Yoga as a non-drug therapy with Achal Mehraji of Yoga House, Mumbai

Hello and namaskaram. I am Salila Sukumaran, the founder of AyurGamaya, an Ayurveda wellness concierge based in Mountain View, California. You are listening to the AyurGamaya podcast. Through these conversations with great karma yogis of Ayurveda, yoga, and other Vedic sciences, I wish to bring to you the treasures of India. If you are a beginner, my mission is to help you develop appreciation. If you are a practitioner, my goal is for you to become confident torchbearers of our immense legacy. May the gods and the gurus bless you. Thank you everybody for joining us today morning for this exciting session we have. With Achal Ji, who is an accomplished yoga acharya. Achal Ji is one of the first people who, who created a yoga studio in a commercial setting for the common people to enjoy the benefits of yoga from Mumbai. His venture is called Yoga House,, and he has the distinction of being a pioneer in this. Achal Ji is also the CEO of Krameen Infra, which provides a very needed and necessary service to rural Indian women and girls. And Achal Ji is somebody who practices what he preaches, who lives the life of a yogi, and Therefore, he is able to manage all the demands on his time beautifully. So thank you and welcome. We are looking forward to learning from Achal Ji's experience. As all of you know, yoga is a sister healing modality of Ayurveda, and I will even go as far from my own experience, and you can correct me if I am wrong, to say that yoga in itself is an independent healing modality, and that yoga is the healing modality that the yogis have used to maintain their health, whereas the householders have used Ayurveda as the healing modality to maintain their health. And, uh, This is my understanding from studying the Shiva Swaroodaya and the Ayurvedic texts. In the last 40, 50, maybe even 100 years, yoga and Ayurveda have intersected, or perhaps even before. And now we are seeing that there are many, many conditions where yoga is just as effective, if not more, by itself than any kind of drug interventions. So that is the topic of our chat today, and Achal Ji is going to be sharing case studies with us. And now I'm going to ask Achal Ji to introduce himself in his own words and tell us who he is.

That's a very philosophical question. Who am I? You know, probably the quintessence of, you know, Indian philosophy or any philosophy or any, you know, religious text is the answer, who am I? Whether I am this body, whether I am this mind, or whether I have an entity which lies beyond these two layers of our own existence. Yes, but you know, on a practical basis, my name is Achal. I was given that name. And I'm an engineer and an MBA by education. And in terms of profession, I've worked with some of the corporate companies like Pepsi and ESPN and NBC, CNBC, National Geographic, AXN. And then I started, you know, that was the time roughly at about 35 years of my age, then I realized that maybe I was not giving priority to my health despite being the CEO of AXN in South Asia at that point of time. I realized that, you know, my priority had shifted from my health to something else. And that's when I kind of introspected, looked back at my own life and decided that I want to set my priorities right. And that's when I course-corrected my life in certain ways, stopped my I could have vertically progressed in the corporate world, but I decided not to choose that path. I thought that my health is going to be my first priority. And that's when I started living a different lifestyle altogether. So I became a consultant and then I realized that if I'm going to spend almost 8 to 10 hours of my life in commercial work that I do, I might as well do something which I really enjoy doing. So first I set up a resort in, in Prench Tiger Reserve, which still exists, which is one of the leading resorts there called Mahua One. And then, um, uh, you know, I, then I, I was always good at yoga as a child. I learned it. So I said, you know, I might, might as well train myself professionally to become a teacher. So I took a teacher certification course, which is called 200 hours of teacher certification that I took. The teachers there were from Bihar School of Yoga. And then, you know, then I was in Bombay and I set up a yoga studio and a health-conscious food restaurant called the Yoga House. And that, you know, became one of the pioneer yoga studios. And even today, if you look at, you know, the best yoga places in the country, then Yoga House would definitely list in that. So that was my journey and then I started to teach and I've been continuously teaching. Then I joined this venture as a CEO because it's a social impact company, as Salila Sukumaran introduced me that, you know, we make improved cookstoves. Half of India or even more than that still cooks on cookstoves and cookstoves need firewood, biomass to cook.. So we have designed a cook stove which reduces the requirement for this fuel by almost 70% and reduces, you know, the household air pollution by about 90%. So, you know, there are still about a million deaths of women in India from household pollution itself. So we have a positive impact on women's health, one, and secondly, because, you know, we the requirement of wood reduces. We almost, with every cook stove that we install, we save one big tree in a year. So you can say over a life of 5 years of a cook stove, it is saving 5 big trees. So that's why I kind of came back into an executive role because it's again, has a social impact angle to it. So that's a brief journey about myself. And then, you know, I would let Salila ask, you know, or lead the discussion into the direction that she wants us to discuss today. So back to you, Salila.

Thank you so much for that, Achilji. Let's begin by understanding what you have seen so far in your work in, in the past span of 30 years, I believe, working with clients and where do you think yoga comes in when it comes to healing common lifestyle-caused diseases?

