlike Yoga classes I've taken in the west our asana practice involved more rest than anything. After ever posture we would rest on our backs in corpse pose for several minutes before continuing.
Following our morning calisthenics we got to eat breakfast which like our other daily meal consisted mostly of rice with some mild curries. nothing too stimulating to the taste buds or the mind. From there we usually took a small a break before heading back up the hill to perform karma Yoga. The idea is that by performing unpaid labour, or I mean selfless work for the sake of working at your best and looking for perfection, you will come closer to enlightenment or self realization.
and what is enlightenment? and what does yoga have to do with healing - stay tuned for the next edition of holistic nomad (to be updated in the next couple of days)
But Asana (posture) practice is not even the tip of the ice berg when it comes to Yoga. It is merely an aid in calming the mind and strengthening the body for meditation. Self realization is the ultimate goal of this all encompassing practice and lifestyle.
In order to delve further into the art and science of Yoga Jose and I fled to the Western Ghats (mountains in Kerala) to spend time in an ashram dedicated to the study of yoga. Our program included pranayama, asanas, karma yoga, meditation, and mind calming meals. We lived with a mildly regimented schedule. Waking up at 6:45 to head up to the yoga hall or, weather permitting, the hill with a spectacular view of Idduki lake and wildlife reserve. Here we practiced early morning Pranayama - or breathing meditation. Pranayama actually means controlling the prana or energy (also known as chi)/ If you can control your breath you control the energy system of your body. This was also followed by what was always an intensely deep meditation - finished with a rewarding view of lake, mountains and forest.
We then got to relish a warm cup of tea before heading back up the hill to the yoga studio for Asana practice. Unlike Yoga classes I've taken in the west our asana practice involved more rest than anything. After ever posture we would rest on our backs in corpse pose for several minutes before continuing.
Following our morning calisthenics we got to eat breakfast which like our other daily meal consisted mostly of rice with some mild curries. nothing too stimulating to the taste buds or the mind. From there we usually took a small a break before heading back up the hill to perform karma Yoga. The idea is that by performing unpaid labour, or I mean selfless work for the sake of working at your best and looking for perfection, you will come closer to enlightenment or self realization.
and what is enlightenment? and what does yoga have to do with healing - stay tuned for the next edition of holistic nomad (to be updated in the next couple of days)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
A Brush with Ayurveda
So much has happened since this next story, that it feels like a far off memory, even if it was only a week ago.
While in a small beach resort called Varkala, I had the opportunity to check out one of the therapies in South India's traditional medicine Ayurveda. It's history was first documented in the Rig Veda - one of the holy Vedic Indian texts dating to around 3000BC. Apparently the oldest Indo-European text in existence. Ayurveda is probably the oldest existant medical tradition in the world. And it has become one of the primary tourist attractions in Varkala.
Varkala has over 46 ayurvedic clinics and hospitals, so after a long day riding on a scooter through the rough backroads of Kerala I decided to see if an ayurvedic massage would do me some good.
I had just come from the beach as I walked through the door of the clinic looking for the Doctor. I had read all about her, she had been practising for about 10 years and had been an attending physician at several hospitals. So I asked for a massage. she told me what I would get, I negotiated the price with her and she guided me to a small room with a massage table that looked more like an instrument of torture. With a hole for the face, and a cross bar on which to rest the arms. (earlier that day we had come across a more traditional table made of wood, hmmm comfy. I'll post a pic of it soon).
I was then instructed to get naked - and there I was standing in my birthday suit with the door wide open (there goes any sense of Indian modesty). Her assistant then tied a little loin cloth to me - a g-string loin cloth who's point I guess was to protect (just barely) my tender parts. The doctor then stepped out the door and the assistant began to vigurously scrub my head with copious amounts of oil. I was then instructed to lay down and the rubbing of my entire body begun. Nothing was missed not even a butt cheek.
However I felt the massage was rough, I could feel the rough skin on the hands of the masseur. I even felt littel bits of grainy skin coming off on me - yuck! I even complained to the Doc. who said I was the first ever to complain of such things.
I was given a warm bucket shower. I then went to my room in the guest house and noticed my feet were still covered in sand from the beach. Oops! I rushed bak to the clinic and apologized profusely - explaining the roughness must have been from the left over sand. My apology was warmly accepted with a hug. No hard feelings!
I do have to say I felt great! My neck was loose and every muscle was content. Many foreigners silike this type of massage however because of the huge amounts of oil used (it took 2 days of washing for my hair to stop like I was from the cast of Grease) and it's not the deep tissue massage that we are used to. the point of ayurvedic massage is to stimulate and sooth the nervouse system. An I have to say it really does work.
Next post I'll talk about the hugging Amma's Ashram.
Tomorrow we're heading to an Ashram in the middle of the Keralan mountains for Yoga and good tea.
