How Sagar Lost 10 Kgs in 21 Days!

Sagar has been at it for a while, for years in fact. Gym, exercise, diet etc. I have seen him go through cycles of losing weight and then gaining it back again. But this time I noticed a big difference - there was a clear difference in the weight (he lost 10 kgs in 21 days), walks more energetically, his skin has a new glow and he has more of that life force, that vitality. He says he notices a change in his hair, taste etc.

Yummy green juice!

I asked him what he did to make this transformation. He told me that his sister in the US had seen this 'RebootwithJoe.com' website. Joe Cross's video 'Fat, Rich and Nearly Dead' is very popular. It tells the tale of Joe when he was facing a terminal disease, almost dying, taking up to 20 pills a day. He reverted to the old ancestral ways of going back to plants and figured that they lived healthy lives eating leafy vegetables and fruits which are full of nutrition. Joe lost 95 kgs after he started to drink natural juices. Check out his videos.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs36n9Hh4TA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kLSs4OhS0o

Sagar's sister Madhavi who is in the USA tried the plan. She lost 6-7 pounds in 5 days of juicing. She consulted nutritionists, doctors for thyroid and diabetes effects. (I guess that's a must if you're having some health issues.) Sagar was impressed with this story and decided to start the juice diet. He told his friend Srini who instantly bought him a juicer. They both started the course. Sagar did a 5 day detox diet of drinking only juices and there was this significant difference.

The valiant juicer - Fighting for health!

Sagar says 'As I understand, the stomach does not differentiate between water and juice. Instead of water, this juice, full of micro nutrients, goes directly to cells resulting in good health and stops ageing. When you eat cooked solid food not even 10% of these micro nutrients are absorbed into the body. "

This was Sagar's juicing plan for 5 days. He used two juices - one green and one red.

Juicing Plan (5 Days):

When you wake up:

1 cup hot water with lemon and/or ginger 

(optional: add a pinch of cinnamon powder) 

Breakfast: 500 ml 

3-5 Cucumbers

2 Green Apple

1 Bunch Spinach

1 Bunch Coriander

1 Lemon

3-5 cm piece of Ginger

Mid-morning Snack:

Coconut Water or Veg Soup

Breakfast for two!

Lunch: 500 ml

4 Beets

1 Big orange

4 Carrots

2 Lemons

1.5 cups of Grapes/Berries

Mid Afternoon: 500 ml 

3-5 Cucumbers

2 Green Apple

Spinach

Coriander

1 Lemon

3-5 cm piece of Ginger 

Red Juice - Yummy!

Dinner: 500 ml

4 Beets

1 Big orange

4 Carrots

2 Lemons

1.5 cups of Grapes/Berries

Before Sleeping:

1 cup hot water with lemon and/or ginger 

(optional: add a pinch of cinnamon powder) 

"We can also add Sweet Potato, Cabbage, Red and Yellow Bel-peppers, Amla, Green Veggies, water melon, Tarbuj, pomegranate, Anar, Grapes etc." he says.. 

Important thing to remember: 80% Vegetables and 20% Fruits (Fruits are also just for taste. If you can drink raw vegetable juice, avoid fruits to reduce sugar.)

Drink water, coconut water in between to keep going. 

Sagar lost 5-6 kgs in 7 days. Then he switched to having 2 juices in a day for breakfast and dinner. For lunch he stayed with a vegetarian diet (he is a vegetarian) that included beans, few spoons of rice in a 4:1 ratio and drank a broth made of vegetables.

In 12 days he lost some more weight and in 21 days, 13 kgs. Sagar reduced from 116 kgs to 103.

That's when he discovered the keto diet. It's a low calorie, high fat. In the one meal he cut out rice, wheat and bread.

Instead he use cauliflower rice - grated cauliflower- as an alternative to rice because he discovered hat 1 cup of rice has 100 calories whereas cauliflower has only 4 calories. He followed the principle that oils are bad and ghee is good. 

To prepare cauliflower rice meal (for two) he says, take 1 small flower, grate it. Put butter, carrots, onions, ginger. Stir fry with grated carrots. Add water and stir fry. Add turmeric. Eat cauliflower rice with dal. He made some for me. It was really tasty and filling.

While doing this diet Sagar says don't do any strenuous activity. Low intensity exercises on an empty stomach are recommended till your body gets used to this new food cycle. Eat more green leafy vegetables.

I asked him how he was feeling. He said he was full of energy, stopped snoring, skin feels better, hair fall has stopped. He is kicked that he is losing belly fat. 'My BP is normal now. It was high earlier and I'd take medicine. I am planning to taper it off now with doctor's advise,' he says.

Anything else? 
'I used amla in the first phase. Did not touch milk products in the first 7days.  No sugar, no honey,' he said.