Okay, so let me, you know, tell you first, let me just dispel some myths about yoga and explain what yoga works on. So yoga works on all the levels or layers of our own existence. Physical, you know, layer, then mental and emotional layer, and then even the spiritual layer. You know, we have all these different sheets inside, and it works on all these sheets. So, you know, it gives us really health in a holistic way. Not only, you know, that, you know, you build up muscles like you do in gym. No, that's not the only thing. It works also on the mental health. It works also on the spiritual health. And I'll come into deeper aspects of that a little bit later. So that's what yoga works on, or yoga is. So yoga, basically by definition, yoga— Patanjali defined it as yoga chitta vritti nirodham. It is the stopping of the cessation of the mind. So the mind— stopping of the mind. And yoga means union. So the fact that we are a part of the universal energy But because we are so rooted into our individuality through our ego, we are not able to see that fact, and we think that we are separate from this energy. But no, we are not separate from this energy. And yoga means the union which happens when you really understand that you are a part of that energy. So there is no difference between the energy that flows through the tree and the energy that flows through you. Just to give you an analogy, if you look at, you know, different If you look at an ocean, there are different layers in the ocean. But are the different waves of the ocean, are they different from the ocean? They appear different, but after some time they merge back into the ocean and they become a part of it. So it's just, you know, we are also probably, you know, some kind of waves which are there for almost 70 years, 80 years, 90 years, or maybe less or more. And then we merge back into that, you know, universal energy. And that's why we always existed and we would probably always exist. And this knowledge or understanding this not rationally but really is what yoga is. But yoga comes into it through, you know, if to understand that, you know, there are different layers of our own existence and we start with the physical layer. So we have plenty of benefits that we get in our physical layer. Now there are some myths that yoga works only on flexibility and balance. Therefore, you know, many people think that it is only for women to, you know, practice yoga. Most men actually feel it that way, that it is something which, you know, men should not practice because it doesn't work on— So yoga has, you know, works on all aspects of physical health as well, whether it is flexibility, balance, and even strength or endurance. So if you are doing, let's say, 100 Surya Namaskars, then you are working on endurance. If you are, you know, holding plank and other postures for a longer time, you're working on strength as well. So it works on all the aspects of your physical health as well, apart from mental, emotional, and spiritual health. So I see yoga as, you know, as a way to know yourself. First, you know, correcting your physical health, then, you know, the body is psychosomatic, so it also works on your mental, emotional health. And the moment you start to become more alert and aware and start to see that you again, that whole ego or I is an illusion. And then, you know, then yoga is actually happening to you. But to do that, and how it heals the physical body, yoga believes that, you know, underneath this physical body, the annamayakosha, as they call it, there is a pranamayakosha, which is the energy body inside us. And any malaise or any illness is a break somewhere in that, you know, flow of energy inside us. For example, if you have a headache, then the energy as it is normally flowing through the, you know, through your head or through your cranium, wherever, it is getting, you know, impacted in some way, or it is— there is a block in it, and, and that's why you have a headache or you have a problem. And if you could correct that flow of energy through that part of the body then, you know, that body will heal itself. And that's why, you know, yoga works on improving the pranic flow inside the body. Whether you are doing, you know, a physical posture, like even, you know, if you are doing a twist, then you are helping the distribution of the, you know, pranic body, you are helping its correction. And that's why it has a long-term impact on physical healing as well. And you influence it through not only asana, which is, you know, which helps you to distribute the energy well inside the body, but also pranayama. So with pranayama, you are able to help to regulate the flow of energy through the body. So that's what, you know, that's how I would like to present what yoga and the practice of yoga is. And then, you know, we can go into any other questions that you have about it. And in You can, you know, kind of prod me and ask me questions, you know, which lead into the direction of this webinar.

Thank you, thank you for that. We are in the company of Ayurveda physicians in training, so we have students from all, you know, all parts of India, different, you know, they are in their different stages of education right now. So for them, it will be very important to know how you have seen yoga healing people in your experience and practice. And if you could share, uh, a couple of case studies that come up in your mind where you can demonstrate that yoga has been extremely beneficial and effective for certain individuals who have done private practice with you.

Right, right, right. So I'll give you some case studies. I have worked with students through classes which are, you know, group classes, but I have also worked with some patients or some students who have had specific problems. So one such guy was, or is, is, uh, you know, he actually is an owner of steel industry, you know, companies, quite a successful businessman, but his spine had become so stiff and so ossified in a way that he was not able to even move, you know, properly. So he would actually walk almost straight, as if almost like a robo, as if, you know, the spine has lost all flexibility. And so we started to work together on, you know, his body and worked specifically on back bends. So your spine has 3 parts. You have a cervical part which is up, then you have a thoracic part which is right in the middle, and the lumbar part. If you will notice that when we do Bhujangasana, the lowest part of our spine, you know, curves the most. So we started to first work on the lumbar spine area because to make the lower part of the body, you know, more flexible. And then, you know, with practice and with support. So there are many asanas. For example, you have Bhujangasana, you have Dhanurasana, you have Ustrasana, the camel pose, you have the wheel pose. Wheel pose obviously he could not do. But I used to support him and used to help him to hold each posture for a long, long time. So for example, if you are doing Bhujangasana and if I am sitting on your back and holding your shoulders, then you don't feel that uncomfortable and then you can hold that posture for a little longer. And slowly over a period of year, we noticed that his spine movement, his spine flexibility has improved immensely. And you know, our age, in yoga, say, is as old as the age of our spine because all of our motor functions are, you know, activated through the flow of nerves through the spine. And if your spine is healthy, then your reflexes will be healthy as well. So we worked on this one person quite significantly, and I saw an improvement, and he became Obviously, I used to work with him and then another friend of mine, because I used to travel, he used to work with him. And he became a very regular practitioner. He even kind of— the other guy, he also made him a part of his— almost like a part of his family and would take him for his outdoor trips and things like that. So he was an extreme— he was very grateful for what had happened to him. Through the practice of yoga itself. Then I would, uh, then I would talk about, um, another guy, a Sindhi guy from, you know, who has a business in Philippines. And, uh, I used to know his nephews in Bombay. So he did come. He had actually gone into depression, and a severe case of depression. And he was quite a successful businessman. He had everything. So we discussed, you know, one, we obviously did some basic yoga exercises so that the flow of energy inside the body could be improved. And then pranayama, an intense pranayama practice. So I feel that because, you know, you're in depression, basically the brain is stopping to produce serotonin, dopamine, and all the chemicals which the body has a natural ability to produce. But because you're not, you know, doing any physical work specifically towards it, and you are falling into a vicious cycle, and that's why you get deeper into depression. So, for example, if you will start to play sport, you know, and it has been noted in research that if you play sports, you know, suddenly the dopamine level, the serotonin level in your brain is higher and you feel happier. Anything that keeps you in the moment makes you more happy. And that's how— so we worked on pranayama practice, we worked on study of some scriptures. He tried, he wanted to understand the basic texts of Hinduism, what do our Upanishads and Vedas talk about yoga and happiness and a general journey to self-knowledge. And after a period of about 2 to 3 months, he was kind of, you know, in a happier state of mind. And slowly he weaned off, you know, any kind of medication. Because I think medication, I feel, is very, very negative in some way because, you know, it makes— gives you outside chemicals to the body and your body stops, you know, producing chemicals naturally which it could produce. So I definitely feel that, you know, yoga, pranayama, you know, has a natural ability to heal your own body. Then there was another case with, you know, somebody who had— who was a very healthy, so-called healthy, or fit guy in his mid-30s, an investment banker. Um, you know, his physique would look perfect, and— but he had severe lower back problems. And, uh, so, uh, and so we started to work on, you know, specifically on, you know, his lower back. And, uh, then also, you know, and Surya Namaskars. So he now, he's in a position where he can do 50 Surya Namaskars at one point of time.

