International Yoga Day Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

Cancer Patients Get Meditation Session at HCG with Dozee

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Sat, 22 Jun 2019 06:47:12 +0000

On the occasion of International Yoga Day, a Bengaluru based health-tech start-up Dozee, launched their Mindfulness feature and provided first-of-its-kind experience to Cancer patients at HCG – The Specialist in Cancer Care. Developed by IIT graduates, Dozee is a patented contact-free health monitor that tracks heartbeat, respiration, sleep and stress from under the mattress. Supported under Make in India campaign, Dozee’s launch of meditation feature on International Yoga Day is a powerful integration of two initiatives of the government.

The session was attended by 20 cancer patients and survivors from HCG. The session began with Dr. Raghavendra Rao (HoD CAM Program, HCG Oncology), talking on benefits of meditation and getting patients practise some yogic techniques. This was followed by 10 minutes of guided meditation, where patients followed the meditation instructions from Dozee app. Post the session, patients were provided with personalized report, quantifying the impact of the session on their heartbeat, respiration and stress levels.Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Neeraj, a cancer patient said “This was a really unique experience for us. I felt my stress levels came down significantly, and I could see the result of it on Dozee app as well. The whole meditation experience became very real for me”.

Dr. Raghavendra Rao said, “HCG has always believed in providing holistic care to all its patients and ensuring abetter quality of life. We have combined the ancient stress relieving techniques of Yoga with advanced medical care to help manage cancer better. This International Yoga Day, we decided to include Yoga as a part of its patients’ treatment plans. Starting with our flagship unit in Bengaluru, this program will be incorporated shortly in all of our 22 centres across India.”

Mudit Dandwate, CEO of Dozee said, “We are really excited to see the heart-warming response from cancer patients at HCG and can’t wait to enable this benefit for everyone across the country. Our aim of starting Dozee was to make healthcare simple and accessible to everyone. The latest feature is a step towards bringing the power of meditation to comforts of everyone’s home by providing easy to follow instructions and Artificial Intelligence powered personalized recommendations. What it means for users is that they will feel they have a teacher guiding them with meditation at their homes, personalising their session basis their performance.”

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Deja vu – International Yoga Day

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 07:00:32 +0000

It was only three years ago when India carved out a niche in annals of history on 21st June 2015 by holding the biggest ever open-air yoga camp with a maximum number of international community members on the sprawling lawns of Rajpath on the first International Yoga Day (IYD), proclaimed on its initiative.

Now, taking lead from India following its expertise in the centuries-old science, many nations mark the day with gusto, and many of them have imbibed the art in daily chorus amid anxiety-ridden lives in the competitive world.

Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi says it should be a matter of pride for any Indian that India proposed before UN the idea of the International Yoga Day and it was approved.

Also Read: Yoga Mojo Going Viral – Meditation in India

On the first event itself, the country had been awarded two Guinness World Records in two different categories. Category 1 was for the largest number of participants in a Yoga Lesson at a single venue. The earlier record was of 29,973. To beat that record a target of 30,000 was required. Yogis broke that record as 35,985 participants performed Yoga at Rajpath that morning.

Category 2 was the most number of nationalists in a Yoga Lesson. To achieve that, at least participants from 50 countries were required to perform. But that day participants from 84 countries performed Yoga at Rajpath. Mr. Shripad Yesso Naik, then MoS. Ministry of AYUSH and Secretary AYUSH received the awards which were presented by the representatives of Guinness World Records Ms. Victoria from the UK and Mr. Marco Frigatti from Italy. Also present on the occasion were Yog Gurus, Mr. Guru Malladi, coordinator of EY Company. India’s proposal for the IYD was supported by as many as 177 countries for the first time in the history of UNO (United Nations Organisation) and the resolution was passed within 100 days.

Mr. Modi, in his first year in office, addressed the 69th session of UNGA on 27th September 2014 and had urged the international community to celebrate Yoga day.

On 11th December, the 193-member UNGA had approved the proposal by consensus with record 177 countries, including 47 Muslim nation cosponsors, clearing a resolution to establish June 21 as ‘International Yoga Day’.

Now, more than 250 cities across six continents in the world performed Yoga to mark the first International Yoga Day, with Mr. Modi leading the nation, along with 35,000 yogis at Rajpath and External Affairs Minister Ms. Sushma Swaraj had represented India at the UN in New York. On the first IYD, Ms. Swaraj says Indians across 650 districts and 192 out of 193 countries of the globe took part in Yoga events being planned to celebrate the Day, with Yemen being the only exception because of war situation.