Sagar certainly looks healthy and there is that bounce of energy in his walk, talk and demeanour. That vitality is evident. This is how he looks now. 

Inspired by what I saw I bought myself a juicer at Croma. I tried the juice diet for a week. It's pretty tasty and filling. At the end of the week I lost some 5 kgs. Now I am back to a normal diet - with one meal reserved for the juice. It's made me more aware of what I am eating - excess salt and sugar make me cringe now. I hope to lose some more weight. I can feel an improvement in my voice, my hair, skin and overall sense of well being.

For those who wish to contact Sagar (who is doing a lot more research on this fascinating topic) you can  email him at ragasvr@gmail.com

Happy juicing!

Sujok, Painless, Drugless Treatment for All Ailments - Dr. Madhuri Pai

Case 1.

Dr. Nalini Nargundkar, 84 years old, woke up with severe pain on November 2, 2013 at her home in Pune. She could not stand, sit or walk. There was severe pain in her back. ankles and heel and she could not even bear to touch the ground. Severe neck pain started from the left ear, spread down to the left shoulder and arm and froze both the neck and left arm. She could hardly walk and was helped to her son's house in the same town.

An orthopedic surgeon was consulted and after tests and X rays, she was diagnosed with cervical spondylosis, sciatica, calcaneal spur and arthritis of the left knee. A neck collar was given along with a list of medicines. Injections for B1-B12, pain killers, paracetamol were given. Physiotherapy was started. An MRI was taken. Massage, fomentation, rest, pain killers. Nothing helped. She was in severe pain, her body contorted.

'I was paying Rs. 400 a day for physiotherapy. There was no relief from pain. They left it at that.'

She came to Hyderabad. She had heard of Sujok, a Korean treatment which treats all ailments of the body by treating the hands and feet only. The treatment does not use drugs, is painless and has no side effects. It uses colour therapy, magnet therapy, needle therapy and seed therapy.

Dr. Madhuri Pai administering needle therapy on Dr. Nalini Nargundkar

Dr. Nalini Nargundkar consulted Dr. Madhuri Pai, MBBS, MD (Internal Medicine), a practicing medical doctor with over 20 years of experience and a well-known diabetologist who practices Sujok. Dr. Madhuri Pai had learnt Sujok on her own interest and had recently started seeing patients at her clinic in Motinagar, Hyderabad. Dr. Nalini Nargundkar went to her for treatment.

In Dr. Nalini's own words "Within a week my neck pain subsided. There was no need to wear a collar. My ankle pain became less in one week and almost disappeared in another week. In three weeks time I was fairly mobile and returned to Pune.'  In January, she returned for more treatment. "In two months the sciatica pain reduced and I returned to Pune where I continued taking Sujok treatment from a local doctor.'

In November I came back to Hyderabad. 'Now the shoulder pain reduced considerably. Sciatica has almost gone. Ankle and heel pain are much less.'

The difference.

"I could hardly sit in the car when I first came a year ago. I could move only with a walker or a chair for support. Now after this treatment I started walking around the courtyard at home to start with, then increased a bit more. Now I walk around the colony for 20 minutes - without even my walking stick. I have started yoga exercises. I hardly take the pain killer anymore - something which I used to take everyday."

Needle therapy on hands

Happy patient!

Case 2

Having seen the progress of Dr. Nalini Nargundkar's condition from close quarters, I went to Dr. Madhuri Pai with my varicose veins condition. I was originally scheduled for surgery but I decided to give Sujok a try. The treatment (needle therapy - works like acupuncture with small needles that are administered only on a few points on your hand - after which you wait for 30 minutes in stillness) lasted about 20 odd sittings. My varicose veins subsided. Where they'd stick up and show a couple of months ago, now they are almost not visible. The skin pigmentation around the foot has gone. I also feel much better, in many more ways.

There are a few other stories of how Sujok helped but these two cases are personal and closely watched ones.

What then is Sujok? And how does it help you?

Sujok is a treatment introduced by Prof. Park Jae Woo in Korea in 1987. Prof Park discovered that all ailments can be treated by treating our hands and feet which have corresponding points relating to all illnesses. (Su is hands, Jok is feet, in Korean). Since the treatments only use colors, seeds and needles, it is a natural, safe, drug-less, painless treatment that brings rapid and stable results, Considered an integrated health system Sujok treats almost all ailments. Acidity, Fatty liver, Neck pain, Back pain, Shoulder pain, Sciatica, Knee joints pain, Rheumatoid arthritis, Eye sight problems, Diabetes Mellitus, Juvenile diabetes, Thyroid problems are some of the ailments that have been treated with good results. 

Let's see what Dr. Madhuri Pai has to say about Sujok.