Amazing.

His lower back pain has gone. So, yeah, so yes, I think, you know, Yoga has the ability to, you know, correct, you know, many things inside the body which are postural, which are, you know, because the circulation of the blood is not happening well, because the pranic flow is not good, and that's why these diseases take place. And if you can correct some of these basic things, then you would be healthier and happier. Personally, I'm also a great believer in, you know, Ayurveda, so I can tell you that almost for almost for 20 to 25 years, or maybe more than that, I haven't taken any allopathic medication. So my go-to herb is Giloy. I have planted one herb called Arusa. So anytime I have, you know, fever or cold or something like that, I use these herbs and they are quite magical in terms of helping me. I also use Arjun on a regular basis. There is Madhya Pradesh, where I come from, has a very rich tradition in Ayurveda, and it's a very— the forest produce is very good there. So a lot of herbs are, you know, so government has also an initiative there called Sanjivani, and we have access to some good herbs. So I always use these herbs to, you know, kind of feel myself. So on my own, you know, experience with other people is there, but until unless any experiences on your own body, you know, with the practice of yoga or with the practice of Ayurveda, you would not know that it really works. It becomes authentic only when you have felt. Last year I slipped, I was doing a handstand and I slipped and I tore some muscle here and I had pain almost as if, you know, it is like a stabbing pain, you know. And I couldn't sleep properly for almost 3 to 4 weeks. But I decided that I won't take medication. I would rely on pranayama. I would rely on Haldi to reduce inflammation inside my body and let the body heal itself naturally. And it did heal itself. It took 3 to 4 weeks to heal. And obviously there was pain, and you have to, you know, sometimes you have to accept pain because, you know, when you are able to accept happiness which existence gives you, then if it is given to pain, you have to be in acceptance of it. So, so I was— I, I— so that is a practical experience with my own physical body, and I've seen it, you know, whenever I have any ailment, you know, if I'm feeling fatigued, then I would do a few rounds of Surya Namaskar, the flow of blood, the flow of breath through my lungs, and then immediately my energy levels improve. So I don't even have to let others say that, "Oh, it works," because it works on me as well, and I find that as the most authentic experience.

Thank you so much. That was beautiful. So friends, we have learned something very important here. Is the lumbar spine, uh, you know, injuries. Sorry, the cervical spine, right? The, the lower spine. And, um, no, the cervical is the neck, the lumbar is the lower.

Yeah.

So that is the, that is the most common injury that, you know, even in my practice, most people would come with spinal, uh, you know, health concerns, spinal discomforts and problems. And Surya Namaskar, it seems, is a very effective medicine for that. Surya Namaskar is a very effective therapy. And the second health issue that normally people come to yoga for help is depression. And you have mentioned that pranayama, in your experience, is an excellent therapy for depression.

Absolutely.

Yes. I'm wondering, what were the ages of these, uh, patients who came to you, these clients who came to you?

The one, one who came to me with the spine, the lower spine problem, who was an investment banker, was 35. The, uh, other guy who had depression was about 55. And, uh, you know, the, um, the guy who had a spinal problem whose spine had become almost as if it's a you know, a log of wood. He was also in his early 50s. So we were able to, you know, work on these 3 cases. I remember specifically, but you know, on depression, I have worked with many more people, and I found that the practice of pranayama and of course dhyana, meditation, which is not easy to do because you have a mind which is continuously working. And how to look at it and how to let it stop. It's not an easy thing, but if you are able to do it, then, you know, it really helps you in healing many, many things inside your body. We are psychosomatic in the sense that, you know, whatever happens to the body influences the mind. So, you know, the kind of food that you take in, it not only influences your physical body, but it also, you know, influences your mental state. So for example, if you consume alcohol, you are taking it in the physical body, but the impact is on the mind, right? So, so we are psychosomatic being. And you will notice that, you know, the breath is the bridge between the body and the mind. The moment you feel anxious, then you are breathing only from this part of the body, you know, you're just— breathing becomes very shallow if you're angry, if you're anxious. And then you're sitting under a tree or by the side of a pond and you're cool and calm and relaxed, then your breathing is naturally from the belly, uh, the movement of the belly, the movement of the diaphragm. And, and when you sleep also, then your breathing is from there. So just imagine that, you know, our body is, is an organism of some 50-60 trillion cells, and all these cells need oxygen And how if we breathe, don't breathe well, then how we only provide, you know, use our lungs to 10-15% of their capacity. If you are able to breathe well, yeah, and you will be able to use it for almost 70-80% of its capacity. Even simple, you know, hunching, you know, if you hunch your body, your breath capacity will reduce. So, you know, you open up your chest, your breathing capacity will improve. And this Simple increase of oxygen into the body or the increase of prana into the body will make you feel more vibrant and help your cells to heal themselves. So just the breath in itself is such an important tool, and you would, you know, realize it. And if you— so if your mind is anxious, you breathe shallow, and the converse is also true. So if you breathe deeply then your mind becomes more quiet. So yes, these are some of the practical things which I've seen in, you know, my experience with different students, and it really works. And, and the other thing is that, you know, when people are attending a yoga class, you have to be attentive. You can stand on a treadmill and walk and your mind can, you know, wander to a stock market or anything. But when you're doing a live yoga class, what happens that, you know, What the teacher is going to say next, you don't know. So you have to be attentive and aware, and that brings you back into the moment. You are in a state of dhyana in a way, and that helps you do— and over a period of 1 hour, it's a very silent meditative experience, and you don't realize it. And people become actually addictive to it, so they want to do classes because they are actually subconsciously experiencing a state of mind which is quiet, which is calm, which is relaxed. And that really helps you.

