Yoga and ayurveda will be trusted soon

August 7th, 2006

Yoga and ayurveda, despite being the oldest and most time-tested regimes known for maintaining good health and treating illness, do not command as much respect and trust as they deserve.

I can recall an international conference on cardiology that I reported on for my newspaper as a journalist a few years back. The five-day conference had a host of subjects to do with cardiology which were incisively discussed and lapped up by both local and national press.

A short session with probably the least participation from the experts and even the press, was devoted to yoga and ayurveda. However, there was almost no press coverage on what was deliberated in the session on the traditional science of health and well being. Even I was an unwilling participant reporting on the session for my newspaper - I myself was a diehard sceptic at the time about the ancient science of health and treating diseases.

A small piece I wrote in the evening and sent to the editor did not find space in the morning edition of my newspaper the following day. It was a total waste spending all that time at the session, when there was so much focus on the most sophisticated advances in the surgical equipments used in cardiac care. The traditional science did not have place even in the discussions of the well-healed and those who were in awe of the hi-tech wizardry.

Apollo Hospitals, a chain of the state-of-the-art multi-specialty health facilities and one of the eminent institutions in cardiac care in India, is grasping the efficacy of yoga. Sometime back I happened to see the prescription of a heart patient who had gone for cardiac investigation at the one of these hospitals - he was investigated for blocked arteries of his heart; the blockades reported ranged from 40-70%. The Apollo’s prescription read in no uncertain terms – Daily pranayama for an hour in the morning.

Pranayama is a set of breathing exercises under the regime of yoga for treating various health disorders.

Unfortunately, the general mindset on traditional science or even new discoveries from the third world reiterates that anything that is not endorsed by an American or a European authority on the subject is a sham or at least lacks credibility.

The mindset is too firm to change overnight. It may be a while before yoga and ayurveda get their pride of place and win the hearts of millions (particularly patients). Those who have experienced them and got relief in their various health problems have already placed their trust in the traditional systems.

The respect of many more may follow soon.

Entry Filed under: Yoga