Being in a state of total health

At the age of 22, his severe asthma nearly robbed him of his life. In the nick of time, yoga came to his rescue - in fact, it completely cured him. From an ailing youth to a healthy 69-year-old, Swami Dharmanandji has come a long way in life. On a visit to Dubai from India, he reiterates the power of yoga to give you complete physical and mental well-being

The year was 1954, and the 22-year-old youth thought it would be the last of his life. The severe asthma that racked his body from late into the night into the early hours of the morning was placing incremental strain on his already full schedule - work in the morning to pay for college classes in the evening, combined with little time or finances to cook or pay for nourishing food, and the additional strain of living in a bustling, polluted metropolis that was far from his own home.

Visits to traditional and herbal doctors did little. When succour did finally arrive, it was in an unlikely form - yoga, the ancient Indian discipline of self-development and realisation. Through the practices, postures and understanding of yoga, the young man was able to beat his asthma, surprising all his doctors in the process.

Fast forward to 2002. Venue: Sharjah Corniche.

In the pre-dawn light, a group of 17 men and women of various nationalities are seated cross-legged on the lawn. They are restful, calm and collected, oblivious to the noise of passing traffic, the calling birds and other signs of a city. waling up to another day. Among them walks a white-clad Swami Dharmanandji, of the Delhi-based Adhyatma Sadhana Kendra - the very same man who once thought that asthma would leave him bereft of the joy of living.

Four kinds of health

For a 69-year-old, he is very spry and active. He flexes his limbs with the vigour of youthfulness and laughs with the prepossession and strength of a man decades younger.

"I feel as good as I did in my 50s, if not better," he says, smiling. "My wife feels the same way - she is 64, but we feel we are in the prime of our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health. If you are not well in all four aspects, then you are not healthy."

It is this possibility of healthy longevity and abundant joy of that he wants to convey to people all over the world. Although much of his life's work has been focused in India - treating everyone from politicians (including the prime minister) to cardiac patients and schoolchildren - he has also led retreats and awareness courses in the U.S., England, Italy, Sweden, Germany and Japan.

"People should broaden their horizons and understand what yoga is and what it is not," says Dharmanandji. "It is a simple way of living, a science of life, a way of meditation and contemplation."

This contemplation and contentment, and the holistic approach to health and personal well-being, is sorely needed in today's world, he says. As the world careens toward a materialisti inferno, yoga offers simple solutions that everyone can follow.

"The external world has extended too fast in the last 50 years," he says. "We have gotten further and further away from nature - these days, there are pesticides being used in villages, our animals are being artificially inseminated instead of being able to live naturally and integrate with herds and mates. Scientific evolution has created abundance in material things, but has eroded the quality of life.

"Consumption is being pushed, guilt is being pushed, stress is being pushed, and people have little understanding of how to protect themselves from this."

To find real peace, he says,the most important thing for man is to have self-restraint even when in the midst of plenty. The key is to fulfill your necessities rather than your demands.

Self-control, contemplation and relaxation are the keys to the four types - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual - of health, and all are simple enough to be followed by even the harassed housewife or the harried executive. Self-control includes the desire to maintain physical flexibility, and the resolve to keep the body in the state it was intended to be in, and follow a correct diet.

Breathe right

Proper, deep breathing is a vital part of both relaxation and overall health, and needs to be relearned by people who have gotten used to breathing shallow, using only a fraction of their lung capacity.

"Breath is life, it is what keeps us going, but most people breathe wrongly," he says. "Short breaths make it easier for people to develop asthma and other conditions."

Natural healers from around the world recommend diaphragmatic breathing, breathing so deep that it can be felt in the lower abdomen and ensures that every part of the circulatory and digestive system gets the fresh air it needs. Regular practice of this technique will eventually result in an ingrained breathing system, he says.

This particular technique, which can be done by putting a hand over the navel area and pushing in during a long, five-count exhale and feeling the abdomen rise again over a five-count inhale, is the one that was most important in the young man's fight against asthma.

Yoga and heart disease

In 1994, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences launched a study of yoga and heart disease in New Delhi. Advanced coronary disease patients with multiple blockages of more than 70 per cent were split into two groups of 21, the first in the control group and the second in the yoga group. The latter were sent to Swami Dharmanandji's institute in New Delhi for yogic training, and were taught health-rejuvenating exercises, asanas, meditation, deep breathing, deep relaxation and stress management alongside time management, communication skills and a low-fat, high-fibre vegetarian diet.

After the year-long study period was concluded, it was found that all the risk factors - weight, total cholesterol, low-density and high-density lipids, triglycerides, depression and even the duration of exercise - showed a marked improvement beyond those of the medically-treated control group and moved closer towards normalcy.

He suggests that heart and high blood pressure patients or those who look likely to become patients keep a few things in mind when it comes to choosing food. Always eat less than your appetite, he says, acquire knowledge about the relationship between diet and health, always take rest after meals, and, as far as possible, try to avoid meat.

Avoid saturated fats like ghee, butter and coconut oil that become thick in room temperature and replace them instead with mustard or olive oil. Avoid fried foods and other intoxicants. Limit intake of salt and sugar, and practise mindful eating - don't watch TV or read the newspaper as you eat. Eat as much fresh food as possible, including fruits, vegetables and cereals.

These patients should also follow a regimen of six neck exercises, three shoulder exercises, three chest exercises, ten breathing and stomach exercises and four waist exercises.

Beating mental stresses

In both office and home settings, time management and communication go a long way in reducing mental stress, according to him.

"Early to bed, early to rise is the perf