Yeah, right. That is beautiful. I am wondering, uh, how many of us here in the group right now have a practice of yoga and pranayama? And please let us know in the chat. And if you have any questions coming up in your mind, please share with us. This is a very interactive session. Achal Ji, my next question to you would be, you know, there are different modalities of yoga, different schools—

I lost your voice for a moment, Salila Sukumaran. Salila, I lost your voice. Hi, Salila Sukumaran. Are you— are the others able to hear me? Anybody can unmute? Okay, so I think we lost Salila Sukumaran.

So any which way, maybe ma'am have a network issue, sir.

If you have any other questions, then you can ask me. You know, I think Salila Sukumaran has some questions. So if you have any other questions that anybody would want to ask feel free to ask. I think we have lost Salila Sukumaran for a moment, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Participants, please feel free to ask questions if anybody have.

Yeah, please go ahead. If there are any questions that you have, anything you want to share, then feel free. You can unmute yourself and ask a question also. I think it is possible. Or if you want to even, you know, come onto the screen and ask a question, please feel free to ask anything that you would want to.

Sir, one question is in chat box. Is yoga differs from person to person?

No, yoga I won't say differs from person to person because, you know, yoga is the same practice in the sense that— but how you approach it, or how do you— how— what Which aspect of it is important or most relevant for you at a given point of time may differ. So for example, somebody may be very good in the practice of physical asanas. So the next step for him would be to improve pranayama, then to start moving towards what's called the antaranga yoga, the dharana, dhyana, samadhi. But somebody who is not even introduced to yoga then needs to understand it from a philosophical point of view, then first work on the outermost layer, which is the physical body. So the asana practice, correcting the physical body, and then start moving deeper. So it does not differ from person to person, but the need of a person may be different. And that's what yoga can— different aspects of it can be applied to your life. How to practice pranayama technique, you are saying. See, there are— I would suggest, I would tell you about 2 or 3 important pranayama techniques, and most important one is called Anulom Vilom. So, you know, Anulom Vilom, there is one, you know, you keep 2 fingers onto your forehead, use 2 little fingers to block, let's say, your left nostril, and You take a deep breath in from the right one, fill in your lung like as if, you know, you're filling a balloon. So to the optimum capacity you have filled in, and then you hold the breath inside for as long as you can. So when you are holding the breath inside your lungs for a long time, what happens? The exchange of carbon and oxygen at the alveoli level in the lungs takes place. The longer you hold, the deeper will be that exchange and the faster will be the oxygenation of the body. So, 'Pura' which is inhaling, then 'Kumbhak' and then 'Rechak'— these are three exhalations. These are the three parts of 'Anulom Vilom'. So you take a deep breath in, hold it in for as long as you can and then breathe out. And when you breathe out, you breathe out with control so that you can let go of the breath Slowly. Then you have, you know, Bhastrika, Kapalbhati, Bhramari. You know, Bhramari is another practice where you, you know, hum like a bee, and that is, you know, that really helps to relieve the nerves and, you know, helps you adjust your neurological balance quite well. So there are these different practices of pranayama, but the most important one is Anulom Vilom. And even if you don't do it like alternate nostril. Whenever you are sitting, traveling in a bus, in a car, or anywhere, you can just take a deep breath in, hold the breath inside for as long as you can, and then release it slowly. That will not only slow down the breathing cycle, and as you slow down the breathing cycle, your pulse will also kind of come down. So if somebody has a blood pressure or an ailment like that, and your heartbeats, you know, when there is blood pressure, then your heartbeats are increasing. If you want to practically see it and reduce your own heartbeats, then you reduce the cycle of breaths. So instead of taking, you know, 16 breaths in a minute, you reduce it to 6 breaths in a minute, and you will observe on your own, you can do it and check, you know, that your heartbeat will come down, your blood pressure will actually improve with that. Are there more questions? I think, you know, some people are writing in the chat box.

I'm very sorry that due to some reason, mysterious reason, I was knocked out midway through my question. I'm— were you able to respond, Achal Ji, about the question of which—

yes, yes, I have. I'm, I'm taking these questions even when you were not there. We—

wonderful, thank you.

Yeah, so then the next question is how long to hold a pose. So the longer— the practice of Hatha Yoga says that the longer you hold the pose the better it is. Isthir Sukham Asanam. And it can only happen when your body feels comfortable in a pose. So for example, I'm sitting like this, but if my body doesn't feel comfortable, then I'll come back to a position which makes it feel comfortable. So the pranic body which is underneath my physical body will not get adjusted to this posture. So the longer you hold, for example, if I'm doing a twist and I'm just doing like this and I come back then, you know, there is no benefit, a deep benefit to it. But if I let it twist like this and I adjust my breath here and I keep holding it for longer and longer and longer, then the benefit is more because your pranic body is suddenly getting adjusted to the shape of the physical body for a longer period of time. So that is really helpful. So the longer you can hold the better it is for you.

Wonderful, wonderful. Do you suggest Ayurvedic practitioners to work in collaboration with yoga teachers to help their patients better?