Love n light
While in a small beach resort called Varkala, I had the opportunity to check out one of the therapies in South India's traditional medicine Ayurveda. It's history was first documented in the Rig Veda - one of the holy Vedic Indian texts dating to around 3000BC. Apparently the oldest Indo-European text in existence. Ayurveda is probably the oldest existant medical tradition in the world. And it has become one of the primary tourist attractions in Varkala.
Varkala has over 46 ayurvedic clinics and hospitals, so after a long day riding on a scooter through the rough backroads of Kerala I decided to see if an ayurvedic massage would do me some good.
I had just come from the beach as I walked through the door of the clinic looking for the Doctor. I had read all about her, she had been practising for about 10 years and had been an attending physician at several hospitals. So I asked for a massage. she told me what I would get, I negotiated the price with her and she guided me to a small room with a massage table that looked more like an instrument of torture. With a hole for the face, and a cross bar on which to rest the arms. (earlier that day we had come across a more traditional table made of wood, hmmm comfy. I'll post a pic of it soon).
I was then instructed to get naked - and there I was standing in my birthday suit with the door wide open (there goes any sense of Indian modesty). Her assistant then tied a little loin cloth to me - a g-string loin cloth who's point I guess was to protect (just barely) my tender parts. The doctor then stepped out the door and the assistant began to vigurously scrub my head with copious amounts of oil. I was then instructed to lay down and the rubbing of my entire body begun. Nothing was missed not even a butt cheek.
However I felt the massage was rough, I could feel the rough skin on the hands of the masseur. I even felt littel bits of grainy skin coming off on me - yuck! I even complained to the Doc. who said I was the first ever to complain of such things.
I was given a warm bucket shower. I then went to my room in the guest house and noticed my feet were still covered in sand from the beach. Oops! I rushed bak to the clinic and apologized profusely - explaining the roughness must have been from the left over sand. My apology was warmly accepted with a hug. No hard feelings!
I do have to say I felt great! My neck was loose and every muscle was content. Many foreigners silike this type of massage however because of the huge amounts of oil used (it took 2 days of washing for my hair to stop like I was from the cast of Grease) and it's not the deep tissue massage that we are used to. the point of ayurvedic massage is to stimulate and sooth the nervouse system. An I have to say it really does work.
Next post I'll talk about the hugging Amma's Ashram.
Tomorrow we're heading to an Ashram in the middle of the Keralan mountains for Yoga and good tea.
Love n light
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Dr. Sunil Anand in Ottawa
Behavioral disorders in children and chronic pathology in adults
with
Dr. Sunil Anand
Over 20 years experience as a practitioner. Hon. Professor at D.S. Homeopathic medical college, Pune, India.
Ottawa, Canada
May 12nd & 13rd, 2007
A close associate of Dr. Rajan Sankaran. Sunil is an articulate and masterful teacher as well as a delightful and warm person.
…Sunil Anand gave a beautiful lecture about remedies from the Silver Series. It was beautiful to see how he handled the cases. There was no forcing needed. A great learning experience - Jan Scholten
…Sunil carefully guides those studying with him through the most important features of the case and brings the analysis all together in a way that is very easy to understand and yet very profound – Murray Feldman
Price: Before and on April 15th: $375
After April 15th: $425
(Group discounts available)
Also available ongoing video course & study circle based on kingdom classification method(a.k.a Sankaran’s method) in Ottawa
For registration and further details contact:
Anshev B. Bhardwejj:
(613) 523-0582
anshevb@yahoo.ca
Catching Up, Allopathy vs. Natural Medicine
it's 9:15pm in the Keralan heat as I sit in a dingy internet cafe writing on a sticky keyboard. We're in a small city called Kollam (or Quilam) where one can hire a boat and go explore the backwaters of Kerala. The bakwaters are a series of rivers, canals and lakes that connect a significant part of the state.
We began our journey into Kerala in Trivandrum - nearing the southernmost tip of India. We arrived by plane from Bombay - that an adventure in itself. Though we planed to quickly move through the city and head to the beach, we got stuck with dis-ease. Jose had a bad case of Delhi belly (or maybe Pune belly). He was so dehydrated that we finally decided that yes the hospital was an appropriate place to go. After struggling to find a rickshaw driver who understood the word hopital we made it to Govindras hospital. A lovely place set in a Colonial House. Within seconds of paying 50 rupees for a hospital card we got to see the Dr. He looked at Jose's tongue at declared that he was dehydrated and prescribed and I.V. right away.
The nurse led us to an open area of the hotel, i mean hospital, where Jose was able to commune with nature as he recieved inter venous nourishment, while I lay down on the bed next to him. 2 hours later the water back in his system we go to see the Dr. as we're about to get discharged Jose, to my horror, passes out into the Doctor's arms. More I.V. the Doc declares. 2 hours later we're discharged with probiotics, rehydration solution, and a bottle for a stool culture. I was amazed, they didn't try to give him a single drug, treated him with respect using only natural forms of medicine. That and a dose of homeopathic Sulfur from me.
