The Hole in my Pyjamas

I was consciously drawn to Amma's ashram to write about it. I was curious to see for myself the female guru who travels the world, giving healing hugs to people willing to queue sometimes five hours for her “darshan” (opportunity with a holy person). The stories go that expectant recipients are enveloped in her arms and all the grief from many meridians is washed away. Some break down in tears, engulfed in her motherly embrace, others are touched to the core, some healed of strange illnesses. I realized I had developed a symbiotic relationship with my blog in that it now influenced me as much as I was influencing it. On my first blog post, hugging appeared on the list of healing activities to be pursued. Research shows that deep hugs, pressing hearts together, can heal sickness, disease, depression, anxiety and stress. A deep hug boosts oxytocin, serotonin and immunity. It can also regulate the body’s production of white blood cells, relax the muscles, ease pain, increase circula...

The gorgeous sandy beaches of Varkala, that wound around the cliffs as far as the eye could see, were reached by a few hours' drive from the Sivananda ashram. I booked into a retreat a few minutes’ walk from the sea that offered Ayurvedic food and had an adjacent health clinic. Freshwater ponds interlaced with luscious tropical plants that insatiably helped themselves to the free space of land surrounding the little cottages inhabited by guests. I was utterly depleted after Panchakarma, and unfortunately, a day after arriving, developed a fever and was confined to my cottage for the majority of the time. Thankfully, it had a veranda with a view of the pleasant setting where I could relax in peace, since I was barely able to read or move beyond its doors. Luckily there was an Ayurvedic doctor on site, a kind, tiny, lady who’s fuss of me was at first a relief that grew into an over attentive driver of anxiety. Before I knew it, I was being encouraged to go to the hospital for a fu...

Let thy food be thy medicine (Hippocrates) The year I lived in Japan, a student whom I tutored gave me a book as a leaving present, which had the alluring, though fairly crude title, "The Geography of Thought: How East Asians and Westerners Think Differently… And Why". Written by US psychology professor, Richard E. Nisbett, it addresses the problem in the field of modern psychology, whereby academics frequently make universalist assumptions about a generic human condition. When challenged by a bright Chinese student, he realises study after study has in fact been conducted on Western subjects and more often than not, American psychology students. In the book, he attempts to define how Westerners and Asians have maintained very different systems of thought for thousands of years and how this influences the way people think and approach matters differently. Western thought, descending from Aristotle, values primarily logic and reasoning and tends to focus on particular ...

Today, in the ashram, I met a girl from Quebec who shared her story about how she got into yoga. A year ago she was in a horrible bike accident which resulted in her voice box being crushed in. The doctor in hospital told her she would never be able to speak again. She spent the first few weeks going out dancing at night; because she couldn't talk, it was the only way she could express herself. Completely at a loss about what to do next since she couldn't work, she went to the Sivananda ashram just outside Quebec for a sense of calm. On arrival she discovered they were starting a teacher training course in a few days and so she signed up. During some of the asanas (poses) in the physical component of the course, she starting coughing a lot, and was concerned she should stop, but the yogi told her to continue. Upside down, in fish pose, her voice box punched back into shape and she could speak again. Back in Quebec the doctor at the hospital wanted to know exactly what had happ...