{"id":10691,"date":"2011-03-08T03:46:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T03:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2011\/03\/yoga-indias-export-us-health-care-reform\/"},"modified":"2011-03-08T03:46:09","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T03:46:09","slug":"yoga-indias-export-us-health-care-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/drishtikone\/2011\/03\/yoga-indias-export-us-health-care-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoga: Indian Export for US Health Care Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"sadhguru_0.jpg\"<\/a>Modern medical science now recognizes that conventional allopathic medicine cannot treat everything, especially chronic illnesses. It is a well-known fact that most allopathic treatments have undesirable side effects; some are even health and\/or life-threatening. For this reason the National Institutes of Health\u2019s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine<\/a> (NCCAM) has been studying alternative systems of medicine. Research has revealed that traditional, non-allopathic systems and practices have much to offer to achieve holistic health care.<\/p>\n

While the allopathic approach mainly tries to treat the disease, traditional systems work towards improving a person\u2019s overall wellbeing. The medical establishment has been slow to acknowledge this advantage, but now there is a movement to promote traditional health care systems. This concept is very important, especially for family physicians as they are the first contact for patients. A pilot program has been launched at ten Family Medicine Residency Programs in the United States, to teach future Family Physicians about Complimentary and Alternative systems of Medicine. I am one of the fortunate people to be part of a program that prepares doctors to provide better services to patients by instructing them about these traditional systems of Medicine.<\/p>\n

Yoga is an example of a holistic medical system that was developed in India. Yoga is considered a \u201cmind-body medicine\u201d in that it employs a variety of techniques designed to enhance the mind\u2019s capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms. As a regular practitioner of Isha Yoga<\/a>, I often recommend that my patients take a yoga course when they are looking for simple preventative health and wellness programs. If properly taught and practiced, yoga can be a modern antidote that addresses the most common health concerns in today\u2019s society, everything from stress and anxiety to chronic ailments such as diabetes, heart disease and allergies. <\/p>\n

Although it has not been determined by modern science what changes occur in the body during yoga, the founder of Isha Yoga, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev<\/a> has explained that \u201cYoga is the science of activating your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest peak. When your body and mind function in a completely different state of relaxation and a certain level of blissfulness, you can be released from so many things that most people are suffering from.\u201d <\/p>\n

After attending a yoga program, many participants come out of chronic ailments they had struggled with for years. A research team recently conducted a survey of people who have completed Isha\u2019s Inner Engineering<\/a> program in the last six years. Over 500 respondents self-reported on physical, mental and emotional well-being as well as medication usage for some of the most common health concerns. The report illustrates the benefits of Inner Engineering<\/a>, for example:<\/p>\n