Interview with Dr. Madhuri Pai

Q. Why did you explore Sujok in the first place?

A. It all started when I first saw a program on TV about psychic surgeries and got interested in metaphysical therapies. I could not pursue the subject further because I went away to do my PG in Internal Medicine at Mangalore. Then I saw a TV program on Sujok which interested me. After my PG I came back and started looking for more information on Sujok. 

Q. What was it that interested you in Sujok?

A. I had myopia then. In conventional treatment for myopia, I had to wear contact lenses which was troublesome. Then I thought why not use Sujok. I treated myself after watching Sujok programs on TV and got rid of myopia in one month. I haven’t used glasses again and can see perfectly. It reaffirmed my faith in Sujok. This was in 2001.

Q. When did you feel the need to get formal training?

A. In 2012 I attended a certification course. After that I started using Sujok on chronically ill patients who were on painkillers, those who don't have any further treatment in allopathy. Arthritis, Spondilitis, Migraine, Rheumatoid Arthritis. I started seeing my patients at my regular clinic where I practice allopathy. The results were good in a short time and more interestingly, permanent. It was very encouraging and satisfying. So I started to see more cases.

Q. Does Sujok need any special training in medicine to be more effective?

A. Not really. It helps to have studied medicine certainly. The Sujok course is a comprehensive certification course. 

Q. How has your experience been so far?

A. In most cases of chronic pain Sujok works very well. Where people are constantly on painkillers this works wonders. Pain related disorders like Rheumatoid arthritis. Hypothyroidism also was treated. I have now started treating diabetics and thyroid patients with good results.

Q. At what stage is it best?

A. Any stage really.

Q. What does the patient require?

A. Faith in the treatment. And patience.

Q. How long before we see results?

A. Each treatment differs. Some get instant results. Some require time. Typically the cure is of a permanent nature provided they take a full course. 

Q. What are the ways of treatment in Sujok?

A. Seeds (various kinds), Magnets, Needles, Color therapies.

Q. What are the conditions for which you used Sujok successfully so far?

A. I had one case where Sujok worked very well on a miscarriage. I treated rheumatoid arthritis cases, threatened abortion, glaucoma cases, sciatica / cervical spondilitis, tinnitus. varicose veins, bed wetting, deafness due to viral infection, Ramsey Hunt syndrome among others.

Q. How does Sujok work really?

A. It harmonises the energy systems of the body. And the individual diseased organs.

Q. Do you see this as a complementary treatment which can work in conjunction with other treatments?

A. Yes. This is metaphysical. Allopathy is physical. If I combine both, the results are very good.

Q. How do doctors as a community react to Sujok?

A. There are a couple of doctor friends who have been treated by me. They are surprised that it works.

Q. Where does one learn Sujok if one wishes to?

A. The International Sujok Association (ISA) which is headed by Mr. Park Minchul, son of Prof. Park Jae Woo, and the Nagpur Research and Development Centre, are located at Nagpur. It is the global body of ISA. There are several Sujok therapists who are certified to take Sujok classes. You can find more information on the Internet.

Thus ended the interview with Dr. Madhuri Pai. There is a lot of information about Sujok that is available on the Internet. There are many certified practitioners too. Few of them are practising doctors as well. Personally I have had two experiences with Sujok and both have provided good results. Dr. Nalini Nargundkar's case is one that I saw unfolding before my eyes. No she walks without her walker or stick even and her constantly increasing rounds of the colony amaze us. 

As with any treatment which is not allopathy, there is much scepticism about Sujok too. Which is one reason why Dr. Madhuri Pai says that she prefers to deal with patients who are in chronic pain - they have no questions and follow the treatment faithfully. It needs faith in both the treatment and the doctor. It also needs patience as one has to go to the clinic and get it administered. But there are no restrictions of any kind and the results are almost magical. 

You can contact Dr. Madhuri Pai at Jubilee Medical and Diabetes Centre & Jubilee Su Jok Therapy Clinic, 101, Aarkey Plaza, Balaji Swarnapuri Colony, Rajeev Nagar ‘X’ Roads, Hyderabad. Phone 040-23838949 Timing: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Thank you family and friends

