Thursday, June 28, 2012

As We Sow, So Shall We Reap

In the past few months, I have had experience in healing a few people suffering from cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer had already advanced to a stage where nothing could be done even by the medical fraternity. The doctors recommended the patients try alternative therapy. At this stage, when the patients were living the last few days of their lives, I felt it would be wrong to start healing them to 'fight' the cancer. There were many reasons for this.

Firstly, after months of suffering, a person loses the will to fight. By now, he has accepted imminent death and is awaiting it. Secondly, due to advanced age, the body has degraded enough to make it really hard to replenish the strength and quick healing ability. If one were to fight cancer at such a stage, it would only prolong their suffering. And so, what Reflexology and Reiki healing can help in, is to provide some pain relief and comfort, so at least they can sleep in peace. 

One aspect I concentrated on while healing was to heal the Karmas done in the present life. I also prayed that death would come peacefully and attachment to the present family would be let-go easily. I believe that a violent death can carry forward to the next life, so it was very necessary to do this. 

While using these therapies on the patients, I learnt some facts about their pasts. I found that although they were very good people and had spent their whole lives helping others, there had a few vices -excessive drinking was a major factor in two cases. This is when I learnt that it is not just the actions we do on others that count as Karmas, indulging in something (even a seemingly harmless thing) which leads to abusing our own body also counts as Karma. And to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We have to pay for whatever we do. And God or Fate decides how we pay for it. 

After this experience, I realized this was true for every single person who required healing, even for a small matter like knee pain or fracture. A lady who indulged a lot in food, rest and luxury, gained weight over time. This started damaging her knees. However, not yet realizing the dangers, she continued to overuse her legs for roaming around unnecessarily and now both her knees had to be operated on (not very successfully), and she's living in pain. 

When I looked at my past, I found that whatever little sickness or suffering I have gone through till date have also been due to some abuse of the body or mind. If my eyes were showing signs of weakness, it was because I indulged in too much T.V. and working long hours at the computer without break. If my stomach is sensitive today, it is because I had indulged too much in chocolates and fried food when I was little. If I lost some valuable possession, it points to excessive thinking and lack of mindfulness. 

Every small action we do is recorded in some register to be accounted for at a later date. This realization has compelled me to watch every single act I perform. Time can never be turned back, so we need to watch ourselves and prevent wrong actions, rather than trying to find a solution for them later. Following the yoga way of life is the only answer for this.

Healing people helps us to study even the subtle aspects of life. Not everyone is lucky enough to have an understanding of life that yoga and healing gives us. In these cases, Reflexology, Massage and Reiki do help counter our Karmas- sometimes by damage control or relief or by complete healing. One of the cancer patients I was healing was my uncle. He is no more, but after his funeral, I heard that the doctors were surprised that he went so peacefully in his sleep. They had expected a very gory and painful death because the cancer had affected his lungs. Maybe the Reiki helped, or maybe it was my uncle's good Karmas that made him go peacefully. We will never know. But one thing I know for sure now is that "As We Sow, So Shall We Reap." 

Monday, March 26, 2012

Article in Yoga and Total Health Feb 2012

Click on picture below to enlarge and read.
Yoga and Total Health is the monthly publication 
of The Yoga Institute, Santacruz, Mumbai.
You can subscribe to the magazine in India and abroad.
For more details write to: bookstore@theyogainstitute.org

Monday, December 5, 2011

Swami Vivekananda on Karma



"All the work you do is done for your own salvation, is done for your own benefit. God has not fallen into a ditch for you and me to help Him out by building a hospital or the like. He allows you to work not in order to help Him but that you may help yourself. Do you think even an ant will die for want of your help? Most arrogant blasphemy! The world does not need you at all...Cut out the word 'help' from your mind. You cannot help; it is blasphemy. You worship. When you give a morsel of food to a dog, you worship the dog as God. He is all and is in all."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Suffering from White Heads?


I used to suffer a lot from White Heads. This was not just due to hormonal changes in the body, but as I later realized, one of the major factors that made them worse was my diet.

Being very fond of chocolates, I used to eat one almost every day. This caused a lot of ‘chemical imbalance’ in the body, leading to not just white heads but also to allergies.

Many of you who must be suffering from the same might know that white heads don’t look good, can increase in size to resemble a boil and can even be painful. One challenge I faced in tackling my problem was that I cannot use scented creams. Unfortunately it is difficult to get unscented creams around here. So the only other choice (I thank my stars for it) is to find home remedies for the same.

Through my research I found that there are a few possible causes for white heads:

  1. Hormonal changes in the body
  2. Accumulation of hardened sebum (oil) in pores of the skin
  3. Exposure to sun and dirt
  4. Lack of hygiene
  5. Unhealthy lifestyle, disturbed sleep, unhealthy food.
  6. Impurities in the blood.

These are a few tips for Diet changes:
Always stick to seasonal, nutritious food with lots of fibre, including fruits and green leafy vegetables. They will never fail you in any condition under the sun.
Drink adequate water.

Include food with Zinc, Vitamin B2 and Vitamin A like spinach, pumpkin seeds, beans, tofu, carrots, apricots, sprouts, alfa-alfa seeds, brown rice, potato, yoghurt mushrooms, green beans, sunflower seeds, whole grain foods, legumes, turnip greens, beets, lotus stems, radish leaves, papaya, raisins etc.

Avoid non-vegetarian, fried, fatty and junk food.
Avoid alcohol, caffeine, pastries, chocolates and soft drinks.

Home Applications for White Heads
·       Rub your face with lemon skin and wash off. It helps open the pores.
·       Take facial steam once a week to prevent whiteheads.
·       Make a paste of sandalwood and rose water. Apply on affected area and wash off after 20-30 minutes with lukewarm water.
·       Apply paste of Fenugreek leaves in water over face every night and wash with warm water.
·       Take 50 ml raw milk, add a mix of a pinch of salt and 2 tsp lime juice in it. Use it as a cleansing lotion. It helps clean the deep pores of the skin.

Beware of:
·       Left-over make-up on skin at night.
·       Excessive use of chemical cosmetics.
·       Squeezing the white head (If you do so, it will spread on the face and even leave scars)
·       Stress

Must Do’s
·       De-stress through relaxation techniques and massage or reflexology once a week.
·       Exercise on a regular basis.

This may sound like a lot, but is actually very simple to follow. All you need to do is start with any one of the above tips and make a regular and healthy habit out of it.

Slowly you will notice the improvement… as I have.

Stay Well!

Ankita Shah.
(Director & Trainer at Pristine Senses Academy, Yoga Teacher, Writer, Reflexologist, Massage Trainer and Reiki Master)

(As published in Pristine Senses Academy blog

Monday, November 21, 2011

Article in Yoga and Total Health Sept 2011

Click on the pic to enlarge and read.
Yoga and Total Health is the monthly publication 
of The Yoga Institute, Santacruz, Mumbai.
You can subscribe for the magazine in India and abroad.
For more details email: info@theyogainstitute.org