Alternative therapies of Indian origin

India is responsible for giving the world a large number of alternative therapies. Apart from the well known Yoga and Ayurveda, There are a number of lesser known therapies that ancient India has gifted the world. Here is an article by Luis S. R. Vas from Life Positive on alternative therapies of India origin.

Today, worldwide, alternative health science therapies are gaining ground. Together with the modern system of medicine, alternative health sciences and therapies offer cheaper and easily adaptable solutions to various ailments for positive health. Not all alternative therapies are equally effective nor are all backed by equally sound research. Here we present a survey of various alternative therapies along with the claims made for them by their practitioners and adherents.

Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy tries to re-establish the inner balance by various means, working from the gross to the subtle. On the physical level it uses:

Asanas: They energize the organism, create awareness of the body and its function and stabilize the mind.
Kriyas: These are simple hygienic procedures which support the body’s own cleansing mechanisms and draw the attention of the mind towards the affected area.
Pranayamas: These are breathing techniques which have very subtle influences on the whole organism.
Diet: Many diseases are directly or indirectly linked with wrong food habits. A change in diet can stimulate the whole system.
Simple Nature   Cure Techniques: The elements water, air, sun and simple procedures like massaging or steam inhalation are used as a support.

The second line of therapy is the work on the mind. Mental disturbances – anxieties, confusion, and unsteadiness are the most important factors which can cause a disease condition. Therefore, various techniques have been developed to create positive mind states.

Among others there are:

Relaxation: both physical and mental.
Conditioning: Sitting in a meditative posture one tries to calm down and center oneself.
Bhavanas: Contemplation on certain basic ideas like the transitoriness of all things can stimulate a change of attitude towards life.

Yoga has claimed that tension is disease and relaxation is health. To this end the whole eightfold path of yoga is to purify the body-mind complex

Mantra Therapy

Mantras work directly upon our karma: the accumulated latencies and tendencies with which we are born. The vibrations of these ancient formulas work through the chakras to increase the flow of beneficial energy throughout the subtle body where these latencies and tendencies are stored. Mantra therapy starts by increasing the total amount of energy available for all of our activities. Certain mantras used singly or in combination can greatly accelerate the quality and quantity of energy used in the healing process. However, if the karmic propensity for a given condition is overwhelming, mantra therapy will not remove the difficulty any more than conventional therapy will. However, it will reduce the karmic baggage you take into future lives.

The energy created through mantra practice may lead one to forms of therapy quite different from the ones used initially. Thus, some unexpected new form of treatment may appear as the result of mantra practice. Investigate it. Ultimately, we do not know through which door the route to recovery might manifest, and it may be in some form of conventional or traditional care of which we had been previously unaware.

Pranic Healing

Pranic healing is a highly developed and tested system of energy-based healing techniques that utilizes prana to balance, harmonize and transform the body’s energy processes. Prana is a Sanskrit word that means life-force.

Pranic healing is a simple yet powerful and effective no-touch energy healing. It is based on the fundamental principle that the body is a “self-repairing” living entity that possesses the innate ability to heal itself. Pranic healing works on the principle that the healing process is accelerated by increasing the life force or vital energy on the affected part of the physical body

Pranic healing is currently being taught to doctors, nurses, massage therapists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, the clergy, homemakers, engineers and many others in all walks of life. It has allowed them to heal confidently and consistently in the shortest learning time possible. They find pranic healing very effective and easy to apply.

In the palm of your hands are energy centers called chakras. Through a simple exercise these chakras will be activated. Once activated, these chakras will become sensitive to feeling others’ energy. You can scan that energy field to locate blockages and be able to cleanse, energize and revitalize the area with new prana. You will also learn techniques to stop the drain of energy on your body that many health practitioners experience while working on others. You will actually energize yourself while you are healing someone else!

Colon Hydrotherapy

Do you experience any of these health problems? Constipation, diarrhea, frequent headaches, backaches, fatigue, bad breath, body odour, irritability, confusion, skin problems, abdominal gas and bloating, lower back pain, sciatic pain, low resistance to colds and infections, low energy and vitality… These are all indicators that you may need to cleanse your body’s elimination system. Colon hydrotherapy is an excellent way to accomplish this objective.