While on the health issue I must now thank all of my family and friends who have given me wonderful support through various other means. Shobha to start with. She used all the techniques she from the 'mind' area and applied them on me. The concept that all ease or disease begins at 'thought' level is completely in sync with me. I started then, with Shobhs in finding out the thought pattern for kidney issues and guess what turns in Louise Hay's 'You can heal your life' - guilt! I guess that is good enough for me because it was a good enough punishment I was going through so I took the guilt affirmations and did them with great seriousness for a while . However I did not sustain that for too long.
Shobhs and I did the 'emotional journey' where she kept asking me questions and I kept answering her patiently until I ran out of stuff. It was very emotionally draining and somethings fell into place. But I kept falling asleep and I knew there was something I was not seeing or looking at. I will repeat that process with Shobhs in Shrivardhan again.
And then she took me to the Back to the Basics program with Krish Srikanth at Kaleidoscope and he ran us through the AA program with our own issues. I did that whole heartedly and I do hope something there changed. Again I could not sustain it for too long because it was a long process (and the card is too small to read).
I found Don's 'Healing Corrections' quite nice and different. He is an interesting chap and his way of dealing with things is also quite fun. I felt the peace when he made me run through the chakras. It looks amazingly simple but I suspect it works and I use if quietly more often than not these days.
Shobhs introduced me to the NLP route as well and god knows what all. She constantly kept supporting my mind with Radical Forgiveness of which I filed many sheets and forms and forgave almost everyone I met in my life and maybe some that I did not. It must have released much baggage. I think i shall shed some more before the year ends. Thanks Shobhs for all the unconditional support in everything. Love you lots!
Sheila did an NLP procedure on me and we all celebrated that night with some home cooked food! Thanks Sheila. Its great fun these days with our book readings etc new ideas and workshops.
Dr. Prabhudheer has always been around with his patient listening and advise and warm smile. The more I see him, the more I like him. He is a wonderful guy, an accomplished orthopaedician and a very competent doctor who is open to all kinds of new ideas and thoughts. He has done all the workshops from You can heal your life to Nithyananda and enjoys himself completely. And with Kanti, it is a team to look forward to, always a laugh riot.
Vijaya has been wonderful and has always been in touch and asks after me and Shashi. She is a wonderful soul and always ready to go out of her way to help. The work she is doing in spreading Swami Nithyananda's work helps many people in healing and learning. Great show Vijaya, you are making a huge difference in your own way. I really appreciate all that you are doing and I promise I shall do my bit of work for you in my own way as well.
My family has been wonderful - Mythily especially, since I have been practically living and eating there everyday ever since I found out about the syndrome. And of course Harsha who has no option but to put up with me and the rest of us. My ups and downs and all that, she put up with all through. Thanks Mythily, Harsha and Shrinjay.
Peddakka, Bavagaru, Ajay, Radhika (her uncle's story gave me lots of hope), Gunnu, Sowjanya, thank you all for everything. And we had some great times this year at BHEL with the food outings etc.
Nalini thanks for being there and telling me that its all nothing to be scared of. It has been very encouraging to have your support (except when you said that we have many donors at home - I was not looking at that scenario at all!) But thanks again for the thought. it really means much.
Chanti, Rambabu and Shashak - thanks fellows. I know Chanti got really worried in the beginning. You guys have been very supportive in every way.
Ram has been a huge pillar of support in the way we relate to one another and saying thanks trivialises what we share. So I will not say it, and only feel what I feel which is a whole lot of gratitude for god to have given me a brother like him. We are different in our own ways and that's exactly how god made us so we are there for one another. Another of those things that we can only feel yet something that is so tangible that I know the world envies us brothers and what we share. Hah!
Sheila, you have been wonderful support (again the book reading group - Monica, Ranjani) and thanks for being there at the workshop too.
Vajju and Chims, love you guys, you always bring a smile to my face and are the most adorable niece and nephew that any mama can get.
Anjali, you gave me so much love and kept my mind of everything else. Love you. Mmmaah!
Don's been great support of course, just as Koni, Madhav, Kiri, Ranjan, Vinod, Amar, Mani - thanks guys. Suhita, Chitra, Prashant, Bhaves, Aunty thank you all.
Reason for all this thanks. Doctor Krishnan saw yesterday's report and said - this looks like a miracle. Too good to be true, he said. Readings down to 1.37. I told him I operate in miracles. He said he would taper off the steroid now in a few weeks. He really was surprised. We had a nice chat after that.
A miracle. I am still letting it sink into me. Yes. A miracle. I operate in miracles from now on. The miracle man. It took an year. I feel good. I am still on medication but I know I am out of it in a few weeks.
Thanks everyone.
Now, On to the next level!

To remember me, Dr. Krishnan's gift to me

My search for the right nephrologist got me more than what I wanted. You see, I had this habit of writing down quotable quotes from the Reader's Digest as a twelve year old and it was my greatest loss when one day during my engineering college days I lost that precious diary full of quotes and thoughts. Of particular interest to me was one which was written by someone about what to do with his body when he was gone. It was beautiful and it inspired me no end, and I searched high and low for that quote for a long time.
When I met Dr. Krishnan I heard high praise from many about his balanced, calm and neutral outloook, his accessibility and his wonderful care. What sealed my decision to stick with him when I needed a biopsy was when I found that he had pasted the one thing I had been searching for in the last 20 years on the wall outside his room at BBR Hospital.
When I told him I had been searching for it for a long time he smiled and said 'I have the full version on my door at Apollo. I got it at BBR itself and the good doctor was kind enough to let me take a copy:

To remember me
At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens don't call this my 'DEATHBED', call it my 'BED OF LIFE' and let my body be used by others to lead fuller lives.

