Tulsi for cold, dhurva for longevity, bilwa for cleansing, vallarai for memory power, curry leaves for indigestion and good hair growth and a host of other herbs are the saviours from tiny ailments in villages.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. A garlic clove a day chases asthma away. A carrot a day keeps the ophthalmologist away . . . a dentist away and cancer away. Deep breathing exercises 20 minutes a day can keep most diseases away. A few yogasanas a day can keep most diseases away.
These are some of the sayings that we don't trust. Everyone one of us has some health ailment or the other. Some have severe headaches, others develop breathing problems, yet others get serious problems such as heart or lung ailments. But have you ever taken an apple or carrot a day as you must have learnt by heart in your primary school?
We don't trust nature. Most of us do not drink rainwater. Rainwater may be slightly contaminated with dust and other chemicals on the first day and from the roof that may be coated with chemicals, but one can harvest it directly from the skies. Keep a clean tub right in the open on the terrace. This can be done the second day of heavy rain. The first day, the water from the skies can wash away dust and other particles in the atmosphere. Then it can be double-filtered and stored in huge drums. This water can be filtered again for drinking.
One must experience the taste of rainwater. It is heavenly. An Australian study has confirmed that rainwater is very much safe for drinking and other household purposes and does not cause any illness. Most people have installed a rainwater harvesting system but use this water for bathing and washing and rarely for drinking.
Children love the rains. They love snapping those bubbles and having a bath. But today you find a lot of elders shooing them away from having fun in the rain all because they think they will catch a cold. Don't you get a cold even when you don't bath in rain? Your hair shines so well after a bath in rain/rainwater.
Working late or watching movies most of us have lost the habit of waking up early and doing some form of exercise. Schools back in the 1960s had morning prayer and some exercises in the open sunlight for about half-an-hour. Although yogasanas and breathing techniques have gained importance (more in the West), we turn to them for style, or when we have some ailment that refuses to budge with our popping pills.
Ancient texts kept at the Saraswathi Mahal library in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, about breathing exercises have this to say. Practising a certain type of deep breathing while studying (alternate right and left nostril breathing) can improve memory power and help you retain whatever you are studying. This text says that breathing should be practised on an empty stomach pretty early in the morning (studying early in the morning some time before sunrise). The text says that this way, you cannot forget whatever you have read. This is because the oxygen that enters your body clears congestion in the brain and enables it to retain whatever you have read with concentration in memory.
Deep breathing exercises practised just for about 10-20 minutes a day can improve eyesight, cure constipation, ward off most diseases. A person practising Asanas rarely gets any degenerative disease. It is advisable to learn these breathing exercises and yogasanas from a practitioner as there are rules about doing the same and they can cause harm if done in haste or on a heavy stomach or when ill.
While you can get rid of most skin problems by taking a sun-bath, we have the habit of seeing the sun when we travel to our workplace and on weekends after a late breakfast. Suryanamaskars have become a religious sign or practised to help us rid ourselves of paunches.
We use polyester garments and rarely expose ourselves to cool air or sunlight. The fresh air can give you a cold or fever. We get the idea that standing in cool air can give us a cold whereas overeating and eating junk foods or drinking colas cannot.
A lot many people are scared of tasting seasonal fruits. Mangoes are a ‘no' ‘no' for fear of our sugar levels rising or our getting diabetes. Whoever said fruits will usher in diabetes, and not a sedentary lifestyle and wrong eating habits? Bananas no, potatoes no, carrots no. There are a lot of self-analysed ‘Nos.'
Tulsi for cold, dhurva for longevity, bilwa for cleansing, vallarai for memory power, curry leaves for indigestion and good hair growth and a host of other herbs are the saviours from minor ailments in villages. People living in cities cannot even identify common herbs, much less use them to benefit. Looks like we don't trust nature.
(The writer's email is: sathyavijay1@yahoo.com)
Keywords: nature, garlic clove, health issues
Comments:
Ignorance,indifference,irreverence towards any therapy that is indigenous and most of all idleness to act and impatience to get the results, indulgence in unhealthy habits drives us all away from reaping the benefits out of the recuperative powers of he human body and Mother >Nature.Blame it on our habits.
As remarked by the Vijay in the above mentioned open truths about the health and modern life , there is an another point to be noted. In these days the priorities of the people are changing in such an unknown direction that they are unable to choose between these valuable information available in our vedas and the modern culture which has made them sick for so many reasons. So one must recognize the importance of the olden days' valuable information and the try to inculcate them in our lives to the possible extent.
This article is meant for everyone and is a reminder that our life is really simple but, in the name of modernity, we make it unnecessarily complicated. As in every sphere of our life, in matters of health also, we indulge in show-off & try to issue false style-statements about ourselves. The result is that we end-up befooling ourselves and pay heavily for our faulty health habits. The resultant costs; in terms of our health, money & time; are getting prohibitive day by day. If the U.S.;which consumes 7 times the percapita resources as compared to world's average; can't ensure a proper and cost-effective health system to its citizens, how can we? The medicare available to us is either very costly or simply unreliable.The Insurance companies are contemplating a big increase in health insurance premiums as they have been facing huge losses on this account. The only way out is to go back to the basics, understand the importance of preventive health care and keep the things simple.
"An Australian study has confirmed that rainwater is very much safe for drinking and other household purposes and does not cause any illness"
You are making your quote another rumor.. Give the reference. The Hindu too misses the importance of reference when allowing articles that base an opinion on science.