Benefits accomplished by colon hydrotherapy:

• Cleansing: Toxic material is broken down so it can no longer harm your body or inhibit assimilation and elimination. Fecal debris built up over a long period is gently removed over a series of irrigations.
• Exercises: The buildup of toxic debris weakens the colon and impairs its functions. Gentle filling and emptying of the colon can improve peristaltic (natural muscular contraction) activity, which aids efficient removal of waste material.
• Reshapes: Over time, the natural shape of a problematic colon will become distorted…causing even more problems. The gentle water action and massage techniques of the therapist will help eliminate protruding pockets of waste and narrow, spastic constrictions.
• Stimulation of reflex points: Every system and organ of the body is connected to the colon by reflex points. A colon hydrotherapy session stimulates these reflex points, thereby affecting the corresponding body parts…in a beneficial way, similar to reflexology.

 Urine Therapy

Urine is not, as many believe, the excess water from food and liquids that goes through the intestines and is ejected from the body as “waste”.
 Medical researchers have discovered that many of the elements of the blood that are found in urine have enormous medicinal value, and when reintroduced to the body, they boost the body’s immune defenses and stimulate healing in a way that nothing else does.

In 1975, one of the founders of Miles Laboratories, Dr. A. H. Free, published his book, Urinalysis in Clinical Laboratory Practice, in which he remarked that not only is urine a sterile body compound (purer than distilled water), but that it is now recognised that urine contains literally thousands of compounds.

Researchers have discovered that allergic responses are caused by “renegade” white blood cells that inappropriately attack substances even when they may be no threat to the body. So it is the activity of these renegade white blood cells, called antigen receptors, that needs to be corrected in order to cure the allergy.

Realising that the urine of allergic individuals contains the allergy causing antigen receptors, researchers thought that to re-introduce the urine back to the allergic individual would mean antibodies would be produced which would then stop the allergic response. And that is exactly what happens. Allergies have been completely turned around with urine therapy.

Multiple sclerosis, colitis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, hepatitis, hyperactivity, pancreatic insufficiency, psoriasis, eczema, diabetes, herpes, mononucleosis, adrenal failure, allergies and so many other ailments have been relieved through use of this therapy.

Laughter Therapy

The experience of Dr. Mohan Kataria, pioneer of Hasya Yoga, with laughter clubs worldwide, taught him that people were definitely deriving health benefits from laughter yoga exercises. But there was no scientific proof that Dr. Kataria could offer to satisfy logical minded people especially in the west. “I had no problems in India as more than 100,000 people laughed every morning without asking me for any proof but when it came to the West everybody asked, do you have the data?”

Finally, in 2003-04 the first authentic research was completed by Dr. Ilona Papousek from the University of Graz in early fall 2004. According to the news release by Ananova – March 2004, a new study shows that laughter really is the best therapy for stroke patients, according to scientists. A study was conducted at a computer company where Mr. Thomas Flindt led a session of laughter yoga in the beginning of the day throughout the month of May 2004. This project shows clearly the effect that a regular practice of laughter yoga has on the stress levels. On an individual level the results are remarkable. The body stress levels are significantly reduced.

Past  Life Therapy

“Past life regression therapy includes the mental act of going back to a time prior to this life in order to retrieve memories that may still negatively influence a person’s present life. They are probably the source of symptoms running the gamut from phobias to addictions,” avers R.Chandran, a past life therapist.

Dr. Francis Menezes, who has regressed using hypnosis states, says, “To be able to go to your past life, most therapists take you back to yesterday, two days ago, last week, five years ago, ten years back, finally to your mother’s womb and beyond. To be born you have to die.” “In a hypnotherapy session, your master is in control of you, your blood count level is low, and your heartbeat is slow. It is almost a dreamless state, which is extremely emotionally draining once you wake up,” says Dr. Menezes. Interestingly all those who practise past life therapy don’t feel the need to prove it. “What is of value here is the outcome which is certainly effective. Besides, how can I try to convince someone who doesn’t want to be convinced?” opines R.Chandran.

People who are healed through past life therapy are people who remember names, dates and geographic details. But perhaps, even more important than curing of physical and emotional symptoms, is the knowledge that we do not die even if our bodies do. We are immortal!

There are a number of publications and internet sources that will tell you more about these therapies. Go on, read about them. If do find yourself itching to try a new therapy, be sure to contact an experienced practitioner prior to trying anything new.

Author: Luis S. R. Vas

Source: Life Positive