Absolutely. I think, you know, yoga and Ayurveda go so well together that, you know, anything that you are trying to influence— so for example, you are trying to— I think, you know, Ayurveda is also trying to improve the balance of Vata, Pitta, Kapha inside the body, and that can happen much better when the flow of, you know, pranic energy is smooth inside the body. So if you are able to, you know, it's almost like that, you know, if you are starting a car, you need fuel in it, but if the engine is not, you know, well oiled with the oil, you know, the fuel will not work well. So they kind of, you know, go hand in hand in that sense. If your body is, you know, in a good shape, the flow of energy is better, then whatever impact you are trying to do with, you know, the Ayurvedic herbs, practice, nutrition, diet, you know, that will also help and vice versa. So, you know, if you're trying to do yoga practice but your physical body is not in good health, then, you know, then the asanas won't benefit you. So the Ayurveda practice, actually the yoga practice, can be helped with the, you know, treatments through Ayurveda as well.

Wonderful. We have a question from Driti. She is asking us, is Sirsasana a part of yoga and can Sirsasana be performed by anybody?

No, Sirsasana cannot be performed by anybody because it needs a lot of, you know, core strength and balance to, you know, achieve it. And the benefits of Sirsasana are not really very well researched, or the harms it could have. So, you know, the cells in your brain are very— and the neurons are very, very, you know, delicate. And if you hold Sirsasana for a long time it could probably be counterproductive as well. So what I suggest is that, you know, if instead of doing Sirsasana, if you do Sarvangasana, it will give you almost all the benefits of Sirsasana itself. So Sirsasana should be done not on the head at all. You know, maybe if I could demonstrate to you, I would demonstrate that, you know, it is done, you know, your head is actually very loosely out, you know, not on the floor itself. It's, it's very loosely kept on this floor, so there is no pressure on your cervical spine area. So whenever you are doing, for example, you are doing Sirsasana, then you should not compromise the cervical spine. If you have a minor injury even here, then you could, you know, be, you know, it could be, you know, life-threatening, or it could be life-impairing injury. So I don't advise Sirsasana without, you know, a good teacher being around. And whenever you do it, you should do it with a teacher who has helped you to learn it, and then you can do it naturally on your own, then it's all right. But I still advise not to hold it for a very long time.

That is a very key point. In the West, at least here in California, it is almost seen as like, you know, like the six-pack of bodybuilding, and you have to have— be doing—

no, I think, you know, um, so I think, you know, yoga is all about eliminating ego. And, uh, and sometimes in the practice of all these, you know, practitioners that I see, I think it becomes another game of ego. Who does this posture better than the other? And, you know, all that, that's, that's not the purpose. It's not training you to be a gymnast. It's training you to, you know, to understand life, understand your own self, and go beyond these layers of existence which the physical body is, which the mental body is. So, so I think, you know, it's, it's not really so important, you know. I think the improvement in the postures is a result of, you know, you becoming calm and meditative inside. That's what my experience is. It should not happen so much with the effort. It should happen with the non-effort, which in Patanjali's language is called prayatini shatilyam, the relaxation of the effort. So any posture that you do, if it is, you know, kind of without too much effort, it feels, you know, if it is natural, you know, way for you to be, that's really what an asana is. If you do something with great difficulty, it's not an asana.

Got it. That is a very key point. We are trying to eliminate our ego, and we are trying to eliminate straining and stressing and striving. Wonderful. We have a question from Kasturi Rangan. What is the duration of days of practice required to observe outside visible physiological changes in ourselves by doing yoga? I believe— right, go ahead, please.

So yeah, I think, you know, the one physical changes, you know, could be observed in either in terms of, you know, the improvement in energy, and secondly, in the loss of weight or gain of muscles. So, you know, so improvement of energy you will start to feel immediately. You know, you do it for 2-3 days, you do in fact not 2-3 days, you do a few Surya Namaskars and you will see that your energy level has improved. If you are feeling very fatigued, just do a few stretching exercises, stretching asanas of yoga and you will immediately start to feel. So you will feel some physical changes happening right away. You know, through the practice of yoga. But if you are looking at, you know, let's say if you're looking at weight loss and, you know, physical change of loss of weight, then it will take a little bit of time or it will take a lot of effort. So let's say if you do 100 Surya Namaskar, you will actually lose about 200 to 300 grams of weight in that 1-hour period itself. So you say, you can say that you will start to observe, but you— I don't advise it because Doing 100 Surya Namaskars, you only can do when your heart and, you know, your lungs are in perfect condition and you've practiced it slowly, built it up. But yes, if you are able to do it, then you will start to feel and see the changes immediately. Otherwise, you know, um, period of 1 month, 2 months, and you will start to see some changes. To improve the muscular strength, let's say you wanted to strengthen your core or your abdomen area, then you start holding, you know, some postures for a longer time, and then you will start to see the benefits. Maybe 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 1 month, and you will start to see some physical benefits immediately.

Wonderful. I believe people are celebrating the festival Diwali in the background. We hear a noise in the background.

Yeah, yeah, yes, I guess I can hear, you know, I don't know whether these celebrations are for, you know, I heard that people were, you know, in some places even bursting crackers for, you know, Trump being out of presidency. So we don't know what exactly the reason, but here mostly it's because of, you know, Diwali.

Okay, very nice, very nice. We will move on to the next question. What is the duration to hold breathing in pranayama? Naghma Saeed has asked us.

So, Naghma, there are different, you know, capacities of lung for people. So you cannot say somebody who has a larger lung capacity can hold it for a little longer. And that's why I don't go with that, you know, some people say that, you know, you breathe in for 4 counts, you hold for 8 counts, you breathe out for 4 counts. I don't agree with it because I feel that, you know, somebody who has a lung capacity which is twice as much as the person next to you, and if you breathe in for 4 counts, then the other person has used it only for, you know, half of the capacity. So for me, you know, I would suggest you breathe in for the maximum capacity. Treat your lung like a balloon, breathe in as much as you can. Then you hold as much as you can, and that will differ from people to people, so you cannot specify a time duration for that. And then you release it slowly. And that will really give you maximum benefits.