Give my eyes to a man who has never seen a sunrise,
a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman,

Give my heart to a person whose heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain,

Give my blood to a teenager who has been pulled from the wreckage of his car,

Give my kidneys to one who depended on a machine to exist from week to week,

Take my bone, my muscle, every nerve from my body to find a way to make a crippled child walk,

Explore every corner of my brain, take my cells and let them grow
so that someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window

Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow,

If you must bury something, let it be my faults and weaknesss and all my prejudices against my fellowmen,

Give my sins to the devil and my soul to God,

If you do what I asked, then I will live forever.


This then becomes my offical will about what should be done when I die. My body shall be disposed of exactly as this says.
And then I would like my family, friends and all who shared my life to have a good time and laugh endlessly with shining eyes, and an irrepresible joy for life while they remember some good stories we shared until early next morning!

Monisha Wasu, Die-hard Naturopath, Sujok, Chakra Healer

I met the energetic, ever-smiling Monisha Wasu before my health issue cropped up and found her very interesting and passionate about what she believes in, which is naturopathy mainly. She herself had a health problem where she was pretty much written off by the allopaths when she was in the US a few years ago but she used naturopathy on herself and her very strong mind and will to cure herself completely - and after that she has sworn off drugs. Her range of naturopathy cures is simple and very effective and I feel with an accurate diagnosis, she can do wonders. Regular stuff like colds, fevers and other things go away with her concoctions and she always takes up any challenge with the fullest confidence. I do think one should meet the naturopaths for the common cures, use it to build the general constitution and stay with it. Not use it like some quick emergency cure beause it is not. Naturopathy is serious business, not a pill popping exercise.
When I first met her with the swollen foot, she treated the swollen foot and I cannot blame her because some top class doctors also treated me for the symptoms until the nephro guys caught on with the syndrome. But I remember that she tried on her own, despite the ECG etc being clear, to find a spot in my hand, the sujok way, in an attempt to see any impending heart trouble - swollen feet certainly an indication to the heart I should think. Once she cottoned on to the kidney, she got the kidney point on my hand and pressed it with that small plastic thing she has and I did all but faint. I did have a case of all things blurring out as she pressed the point, losing focus and lying down and going dizzy - but just about held myself from passing out fully. Those points she presses are potent and I am certain they work at healing the part we press. Why else would it hurt like that? Why else would I pass out almost?
All that she precribes is all natural stuff that you have in the kitchen normally, and it works for me. Her conviction and enthusiasm is very infectious. The other day she gave me some new contraptions to press at some points to flush out toxins to help heal faster, I am doing that. Press the fleshy part of my palm near the thumb where it hurts like crazy. Apparently it flushes out something that's blocked there. Try this sujok guys, its pretty simple, but its painful as well.
Another bonus of visiting the naturopath is that I enjoy talking to her son Simran who is a young healer himself and very mature young chap for someone who is only in his 9th class. Also a sportsman to boot, a budding basketball player in the Meridian school.
Thanks Monisha, for all the unrelenting support during this phase, its always a pleasure to meet you and visit you and come away with a nice, charged up feeling and some pain ofcourse after that torture you give us by pressing those points. But what the hell, no pain, no gain!