It is irresponsible for a national daily to print advice, competing with scientifically proven evidence, without providing similar evidence to the contrary.
Also, the author may consider that left to nature, neither is human life-span as long as it is today, nor were we supposed to occupy the world as a dominant species.
Central to money is our modern fast life.We have no time to think for our capacity or our health.No vitamins or health tips can do better than simple things like simple home made food,good sleep,some out door actvity (like some games or gardening),avoiding doctors and medicines for minor health problems like head ache,cold,feeling little fevrish,some stomach trouble etc.Instead of exercise with machines,walking,running etc. why not to do some household work like cleaning,repairation work,washing etc.Have some time to play with kids,prayer.One has to balace both mental and physical health.
You have brought out all your knowledge here, but then the milk they say after crossing the hybrid variety of cows from west has come up with things that can bring in heart attack and diabetes and these elements are not available in our cows, so I think the scientists in the name of research are going against nature and making us the guniea pig to try out their trial and errors, after bt cotton and veggies now the milk is on the list of danger....it is man and man alone who has taken upon himself to destroy nature in every possible way
Dear Mr sathyavijay,
Thanks for ur article...
Your article is appreciable. But it is is very difficult to practice.As a practioner of siddha and naturopathy for more than 40 years I FOUND MAN CANNOT CHANGE THE COURSE OF NATURE.It will go in its own.one should accept life as it is.
Even surgeons advise deep breathing exercise using a flow meter before and after surgery to ward off congestion / infection in chest
Mr.Vijayagopalan, my bottom line problem with this article is do it because a book in some Tanjore library says so. Please contrast this opinion with a researched medical opinion which says ... based on these observations and these evaluations we think this might work. Once you understand the healthy contempt that people like me share for trusting anything that we read from a book that just says things like breath like this and it improves brain power, you may understand why we do not blindly follow these things.
Please note that yogasana is a hit in the US only because the instructor clearly says why he believes a particular pose actually helps the body.
If the 'natural medicines' does work in a double blind experiment conducted by scientist then it really does work. Since most of the nature and herbal medicines do nothing more than just act as a placebos. There is also no evidence(if there is evidence pl share) that alternate nostril breathing exercises enhances memory in any way. Also I thought sun bathing for long gives skin cancer. And actually a lot of people trust these unfounded natural treatments. At least the majority indians trust anything alternative and unscientific. Who says we dont trust nature? We trust it blindly.
Thank you all for the comments and opinions appreciating and also for critical comments about the article. The alternate nostril breathing technique is practiced even today but it should be learnt from a practitioner so that he can analyse the cause and suggest ways to eliminate the health problem. The Australian study is very much true about rain water. It is indeed an irony that we make certain what is prescribed as natural...we want proof but take to allopathic drugs blindly...whoever knows what is in aspirin or other capsules and yet we consume it like popping pills? A recent study says copper is found to be even more better than antibiotic drugs and kills 90 % bacteria...a western study at that...and yet we have lost out cooking in copper vessels all because we think THEY are right...!! yes the cows, bt cotton.,and recently the vaccination being used for wrong purposes. thank you anyway for stepping in to comment...i liked all of them for and against my article.
This article is good saying about breathing but not confirms about what to do and what to have. I can suggest, we can mention exact benefit of each food intake. Anything limited will not cause any problem and sometime person interest and body response will adjust to food and...etc
After reading this article and the comments on it, I remember a beautiful Kannada proverb, Hittala gida maddalla" (The plant in the back yard is not good herb). Though this article highlights very common and known facts, still people need a strong medical background for it!!! How ridiculous!! I have a question for all those people-Just because some medical journal says that a given food is good for health will they start eating it or doing that so-called exercise? Moreover, a medical research is a reflection of results derived out of a test group. How do you make sure that you are similar to the test group tested? You don't have to blindly follow whatever people say...If you are curious try it out yourself,but not leaving behind a greatest friend-COMMON SENSE
It's not clear the source of information.It's something that our forefathers told us that there is God and we still blindly following it.There is no doubt that eating more vegetables,fruits and doing exercise is good for health, there is no scientific evidence that a particular food or a particular exercise cures a disease.This is a total myth.An individual has a right to believe in all sorts of things but you cannot preach it until it is unequivocally proved.I will just take 2 disease.Asthma is a disease of immune system,still a lot of research going on.Just by taking a garlic glove you cannot eliminate the disease.Every indian family takes more than a glove of garlic but they still suffer from asthma.Carrot the rich source of Vitamin A can only prevent night blindness .But there are more than 1000 diseases that affect eye where carrot will have no effect at all.Kindly don't try to fool the public and let us leave that job to politicians and swamijis.
I am now 72 years old. When I was 42 years old, I had neck pain. Initially the pain would be less and in the course of few days it would increase and I would have difficulty in raising my hands and chin. Allopathy doctor advised me to take an xray and he identified the problem as 'spondylitis' ie. inflammation of top vertebra bones. I also consulted Ayurvedic doctor. He prescribed some powders and also some oil for external application and massaging. I would be relieved of the trouble in 2 to 4 weeks but the problem would recur after a few months. I started doing some simple exercises taught in school for about 30 minutes a day. I continued the practice and soon I was relieved of the trouble. I can say that I am relieved of the problem since the age 44. I am also interested in deep breathing. I have read in one article that by practice, we can make our breathing to be involuntarily good just as it is likely to be involuntarily bad. I can confidently say that I am benefited by exercises.
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