“Our embassy has been shifted to Djibouti from Yemen and this is the reason that we have left out Déjà vu – YOGA DAY 20 Volume 3 | Issue 3 | July-September 2018 only one country,” Ms. Swaraj said. PM had led the nation in the celebrations during the function at Rajpath, where the entire stretch from Vijay Chowk to India Gate had turned into a Yoga mat. More than 7,000 copies of coffee table books and 19,000 reference books on Yoga had been sent to Indian Missions abroad.

Tightest ever security paraphernalia was mounted with air cover by the Indian Air Force to thwart any disruptive design. Security was on lines of the Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations. A tight vigil was being mounted at airports, railway stations, bus stations and other crowded areas. Teaming multitude of people had done a 35-minute session of 15 Asanas at the Rajpath.

There is no looking back since that day, say, officials of the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH). The biggest challenge was to ensure the turnout much before 0600 hrs. Guinness book of records panelists had insisted that every entry should be barcoded and decoded. The event took off at 6:45 am for 35 minutes with crisp 15 popular asanas. A large LED screen was put in place to highlight motions of various exercises which include Muktasana, Makarasana, Kapalbhati, Pranayam, and meditation. The programme had started with Rigveda invocation.

Now events are being organized in various cities in different countries including Beijing, Berlin, Bogota, Budapest, Dublin, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Paris, Port Louis, and Tallinn.

The International Yoga Day is spreading across the country and at most of the places, preparations get underway months before the day. Even in mofussil places, a message is loud and clear to observe the day. Now, it is observed with festive fervor and gaiety with no political strings attached.

Many are of the firm opinion that the government must ensure that no coercive tactics are used for participation in Yoga programme. They linked it with religious sentiments, but people, in general, have rubbished grotesque comments.

“Yoga is an invaluable gift of ancient Indian tradition. It embodies the unity of mind and body: thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature and a holistic approach to health and wellbeing,” Mr. Modi had told UNGA, setting the tone for the international yoga day proposal.

On the first edition, Mr. Modi, had announced the arrival of a new yoga era, with the first International Day of Yoga being observed across the world. Leading a mass yoga demonstration at Rajpath in New Delhi, the Prime Minister had declared that “today”, as this day was being observed in various parts of the world, the sun would not set on the community of Yoga practitioners.

He said that “today” is not just the first-ever International Yoga Day, but the beginning of a new era that would inspire humanity in its quest for peace and harmony. The Prime Minister had recalled the contribution of ancient sages, yoga gurus, and practitioners across the world through the ages, for making Yoga what it is, “today”. He said that as mankind advances in various spheres of development and technology, individual human beings must progress too, and Yoga offered an avenue for this. Yoga is not merely an exercise but offered an opportunity for balancing the mind and body and could help harness an individual’s inner strength.

Yoga is widely considered as an “immortal cultural outcome” of the Indus Sarasvati Valley civilization dating back to 2700 BC – and has proven itself to cater to both material and spiritual uplift of humanity.

A number of seals and fossil remains of Indus Sarasvati Valley civilization with yogic motifs and figures performing yoga sadhana suggest the presence of yoga in ancient India.

In 2016, the Prime Minister celebrated the second International Day of Yoga at Chandigarh, where he joined approximately 30,000 participants in a mass Yoga demonstration. Addressing the gathering at the iconic Capitol Complex there, he said the people in all parts of the country have connected with Yoga.

“The Yoga Day is a day linked to good health, and it has become a mass movement. Yoga is not about what one will get, but it is about what one can give up. That with zero budget, Yoga provides health assurance, and does not discriminate between rich and poor.” PM said and stressed the need for focus, on how to mitigate diabetes through Yoga. He walked amidst people, joined and mingled with the participants of the mass Yoga demonstration. The event was marked across the world with more enthusiasm than it was on the first year.

The third International Day of Yoga in 2017, too, was celebrated with great enthusiasm across the country with mass yoga demonstrations taking 22 Volume 3 | Issue 3 | July-September 2018 place in various locations. The Prime Minister had participated in the mass Yoga event in Lucknow where he was joined by a huge number of people.

Addressing the gathering at the iconic Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan in Lucknow, he reached out to people and said, Yoga is a practice that binds humanity together and is helping countries across the world to be connected with India. Yoga is a medium to achieve wellness and it has the power to provide health assurance at zero cost, he said.