Thank you. Yes, that makes 100% sense. Everybody breathe deeply in and hold and see how long you can hold the breath. I hope all of you get inspired by this session and take up yoga if you have not taken up yoga. You will immediately see benefits in refreshing your mind, getting yourself ready for school, getting yourself ready to learn all those shlokas that you have to learn by heart, I guess. We have another question from Driti. She is asking you, what is the yogasana you prefer to do daily?

So I, you know, I teach a class thrice a week. So when I teach a class, I, you know, and should try to ensure that you know, the entire body workout is happening. So, you know, I start with a class with, you know, the joint rotation, because when you wake up and most of the blockages in our, uh, you know, body happen in the joint area. So whenever you are trying to— let's say somebody has a frozen shoulder, then, you know, if you're working on even this movement, then your frozen shoulder will improve. So first I do, uh, first I do centering yourself in. So for example, when you start a session So many thoughts outside connect you to the world. To start an inward journey, you need to be quiet. So I just allow, ask people to, you know, breathe deeply, close the eyes, center themselves in. Then I work on the joint area, so the joints. Then I, you know, once the joints have opened up, then you need to open up rest of the muscles. So we do one round of Surya Namaskar very slowly, and then we do, you know, 2 or 3 rounds of Surya Namaskars in a dynamic way. That opens up the body, opens up your muscular system, your skeletal system. And also your respiratory system because, you know, in Surya Namaskars you breathe deeply. Once the body is a little warm, then we do a stretch sequence. So we do Warrior 1, Reverse Warrior, Warrior 2, Virabhadrasana 2, and then we do some sideways twists, we do Prasarita Padottanasana. So all these stretching, you know, asanas in that sequence. Now the body is warmed up, it has stretched, then I work on the core area. For me, my favorite is, you know, the core area. Postures because I feel, you know, if you are able to improve the core strength, then the maneuvering rest of the body becomes that much more easier. So planks, side planks, Vashistasana, you know, downward dog, Adho Mukhi Svanasana, downward dog, upward dog, Urdhva Mukhi Svanasana, chaturanga. These are the, you know, parts of, you know, this sequence. After that, you know, we do some breathing exercises and then I do some balancing postures like Vrikshasana, Natarajasana. Then I work a lot on, you know, the spine. So lower spine, middle spine, and upper spine. So we do Bhujangasana for lower spine, Ustrasana, Dhanurasana for middle part of the spine, and Sketu Bandhasana for the upper part of the spine. And then we cool the body down with, you know, some Pavanmuktasana and some stretches, and then we In the end, Shavasana. I feel Shavasana is the most important asana after you have experienced all these postures. And you should actually find a few moments where you actually have lost yourself. You don't know where the time has gone. I think sometimes, you know, my students come back with that experience, and that's one of the most liberating experiences of a yoga session. So that's what I do. I don't have any particular favorite, you know, asana. But whenever I have to work on a different aspect, I work, you know, on different postures.

Thank you so much. We are getting lots of questions and we have only about 6 minutes left, so we will try to wrap up quickly. We will go through the questions quickly. We have a question from Arun who is asking about Kriya Yoga. Kindly explain what Kriya Yoga is in brief.

So Kriya Yoga, and you know, is, is, uh, you know, I think you are referring to, uh, um, you know, the one with by Sri Ravi Shankar that, uh, you know, Kriya, Sudarshan Kriya and all that. Those are typical kind of, you know, breathing techniques which, you know, help you to attain a state of mind which is meditative. So I don't think you— I, I, I feel that, you know, any kind of practice, if done meditatively, will help you to reach that state of mind. So for me, I don't specifically endorse Kriya Yoga. For me, any Vipassana, in fact, watching your breath when you're doing Anulom Vilom or just not even doing anything, you're just watching the breath go in and out, will bring you to a state of mind which is very quiet. And when your mind becomes quiet, when it disappears, Those are the moments when you start to move beyond the realm of your physical body, beyond the realm of your mental body. You become a Drashta, and you know, so after the yoga practice, tad drashta so rupe avastanam, and then the seer abides in oneself. That's the state of mind, you know, that can come with any practice that, you know, helps you to increase awareness. So for example, if you're walking on a tightrope, for those moments you are almost alert and enlightened because, you know, you have to bring your entire attention to something. And anything that brings your entire attention to one point, you know, it becomes yogic, it becomes a practice.

That is beautiful, that is beautifully said. We have a question from Shivangi which is quite interesting. Does yoga help to gain weight?

Yes, yoga helps to, you know, regularize your hormonal balance inside the body. And whether, you know, you have, you know, if your thyroid is hyperactive, for example, then you will probably, you know, experience a loss of weight. Or the yoga practice will help you to optimize it because it is working on balancing the hormones, balancing the, uh, you know, state of mind, uh, and, and, you know, healing your body from inside. And then the body on its own will achieve an optimum weight. But for that, it's not only the yogic practice, you have to take the right kind of nutrition as well, you know. So You know, as you know, the body is a combination of so many chemicals. So many amino acids are needed by the body to, you know, heal itself, to build up muscle mass. The, you know, gaining weight will depend upon, you know, what you also take in as nutrition apart from the practice of yoga itself. Yoga practice will help you in correcting causes which are, despite everything else, not helping you to achieve the optimum weight. So for example, You may be eating everything right and then your, you know, your thyroid is hyperactive and it is not helping you to, you know, so it will help the hormonal balance will, you know, then even out and it will help you to gain weight.

Thank you for that. We have a question from, uh, hello. Hi, I am Shivangi. Yes, Shivangi. Ma'am, I want to ask which yoga poses are preferred for hormonal imbalance, specifically to remove hormonal imbalance.