That morning I awoke with a painful kink in my neck. For me the doc at the hospital prescribed muscle relaxants. Next thing I know I feel weak and dizzy, and by evening I have a fever and I'm delirious. We all the hospital and they tell me I have a viral fever, if I need to come in the morning I should. I guided Jose through my Homeopathic computer program and we came to the remedy Aconite (I was terrified, my neck hurt, and i had a nasty fever). That calmed me down a great deal. Then the intense headache started, I got insatiably thirsty and every movement was an agonizing ordeal. I took a dose of Bryonia - a remedy that has helped me many times in the past. By morning I was weak but able to rest and eat. The next morning we both had enough strength or the one hour train journey to Varkala.
I think the drugs the Doctor gave me may have made me sick or at the least didn't help my neck in the least, while homeopathy got me through the night. I also met several people in the last few days who suffered from bad fevers for several days and were given antibiotics by medical professionals. Hurray for alternative medicine. Next time I'll talk about my Ayurvedic experience in Varkala - now it's time for bed.
We began our journey into Kerala in Trivandrum - nearing the southernmost tip of India. We arrived by plane from Bombay - that an adventure in itself. Though we planed to quickly move through the city and head to the beach, we got stuck with dis-ease. Jose had a bad case of Delhi belly (or maybe Pune belly). He was so dehydrated that we finally decided that yes the hospital was an appropriate place to go. After struggling to find a rickshaw driver who understood the word hopital we made it to Govindras hospital. A lovely place set in a Colonial House. Within seconds of paying 50 rupees for a hospital card we got to see the Dr. He looked at Jose's tongue at declared that he was dehydrated and prescribed and I.V. right away.
The nurse led us to an open area of the hotel, i mean hospital, where Jose was able to commune with nature as he recieved inter venous nourishment, while I lay down on the bed next to him. 2 hours later the water back in his system we go to see the Dr. as we're about to get discharged Jose, to my horror, passes out into the Doctor's arms. More I.V. the Doc declares. 2 hours later we're discharged with probiotics, rehydration solution, and a bottle for a stool culture. I was amazed, they didn't try to give him a single drug, treated him with respect using only natural forms of medicine. That and a dose of homeopathic Sulfur from me.
That morning I awoke with a painful kink in my neck. For me the doc at the hospital prescribed muscle relaxants. Next thing I know I feel weak and dizzy, and by evening I have a fever and I'm delirious. We all the hospital and they tell me I have a viral fever, if I need to come in the morning I should. I guided Jose through my Homeopathic computer program and we came to the remedy Aconite (I was terrified, my neck hurt, and i had a nasty fever). That calmed me down a great deal. Then the intense headache started, I got insatiably thirsty and every movement was an agonizing ordeal. I took a dose of Bryonia - a remedy that has helped me many times in the past. By morning I was weak but able to rest and eat. The next morning we both had enough strength or the one hour train journey to Varkala.
I think the drugs the Doctor gave me may have made me sick or at the least didn't help my neck in the least, while homeopathy got me through the night. I also met several people in the last few days who suffered from bad fevers for several days and were given antibiotics by medical professionals. Hurray for alternative medicine. Next time I'll talk about my Ayurvedic experience in Varkala - now it's time for bed.
Monday, February 12, 2007
OSHO Tales of a Madman
Jose and I have both joined a robe wearing, mad dancing, cathartic releasing, hugging and laughing, crazy cult. Ok so I became a card carrying member a long time ago, but this time I brought along another victim!
The Osho Ashram continues to grow in ways I'm not so supportive of, but at the same time the loving essence of a brilliant teacher still remains, and those on a spiritual quest can begin here. It's a great place to learn the language and teachings of spiritual masters from around the world. From Jesus to Mahavaira, Hasidism to Buddhism - you will find all these at Osho's commune (now commercially known as a Meditation Resort).
Is healing to be found here? Absolutely. As long as you have the money to come and stay for an extended period of time. If this is available to you than there is a lot to learn, and many opportunities to connect with meditation and spirituality both of which are inextricably linked to health and healing. When we find awareness disease is no longer necessary. Illness is a signal that something is amiss, but when we're fully aware, fully awakened the warning light is not required. There is a growing amount of medical evicence to confirm this ancient knowledge. Click here to read about it on the BBC, or click here to read about what NCAM has to say about it.
My favourite meditation at the Ashram, is the evening meditation, also known as white robe (becaues everyone must come in dressed in a white robe). This provides the best opportunity to hear and see (on video of course) Osho. It combines the best of Osho's teachings and meditations: dancing, giberish, satsang, silent sitting, and most of all celebration Osho was very adamant about life being a cause for celebration. Here is what seems to me a great unbiased article from Wikipedia you can make up your own mind. But the one thing I can say is Osho taught people to find joy in life, to let go of their hang-ups and concentrate on the most important things. For the religious and political establishment this was considered was sacrilege, and immorality. Explore your sexuality with love and awareness, meditate, find the truth for yourself, be kind, radiate love, stand up for what you believe in, don't follow societal construction if you do not agree with them, work to bring awareness to the world. Universal teachings that to me work towards global healing.
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