The event at Lucknow was attended by Former Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of AYUSH Mr. Shripad Yesso Naik; Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mr. Yogi Adityanath; Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mr. Keshav Prasad Maurya; Deputy Chief Minister of UP Dr. Dinesh Sharma; State Minister (Independent Charge) Ministry of AYUSH, Dr. Dharam Singh Saini.

On the occasion of International Day of Yoga, the Ministry of AYUSH organized mass yoga programmes in Delhi in association with NDMC, DDA and eminent Yoga organizations. In Connaught Place, New Delhi, NDMC used drone cameras for aerial photography and videography of the Yoga demonstrations.

Many partnership organizations like, Art of Living, Patanjali Yoga Samiti, Vivekanand Yogashram Hospital, Brhamkumari, Isha Foundation and Gayatri Parivar participated in the Yoga day celebrations in various places in Delhi. Former Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information & Broadcasting, Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu also participated. Other Union Ministers participated in mass Yoga events in various states. The Ministry of Home Affairs celebrates the International Day of Yoga across the country including yoga celebrations by BSF, CRPF, CAPF, units of ITBP to mark the occasion. Last year, ITBP personnel performed yoga at 19000 feet in Ladhak and at 11600 feet at the Bank of Indus River in Ladhak.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development announced the winners of the ‘Yoga Olympiad’ held in Delhi from 18th – 20th June 2017 to promote the awareness of yoga and to build up a network of schools, teachers and yoga practitioners at the national level. The awards were given in four categories which included one award each for Upper Primary – Girls and Boys; Secondary – Girls and Boys.

Last year, the Ministry of Defence-organised Yoga sessions across the country with troops of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy, conducted at Pahalgam, Srinagar, Kargil. Ahmednagar, Bidar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Kolkata, Leh, Mangalore, Nagpur, and Sriganganagar, to name of few. The Indian Navy did Yoga sessions on board INS Vikramaditya, Shivalik, Kamorta, Jyoti, INS Jalashwa & INS Kirch in the Indian Ocean & the Bay of Bengal and the Coast Guard on board ICGS Sarathi, ICGS Samrat. Cadets of National Cadet Corps (NCC) participated in Yoga Day function at DG NCC Camp, Delhi Cantt.

The Ministry of External Affairs, through its Indian embassies abroad, celebrated the Yoga Day at iconic locations like, at the Abraham Lincoln Monument, Sylvan Theater in Washington DC, La Villette in Paris, and at the backdrop of Sheikh Zahid Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Yoga gurus conducted seminars and discussions on Yoga in many countries across the world.

Massive arrangements have been made to mark the day this year as, by next year, the country would have witnessed general elections. Polls in the world’s most populous democracy always hold mystery in womb about next ruling dispensation at the center. But as it is the international day, come what may world will continue to mark the day with more zest in tensions ridden global scenario. Moreover, Yoga is emerging as a public movement bereft of politics.

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Benefits of Regular Meditation Sessions

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 08:28:16 +0000

Regular meditation sessions can have a long-lasting effect on a person’s attention span and other cognitive abilities, says an extensive study.
Regular and intensive meditation sessions over the course of a lifetime could help a person remain attentive and focused well into old age, the study has found.
Also Read: Yoga Mojo Going Viral – Meditation in India

This is according to the most extensive longitudinal study to date examining a group of meditation practitioners. Published in Springer’s Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, the research evaluates the benefits that people gained after three months of full-time meditation training and whether these benefits are maintained seven years later.
Lead author Anthony Zanesco, now at the University of Miami in the US, however, cautions that further research is needed before meditation can be advocated as a sure-fire method for countering the effects of aging on the brain.
This study follows up on previous work by the same group of researchers at the University of California, Davis in 2011, which assessed the cognitive abilities of 30 people who regularly meditated before and after they went on a three-month-long retreat at the Shambhala Mountain Center in the US. At the center, they meditated daily using techniques designed to foster calm sustained attention on a chosen object and to generate aspirations such as compassion, loving-kindness, emphatic joy and equanimity among participants, for others and themselves.
During this time, another group of 30 people who regularly meditated were also monitored. Other than traveling to the meditation center for a week-long assessment period, they carried on with their lives as normal. After the first group’s initial retreat was over, the second group received similar intensive training at the Shambhala Mountain Center.
As part of this study, follow-up assessments were conducted six months, eighteen months and On the occasion of International Yoga Day 18 Volume 3 | Issue 3 | July-September 2018 seven years after completion of the retreats. During the last appraisal, participants were asked to estimate how much time over the course of seven years they had spent meditating outside of formal retreat settings, such as through daily or non-intensive practice. The forty participants who had remained in the study all reported some form of continued meditation practice: 85% attended at least one meditation retreat, and they practiced amounts on average that was comparable to an hour a day for seven years.
The participants again completed assessments designed to measure their reaction time and ability to pay attention to a task. Although these did not improve, the cognitive gains accrued after the 2011 training and assessment were partially maintained many years later. This was especially true for older participants who practiced a lot of meditation over the seven years. Compared to those who practiced less, they maintained cognitive gains and did not show typical patterns of age-related decline in sustained attention.
Also Read: Difference Between Pranayama and Breathing