So it's activation of different parts of the body. For example, if you want to do anything which is working on your thyroid gland, so you do Sarvangasana. Because it, you know, kind of constricts the— and then you do Matsyasana, which stretches your neck area. So the fish pose, and before that you do Sarvangasana and you do Halasana. So these two poses will kind of squeeze your thyroid area, and Matsyasana will, you know, kind of stretch it. So it will help you to bring more circulation here. And so, so that is one, uh, you know, but, uh, it, it is also said that, you know, the practice of meditation, because, you know, when you are in a state of dhyana, when you are quiet, calm, serene, then the balance of, you know, hormones on its own— everything else inside the body is working in an optimum way that will help you to achieve that. Pranayama is also very, very helpful in, you know, working on, you know, the hormonal balance. There are many, many kinds of hormones inside the body, so, you know, depending upon if you have any specific problem, then you can work on that specific problem areas. For example, many women have, you know, PCOD problems, so they want— they need to work on postures which help to work on the torso area.

Wonderful. We have more questions coming in, and whatever questions have come so far in the chat, we will do that. And I'm sure HLD also needs to go on time. Thank you so much for the enthusiasm, students. The next question is from Driti. She wants to know what yoga asana is suggested for neck pain.

So neck pain, again, you know, neck pain can happen because of many, many things. It can happen because of an injury, or it can happen because of, you know, your posture. So basically your posture should be right. So I'll suggest, you know, one thing to correct the posture is what's called the Gomukhasana. It's a simple posture. You take your palm behind the back, the back of the palm you keep, you know, in between your shoulder blades. You use the other palm, engage your fingers together, and you just hold the body like that. The longer you're holding it, the better it is for this whole area. Then also, you know, Sukshmayaya, where you just move your neck up and down, sideways, ear to the neck, either side. You know, basically you need to improve the health of this and the structure of this area. So don't hunch, just, you know, be open-chested, you know, keep the spine straight, keep the neck straight. You know, we, you know, stare so much at the computer, so we are, you know, kind of compromising this area. So that is, you know, one. Then also Sarvangasana, you know, it kind of helps you lift up. Then Downward Dog, the Adho Mukha Svanasana, that's one of the best postures for, you know, handling the cervical spine area because, you know, you are, you know, you're pushing your heels down, you're, you know, putting a pressure on your shoulder blades are coming together, and this area is correcting. So these are 2 or 3, you know, postures which work on the cervical spine area very well. You can do that and hold it for a little longer. I think, you know, if you start to hold even Gomukhasana for, you know, long times, you will find an improvement in, you know, in neck pain area. But again, it will depend upon what is the root cause of that neck pain. If there is an injury, then you need to treat it separately. But if it is posture related, if it is, you know, then you will be able to improve it with these postures. And I'm quite a, you know, I have in my experience seen that many times when you have injuries, physiotherapists and doctors tell you to absolutely stop movement in that area. In my experience, I have found that you need to move a little, you need to bring more blood to that part so that it can heal it. How you do it is a very delicate thing, so there is no formula to it. But you would know that, you know, when you have a, like for example, a neck pain and you are doing Gomukhasana, and then you will be able to experience it yourself too, in which position you feel most comfortable. So use your own body intelligence and you will be able to see that, you know, with some movement you're able to bring a little more blood circulation into that area, and that blood circulation kind of heals it.

Yes, that is a wonderful philosophy to live by, developing our own body's intelligence. The next question is from Ruchika Garg. She wants to know if there is an asana to treat allergies and skin infections.

So allergies and, you know, skin infection, so there is no asana for that, but it will happen on, you know, detoxification of the body to the most extent. And, you know, for that You know, you need to have, you know, drink a lot of water so that, you know, your excretion is good. Secondly, I, I've also seen that, you know, the blood circulation— so surya namaskar. And, you know, actually one of my patients and I, you know, did not bring it as a case study, but she had two problems. And I will not name her because she was trying to conceive and, you know, have babies through IVF, and she was having a problem with that. But coupled with that was a case of heavy allergy, and she was, you know, on very, very heavy medication. So first she wanted to get off the allergy medication to achieve the second objective, and we started to work on Surya Namaskars. So I said, let's just work on Surya Namaskars, and it, you know, reduced her medic her medical intake, you know, to a large extent. And finally, finally, she was actually able to go through that treatment, and now she has twins. So, so yeah, another case study which, you know, where I actually worked with someone on some specific problem. I had forgotten about it, but her question brought this out. So if you do more Surya Namaskar and pranayama, I think, you know, you will definitely find an improvement. Improvement in your allergies.

Would you remember how long the duration was that you worked with her?

I remember it was for a period of about 3 to 4 months, uh, you know, you know, till I worked on this. And then, you know, she was able to get off, uh, most allergy-related— because that medication of allergy was actually preventing the second objective. So first she had to get off you know, allergy medication. And then that happened actually.

Wonderful. This is—

but again, because of allergy, you know, could be you are— you may be allergic to some specific food or something, then you need to, you know, kind of— some people have peanut allergy and then you need to be off that food, or gluten allergy, and you need to be off that food for some time and let your body heal.

Thank you for that. Dr. Hemant Sharma wants to know what yoga should do— which yoga should do for increase in concentration.

Dhyana. Dhyana is, you know, the meditation and pranayama, uh, both pranayama and, uh, so even if you— and any, any asana. So see, body is psychosomatic, and I feel the objective of an asana and holding it quietly for a long time is to make the mind quiet. So any posture that you do, and if you are able to hold it for a longer period of time with a quiet state of mind, then you will find that, you know, that practice is helping you to improve your concentration.

Thank you so much. We will move through the questions fairly fast now. So sorry, students, we cannot take all the questions. It's already 7:36. We've gone 6 minutes past. Shambhu wants to know which yoga is helpful for frozen shoulders.