Yogananda garu - True Selfless Service to Thousands

Back on the health route. In January when everything was looking dark and I was clutching at any straw to make sense of the situation (post-decision to postpone kidney biopsy and steroid route due to uncertainty), Sailaja, in her typical enthusiastic manner dragged me to 'this wonderful practitioner who deals with an age old healing that comes from herbs and plants, a knowledge that has been transferred from ancient times through healers to their families, through word of mouth and through personal training of healers who show a propensity to heal'. I listened with apprehension, what will he give me? Is is ayurveda, which Mani had said will lay me low in a few days and take me to the grave (drama)? What is it that he will give me? Trust me, she said, I have great faith in him, he has treated my aunt, my father and treats many high profile patients quietly. I trusted her and off I went quietly without telling anyone.
He has a health camp every Sunday at the AG colony near ESI, close to my home. I was quite surprised to see that there were close to 100 odd people from all walks of life milling about, the list actually had over 150. The old, the infirm, the young, people with all kinds of problems seemed to be there. There were people waiting from early in the morning, people from out of town, out of state, the very poor which constituted much of the patients and some of the upper strata.
The clinic, a residential quarter of the AG office, is located right at the very back end of the beautiful campus. Not many living quarters appeared to be inhabited, most were locked. Tall trees swayed about, well laid out roads, a nice ground where children played cricket, it is a peaceful place for healing. They erected a shamiana at their own cost so patients do not suffer in the sun and rain, provide cool drinking water and even butter milk in summer and do everything to make the ill comfortable. The entire operation is driven by volunteers, mostly older.
Sailaja dragged me into a vortex of patients who surrounded a sixty year old man sitting at a desk. When our turn came (eveything is strictly on first come first basis, no exceptions), I was asked to fill in a form with details of my case and then given a number on a chit. That chit and number is sacrosanct because in all their thousands of files, they can trace mine only through that. And then we waited for our number to come.
Our turn came. We must enter the area without footwear, they are very particular that we take the footwear off even before the steps.
In the small room inside, Yogananda garu sat. A wise man with a twinkle in his eye, maybe in his late fifties or sixties, an energy that exudes confidently, a demeanour that says he knows the impermanence of life and the dramas we play with our health and most importantly the love that he bestows on each and every individual with a deep intent to heal to the best of his ability. He is assisted by a team of 3 younger healers who periodically look to him for guidance.
The entire process took no longer than five minutes. He first chatted with Sailaja, held her wrist, smiled, asked his fellow healers to hold her wrist and nodded satisfactorily. Later Sailaja told me that he always appreciated the energy flow she radiated. Then he heard me out, saw my foot, saw the reports, held my wrist and declared 'You have been losing protein for more than a year'. Which was true. I had noticed some changes in the urine almost a year ago. He reeled off a set of diet instructions - boil all food twice, no non veg, no certain vegetables, no fruit, no salt - interspersed with a 'you will hate me for this, but it is important.' I nodded dazed. 'Don't worry you will be okay,' he said and smiled and off I was.
Outside we waited until our name is called and then a packet of a powder was given, with specific instructions on how to take it and when and what to eat.
It is all free!

For all 200 patients or how many ever choose to come Yogananda does not charge a single paisa! He serves with the commitment of a person who knows that he has a healing secret and he knows how to deliver it and he will do everything in his power to take it to whoever needs it. His band of ollowers, mostly again in their fifties and sixties do their best in sun and rain to keep these surging crowds in check and control for nothing except the satisfaction that they have healed. The entire operation continues throughout the day, from 8 in the morning till late in the evening!
After the biopsy in November (I religiously went to him every alternate Sunday almost throguh the year) and told him him that I was so glad he was there in those days of uncertainty and when he held my wrist and said all was okay it gave me much confidence and thanked him for that, he smiled. 'I do it because I am only the medium. HE is expressing himself through me, the divine, I only let it happen as purely as I can. All else is in his hands,' he said and smiled. 'Now go back and write your books and do your motivational lectures and stop worrying about your health,' he said.
I asked him if he would read my book. I would love to he said. But get me a copy of those reports so my boys can see the case and do some good work.
I think of him and his band on Sundays when I pass by and wonder at the things some humans do, at the love and selflessness that they bring into this world and I think, I will also do something like that. Thank you Yogananda garu, for the thought, the act and the deed. Your healing can never go wrong with such pure intention, such spirit.
Thank you for everyting and mostly for the inspiration. I think of you and know that we can make a difference if we only we wish to in our own way, in our own corner of the world away from the glare of spotlight and commerce.
And the good God will find some way around for us!

Sailaja Jonnalagadda - Empowering philosophy of Louise Hay, Big difference to many lives, Wonderful soul

