Healthy Practice > Adopt Just ONE Daily Practice

If there was one thing that I would urge anyone to do, it would be this - please adopt just ONE healthy practice!

The alarming rate at which lifestyle diseases are increasing is scary. Almost every day one hears of friends, family or acquaintances falling sick, at times very seriously sick. Instead of living in fear of illness let's choose to do something about it, NOW.

Given the hectic lifestyles that modern living demands, combined with the chemical-laden food we eat and the polluted air we breathe, doesn't it make sense to do something to detox our bodies?

Human bodies may be very fragile and vulnerable to diseases, but they are also marvellous and miraculous in so many ways. If helped to function optimally, our bodies have an immense ability to self-heal. One especially witnesses quick healing in children's bodies, be it broken bones or ruptured skin. When my one and a half year old son knocked out two teeth, the dentist asked me to simply put the teeth back in and the gums would have sealed them as if nothing had happened! Unfortunately, but the time I got in touch with a paediatric dentist I was way past the time window (ideally 30 minutes) for the advice to work. Even so, within 12 hours my son's gum, that was agape with the impact, had closed up.

But it's not just children. Even grown ups have remarkable healing experiences. From spontaneous cancer remissions to reversing heart disease, there are plenty of cases that showcase miracles within a human body. I sincerely believe that if one body can experience healing, almost all bodies are capable of it too! We just need to allow our bodies to function optimally.

Even one healthy practice, when done consistently, will help your body to undo at least some of the damage that it is subjected to due to our environment and lifestyle. You can choose any healthy habit that clicks with you. A few of my favourites are:
- Yoga
- Pranayam
- Oil Pulling
- Hot Towel Scrub
- Acupressure
- Kunjal Kriya and Jal Neti

There are of course so many more. Take your pick but stick to it diligently for at least a month to see the difference.

Happy Healthy Living!

Healthy Practice > Single Step Stress Buster

Someone once told me that according to her a sign of success is "being busy professionally as well as personally".  This statement does make sense to me in a way because given that you enjoy your work and the social company that you keep, plenty of involvement in both can be quite fulfilling. But no matter how much you enjoy all that you do, staying very busy comes with a downside.

Even if you perpetually choose activities that you enjoy, you're bound to get stressed if you don't take quiet time out for yourself. Even if you don't feel mentally stressed, over a period of time, the body starts accumulating stress physically. Being by yourself is when you can assimilate all your dissipating energy.

So, a single step stress buster is breathing. You've heard this plenty, I'm sure. Yet, how often do we remember to practice deep, diaphragmatic breathing? Of course, we all breathe, constantly. We wouldn't be alive if we didn't. But this is just a reminder to breathe fully. More often than not we take quick, shallow breaths, and also hold our breath without realising, when we are stressed out. An obvious physiological effect of that shows in the tension that we hold in our muscles. It could be the abdomen, the chest, neck and even our limbs. When you inhale deeply and exhale fully through your nostrils, squeezing your abdomen slightly on a full exhalation, you will feel the tension melting away. On repeated deep breaths you may possibly even realise the amount of tension you were holding on to.

While we can get aware of the tension in our muscles, it's difficult for us to tell on our own what this tension does to our internal organs and the circulatory system. We all know the effects of wearing tight clothes that constrict an easy blood and lymphatic circulation. Can you imagine the effects of holding on to tension internally, where we literally tighten our veins and arteries and the lymphatic and energy channels?

There are many types of pranayam to suit various conditions and body types. But I am talking about simple deep breathing. Deep breathing does not involve much technique or force. Like I mentioned above, just focus on exhaling completely and your inhalation will automatically become fuller. Do this a few times a day to feel rejuvenated, connect with your body, release tension and start realising what holding on to stress feels like. It's important to become aware of stress first before letting go of it.