Yes, so I told you, you know, the, um, one is this asana, this, uh, you know, Gomukhasana. So you're moving your shoulders, but simply one is the shoulder rotation. You should start with shoulder rotations, movement of shoulders up, down, in the front, behind, you know. So all these postures, you know, kind of help you to start moving the shoulders. One thing I found very useful And I advised it to some people in Frozen Shoulder. Actually, the case study was just to, you know, keep your hand onto the wall like this, uh, and then, you know, because people find even this movement very painful, so you do it where you find it comfortable. Then you start moving your palm, you know, an inch up for a few times, few, you know, minutes. You practice this, then you start moving it up, and after a few days, few weeks, you will find that, you know, you are able to move your palm up fully and your shoulders have started to move. So shoulder rotations, shoulder movements up, down, in the front, behind, Gomukhasana, and even that Adho Mukhi Svanasana, the downward dog. And just this simple exercise of, you know, moving your shoulders up and down, this will help you to improve your shoulder rotations.

Friends, as you can see, Achal Ji is a treasure trove of knowledge in yoga. Kasturi Rangan wants to know the problem he has faced is to maintain a consistent practice of yoga by himself, and in case we don't find a group practice or class, how can we address this? When we discontinue yoga for a few days, we lose the flexibility and have to start all over again.

Yeah, that happens, but I think, you know, Even if you lose the practice of physical yoga, you know, you should always be calm. And I think, you know, when you are calm and your lungs are able to breathe well and they are flexible, then, you know, when you get into the physical practice, you will be able to achieve the flexibility very quickly. So if you are, if for some reasons not able to, you know, do physical yoga or attend classes, then at least, you know, Remember to breathe deeply. Remember to use your lungs very optimally because all our flexibility is dependent upon how your lungs are able to move and, you know, how are they able to— for example, if I turn this much and if I'm not able to breathe, then my body will say, come back to this position. But if I'm able to turn this much and then if my body is able to breathe, then I can twist. This much, I can almost, you know, kind of twist as much as I can. It will depend upon how my lungs are breathing in these different positions of the body, right? So breathe very well all the time, and then you will find it easy to, you know, come back to a practice. Otherwise, you know, now, uh, you don't even have an excuse of, you know, physical class not happening. There are lots of, you know, yoga teachers who are teaching, you know, online classes. Just join some and, you know, be more regular. I understand that, you know, if you don't have a group dynamic, if you don't have people, a regular schedule, then sometimes you may not be able to do it on your own. But, you know, this will help you to join some class, join a class and practice.

Friends, I would love to mention here that Achal Ji's private classes, group classes, all his proceeds go towards supporting girl children in girls in India in their education, girls who are from, you know, challenged, economically challenged backgrounds. So if you decide to take a class with him, know that you are earning good karma and some good is, more good is happening in the world because of your decision. We will take a last few questions and then we will wrap up and thank everybody for coming. The last question I want to see, take, is Divya from Divya Narwat who wants to ask us about which yoga is helpful for migraine.

Migraine, okay. So migraine, you know, happens because, you know, again, as we told, the pranic flow inside the, you know, inside the head area is impacted. So I have found a few things. One, there are 2 or 3 pressure points which, you know, really impact, you know, the flow of this. So one is right in the middle of your eyebrows. So you, you know, close your eyes and you just press right in the middle of the eyebrows. One point is this. Second point is, you know, the point just on your temple. So this point. And third point is just here, you know, you will find just by the side of your nostril there is a hollow point. You know, these 3 points. So you— one is, you know, just, you know, pressing these 3 points will help you to improve, you know, the flow of energy through it. And pranayama. So pranayama, you know, improves because you are influencing the flow of energy. It's like, you know, there is something flowing inside and you are using the external— so you have some external pump is pushing the energy inside. So do promote more and more of pranayama and dhyana. And you will find that the problems of migraine will kind of start to reduce.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. I am learning so much from this conversation. Well, friends, if you want to join any of Achal Ji's classes, please email me. I have given my email address. He's a very busy man, so I don't want you to bombard him with the emails. So please reach out to me. I will make sure that I organize it. And that you are able to join Achal Ji's amazing classes. I have myself been taking his classes for the past 4 or 5 months now, and I highly, highly recommend it. Adriti, we've already taken a couple of your questions, so please excuse us. We will come back again if there is interest in the students to learn more from Achal Ji. I will be releasing this as a podcast, So please email me so you can stay in touch and I can share a recording with you when I make it live. Thank you everybody for joining with us. Achal Ji, we are grateful for giving us your precious time and sharing your knowledge with us and helping us learn something very important today. Students, I don't know where you are in your own journey of enlightenment and, you know, making yoga a part of your daily lifestyle. But my own personal experience is that yoga changed everything for me. Yoga turned my life upside down in a positive way. So I respectfully invite you to embrace yoga and to also suggest it as one of the first treatments you would step into as you do your diagnosis with a patient. Thank you so much, Achal Ji. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, Salila Sukumaran. Just to, on a closing note, because this is a community that you, you know, address, it's a community which is, you know, doing very well for and being helpful to other people. You know, if you want to, you know, want them to join classes or something, we can discuss this separately. As I told you, there is, you know, any proceed actually go to work for a cause. So there is no, you know, kind of specific, uh, you know, thing for, for them. If they are a part of community that you have, we can discuss it separately and they can join the classes. So I will, I will let you know, you know, what I mean by that. But, uh, but I, you know, anybody who is doing some good to the society and if they can be helped in some indirect way by me I would be more than happy to do that.

Achal Ji is a very, very generous human being, as you can already see. Please stay in touch with him over Instagram. He was tagged in all the posts. I will also be tagging him in my thank you post. So let's continue the conversation and let's learn from each other. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you very much. And, you know, best of luck to every student, you know. In their journey forward, journey ahead in their life. Thank you.

Namaskaram. Namaste.

Vasudeva sutam devam. Vasudeva sutam. Paramānanda. Krishnam Vandeh. Krishnam Vandeh. Krishnam Vandeh Jagadguru. Krishnam Vandeh. Eh, Tagat Guru. Devaki Paramanadam. Devaki Paramanadam. Jagadguru Krishnam Bande. Krishnam. Krishnam Bande. Jagadguru. Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Krishna Nibhaganamba. Krishna, Krishna, Nīrmaṇevaro.