Sailaja, is much more than a metaphysical teacher (as her visiting card says), and is someone who has changed thousands of lives by bringing the 'You can heal your life', workshops of Louise Hay to them. I regard her highly and respect her contribution and always talk to her when I am faced with an issue. As a good friend, she was concerned about my health issue too. She spoke directly, in the only way she does, and asked me why I was doing this to myself.
'Ask yourself why you are punishing yourself,' she pointed out.
'Me? Punishing myself?'
'Your life is going smoothly, you have a wonderful family, people are appreciating your worth and now, you want to get into this drama. What is it that you want?'
This is what that workshop does to you (it can get on your nerves but it's bang on target all the time). So let me tell you about this workshop called 'Love yourself and you can heal your life' by Louise Hay that Sailaja conducts (or used to conduct, now she has her own workshop with her own content).
To begin with one can read the book 'You can heal your life' and one gets an idea of the almost divine content it possesses. It is written by Louise who went through much trauma in her life (don't miss her story) and how she changed it all with the power of her own thought. Cancer was her challenge too and she overcame it along with money, relationships, fame and whatever else she wanted. Right now she has a good life, be assured of that.
Pretty much the idea is this. What is happening in your life is reflecting what is going on in your mind. If something is happening to you - from the merest accident to the biggest health issue or universal calamity - you have created it with your thoughts and beliefs.
You. And your thoughts.
From the stubbed toe to the ill-tempered neighbour to the unnecessary accident, to 9/11. So your poverty, your bad relationships, your poor health, your bad boss, your sad life, your bad relatives, your oppressive spourse, your irritable in laws, your unfortunate situation at home and work and personal life, your never having money, your chronic health issue, your incredible bad luck at traffic, the bird dropping on your car or your shirt...it's all your creation. A creation of what is going on in your mind.
How empowering huh!
Else, it would not have happened to you. Or even affected you.
The very fact that it is happening to you or affecting you is confirmation. So the first step is to take responsibility for that and say 'hey, I seem to have caused it.' It is easier said than done. But I knew when I did the workshop, or much earlier when I read the book, that it is true. You get exactly what you want.
It's actually very empowering because it throws the responsibility back to you. You can use it to change your thought. And you can start changing the outside experiences as your thoughts change. (Only, you need to start recognising the changes without pulling out the thoughts you have sown every few minute to see if it is working which is what most people do and never get any results.)
What Louise has done is that apart from writing so wonderfully and with such love that I constantly keep comparing it to one of the holy books, is that she has almost exhaustively listed all the related medical conditions that a human could have and has also listed thought patterns that could cause it, and more improtantly an affirmation or an empowering thought that could replace the old victim thought. The idea is to change the thought over a perod of time and create a new reality (which she did to herself and maybe several others).
I flipped those pages. Kidney problems are to do with guilt. Guilt is to do with punishment. I was now punishing myself for god knows what. It's incredible as I saw what I had done - with this condition several of the things I normally like to do were taken away - no good food (no salt), no exercise, no walking and running because my foot swells up, no playing cricket, no travel, no long drives, no drinking (all fluids to max at 1 litre), no non-vegetarian etc etc. So it was pretty much punishment. I inflicted it on myself to atone for some sins I had done (or felt I had done) and only I had the power to either release myself when I was sufficiently punished.
It was that clear. So now I started working on my mind. I did it with a sense of urgency and fear at that time, I remember, which was not the way to do it. I had to go down into the expericee and find out why I felt guilty about anything. Apart from random incidents that come to mind, I must say that I always carried an excessive sense of guilt, always going round life like someone who has been found with his hand in the cookie jar, or even a stained hand like Lady Macbeth's (both victims of our own minds) that someone would find out. I still have not made the connection between why I had this feeling (it's slowly fading off now, maybe enough punishment or maybe just getting tired of doing that drama) but that seemed good enough to pile on guilt to me. Anyway, there are several tools to work on your guilt, from affirmations that you write and try to force your mind through your belief system (works if you do it seriously), to Radical Forgiveness worksheets where you fool your mind (it works like magic), to regressions where you actually visit the place where it began.
I did all three. The regression was done by Sailaja but nothing came of it (stubborn me) so I have nothing to report. The process is quite simple though for those who are interested. You are always conscious, lying in a state of deep relaxation and facilitator asks you questions that transport you to the time frame and descriptions etc. Normally people are transported to periods in their life where their problem originated and they can catch wisps of the incidents and make the connection why what is happening now is happening at all. From the past incident you can then disentangle with awareness and that normaly releases you, if you wish to, or else you can continue your drama.
I discovered this wonderful book and the workshop throgh Shobha whe did it when she was in a low phase. It was during a time when much was going on in our lives I guess, so I guess I must have contributed as her spouse to her stress. After that she went on to join Sailaja when she set up Antharyaami independently, to run these workshops and did wonderful work as well in taking out these messages. I resisted the workshops for years, but then it was Harish, who appears to be some kind of a divine messiah now that I look at it, who tips me over the edge through some act or thought and makes me do some crazy things.
Harish, the scrawny, intellectual youngster who we used to play cricket with, who did his engineering from Osmania and upped it and went on to build a successful career in Silicon valley, came back into my life years later with a life threatening health issue, a searching heart and much wisdom for his young soul. I told him about this workshop (though I had not done it) and it just happened that they were looking for enough numbers to get that minimum going in. In comes Mr. Rescue, (that's the only way I would do it, pattern of my life) and I finally did that workshop which was good for me and which set many things right in my mind. Harish remained in touch and still does, I think he is curently the only one who reads the blog other than me, gives me books like 'The 3 cups of tea' and sets me off on a mad journey and so on. That's why the divine messiah stuff. Thanks Harish.
Anyway, fact of the matter is that illnesses can be cured through the mind route. There are enoguh cases there but it needs a mad belief. There is enough proof to say that you can back your medicine delivery well with the mind work so you can heal faster (if you want to). Whatever it is, it gives you a much better shot of healing if you get a bit honest about it all and look at what you are doing to yourself.
Cannot but help ending this by thanking Shobha for all the wonderful work she does with me and others, Sailaja, for being there, Louise for the book and all else who are doing such good work in promoting such empowering thoughts and philosophies in times such as these. The Louise work can be applied to anything in life, though she focuses a bit on health, and people who have understood the philosophy and used it with conviction have released themselves from pretty grim situations I know, and have flown off into the high skies into successful careers, relationships, money and what not.
The others can go when and if they want to.

