Yoga provides relief to respiratory diseases

JALANDHAR: More and more people are falling prey to respiratory diseases. Many of them have chronic cold and are hooked on to anti-allergy drugs. Bronchitis and asthma cases are also on the rise.
Experts attribute this increase to rise in pollution, lack of fresh air in houses, allergents gathering in coolers and airconditioners.
Allopathic drugs with their severe side-effects when taken for long periods are damaging
the nervous system.Very few cases with respiratory problems are geting cured. Doctors are of the opinion that they ignore the problem at the initial stage.However, they are turning to yoga and the ancient practice of neti for cure. Not only are they getting cured, they are feeling younger once again.
Alternative medicine is coming to the rescue of many incurable cases, it was learnt. And the cure is not at all expensive. Just a bowl-full of boiled water with black pepper, saunf and salt. This mixture is passed through the nasal sinuses or swallowed in through the
nose. Popularly called ''jal-neti'', the traditional yogic cure is a discovery people are making these days.They even pass milk through the nasal sinuses and get cured of chronic respiratory problems.
Naresh Puri, who lives in East London, had asthma. Heis a regular NRI visitor to this city." I did doodh-pan for a few months and the problem was cured,"he said. Jaswinder Singh,another NRI from UK had an allergic respiratory problem. He had nasal secretions and unstoppable sneezing. He tried a cure all over the West but failed. He came here, was prescribed desi
ghee, 8 to 10 drops, to be sucked in through the nose. His disease was cured. Besides he did jal-neti.
Sudershan, a German NRI, set up a rubber slipper factory here. He developed bronchitis. He was planning to shift to Himachal, but changed his mind after being cured through jal-neti."I have now set up a factory in Pitampura in Delhi.I did neti, pranayam and yogic exercises and am now fully fit to face the pollution of Delhi," he said while talking to TNN
here.
"We strengthen the immune system and remove the sensitivity to allergents through the old system of neti. There are no side-effects as no chemicals are involved," says Surjit Singh, who runs the Divine Yoga Centre at Milap Chowk. Allopathic doctors are of the view that patients ignore the inhaler or nebulizer prescription recommended in the initial stages. Thatis why this problem is on the rise in cities.
"The causes are increasing vehicular and industrial pollution, the burning of wheat and paddy stubs,non-treatment of sewage, slums, humidity, allergies from place of occupation, even prolonged use of air-conditioners," says Dr Yash Sharma, ENT specialist."Out of 100 patients see daily at least 40 per cent have nasal allergy which later leads to bronchitis or blockage of the sinuses.The increasingdampness is also an attributing factor. The removal of ventillators when constructing houses and lack of daily exercise in the open, fresh air, are also attributing factors", he said.
Sachadanand of Hoshiarpur said he had exhaused all the big hospitals of Bombay and Delhi."I was told I had nasal tumours. Finally it was suttar-neti and urine therapy that cured me." Dinesh Bawa of Yuvraj Tools here said he "literally sat in the staircase all night as I could not breathe while lying down. I had been taking anti-biotics for over a decade. Finally it was the yogic practice of neti that came to my rescue.
Manjit Singh, fabricator, was diagnosed as having deflective nasal septum. Sinuses were blocked. Doctors in Delhi and Bombay said he had tumours. However, yoga came to his rescue and gave him back his healthy breathing.