“This study is the first to offer evidence that intensive and continued meditation practice is associated with enduring improvements in sustained attention and response inhibition, with the potential to alter longitudinal trajectories of cognitive change across a person’s life,” says Zanesco.
He is aware that participants’ lifestyle or personality might have contributed to the observations. Zanesco, therefore, calls for further research into meditation as an intervention to improve brain functioning among older people.
He says the current findings also provide a sobering appraisal of whether short-term or non-intensive mindfulness interventions are helpful to improve sustained attention in a lasting manner. Participants practiced far more meditation than is feasible for shorter-term programs that might aim to help with cognitive aging, and despite practicing that much meditation, participants did not generally improve over years; these benefits instead plateaued. Zanesco believes this has broad implications for meditation and mindfulness-based approaches to cognitive training and raises important questions regarding how much meditation can, in fact, influence human cognition and the workings of the brain.

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Yoga Mojo Going Viral – Meditation in India

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 08:07:09 +0000

For ages, we are taught to practice yoga and meditation in India and people do that at many places and in many forms but three years ago at India’s initiative, the United Nations recognized its significance and declared 21st June every year as the International Yoga Day.

In the first edition itself, the IYD had a roaring success worldwide and India created two world records. Since then, there is no going back in terms of celebrating the day with traditional gusto and ever vaulting spirits. Both President and Prime Minister led the nation on the day’s observation. To recap, the event’s increasing footprints, we decided to dedicate the current issue to IYD. And run a fleeting flashback of memories to revive afresh what happened in the previous three editions worldwide.

Also Read: Ayurveda: Mother of All Healings

In the same spirit, we are running a few items dedicated to the imperiled environment. As this year India hosts the International Environment Day with the theme to combat ever plaguing menace of plastic that had adversely impacted human lives and virtually choked waterways in variant degrees at many places.

India’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, in an exclusive interview to InnoHEALTH Magazine, appealed to the people to give up single use of plastic and expressed confidence that a perceptible and measurable difference in the country will be brought about on plastic pollution and other environmental issues on the occasion of the World Environment Day 2018.

He is also the Science and Technology Minister. In March this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a “Fit India” movement, focusing on the benefits of yoga, in ‘Mann Ki Baat’. Mr. Rajyavardhan Rathore, the newly appointed Minister for Information and Broadcasting, seems to have taken a cue from the PM to take the initiative forward. He recently tweeted a video of himself doing push-ups with the hashtag #HumFitTohIndiaFit. Since then, the fitness campaign zoomed into a debate and many people accepted the challenge and started posting their videos.

International awards winner filmmaker Janet Tobia who has won laurels for her documentary “Unseen Enemy” flags major concerns over lurking threats on the environment. She was interviewed by our magazine to highlight her views on the Environment Day. The Emmy award winner said that her movie Unseen Enemy examines why in the 21st century. We are experiencing a rash of diseases that were once only outbreaks but have now become full-blown epidemics. She is precisely right on her perceptions and the fresh outbreak of Ebola in Congo vindicates her concerns.

Amid growing number of violent incidents against young children, we interacted with UNICEF’s India In-charge. Fresh from her experience in managing emergency situations, Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque handles the tsunami of problems during her current assignment. She has disclosed that the Indian government in collaboration with UNICEF is developing a comprehensive plan on digital safety for children. Digital literacy is key to ensuring that all boys and all girls stay informed, engaged and safe online. There is a need to galvanize ‘zero tolerance’ towards violence against children.

In the current issue, we are also carrying a number of other articles like forthcoming plans to jail those found guilty of poaching medical data of patients; medical commission bill facing rough weather; monkeys spa in Japan; how to breathe; IC meeting highlighting the era of disruptions; latest trends in healthcare and many more interesting stories of the health sector.

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