The Homeo route - Dr. Guravaiah

We took the early morning flight to Tirupati, Harsha and I, on January 15, 2009. He had a car pick us up at the airport (quietly efficient as always) and we stopped by at a hotel for a couple of hours as we freshened up. I was still reeling under self-pity so I merely ate an apple and made a big show of eating an idli with no chutney and sambar. Me, the adult nephrotic syndrome affected! The dramas we do.
At about 1030 am we turned around the corner and went and met Dr. Guravaiah. He just walked in casually, tall, smiling and very reassuring. Could not be more than 50, looked 40 and had a boyish smile and charm. Something about him made me warm up to him instantly. We were led into his small homeo clinic at 132, TP Area, Tirupati, that goes under the name of Dr. Boenninghausen Computerised Homeo Hospital and sat in a small, rather cramped clinic. The walls had large photographs of Lord Balaji, his parents and a few other pictures and a state of the art desktop that had an amazing homeo program with symptoms, cures, combinations and what not. It was amazing to see him use that to get to the drug.
After his prayers, he smiled and asked me what the problem was. I showed him the reports and told him the story. He examined the reports and looked at me and smiled again. He asked me several questions about my preferences, my tastes, my nature and wrote them down in a file.
'Nothing,' he said. 'Don't worry. We will take care of this. Don't need the biopsy.' I told him my previous experience with homeo and he nodded. 'It works,' he said.
'I will start you on some basic drug. Sometimes those work instantly. Then we will see. The main thing is not to feel you are a patient. Though you need to take these diet restrictions seriously and keep your BP etc in check, its important to feel and be like a normal person because the mind can work havoc. I have treated several complicated cases and have seen wonderful results so I see no reason why you should not stage a full recovery soon. Just be normal, exercise a bit and you will be fine. We can meet once in a month since I come to Hyderabad every second Sunday, or you can come here. Else call.'
The way he said it, I was elated. After all those doomsday predictions this was incredibly good news. I took the medicine he gave, thanked him and left with Harsha, a much more happier man.
Dr. Guravaiah, I came to know him much closer, was a much deeper, sensitive, philosophical, caring soul than what he appears. He believes in healing and in treating those who need healing when all else seem to be closed. He has tremendous faith in his ability to cure, 'sitting here under Lord Balaji's photo, I feel that he is guiding me in healing. I am only his medium,' he says.
He studied in Tirupati and got a government job. He worked in the job for several years before he decided to move on to heal more people. 'It looked like a bad decision to everyone, to leave a government job when I had a young family to support, but I was clear,' he said. 'If I had to heal more people I needed a clinic. So I set up a clinic and for several years I did not make enough money. But I kept going because I believed in this. I would almost do free service, charging only those who could afford. There was one figure in my mind though, which was the target income that to me, made sense that I have succeeded. I achieved it after about five years and that day I was so happy.'
'Somewhere, things changed, money started come, fame, people started calling me to Delhi, Mumbai and even abroad, sending me flight tickets, five star hotel bookings to heal their near and dear. But my basic commitment remains to heal the needy. Now I am TTD consultant and go every Thursday to Tirumala.I have plans of a hospital so the poor can get this cheap and no side effect medicine.'
'India needs homeopathy,' he says emphatically. 'It's cheap and can reach out and cure several common ailments quickly. There are so many who can benefit.'
I came away from him feeling very relieved. I decided that I will use this as the main healing and support it with allopathy for my BP. I will keep a check on the readings and see where they are heading. For the time being the kidney looks fine and with these diet restrictions and medicine, I might cut the protein loss.
I needed to keep a clear head and stick to my plan. In my mind I told myself 'Whatever I use, will only heal me. All these wonderful people will only heal me.'
In my experience, homeo has worked for me. From my adenoids which completely disappeared in two weeks, to common colds (wonderful medicine), coughs, fevers, headaches, migraines, and several others, it offered almost immediate relief. In some cases like migraine, it offers slow yet sure cure. Homeopathy has that quality of slow but sure build up of the body constitution as well, so any chronic problem can be addressed on a long term basis. I'd go for it because it has apparently no side effects and the results are most often there. In complicated cases, it is always best to go with the proper diagnostic reports because then they can pinpoint their diagnosis and drug. Else they are a bit in the dark and the treatment may not be as effective. And the best thing is that you can continue allopathy as well because they operate differently.
I met a lady who had cancer in April 2009. Her doctors gave her the surgery route and she refused. They told her she would not live beyond three months. She told them to go to hell and started off on homeopathy. Her family and friends thought she was crazy. 'I isolated myself from all those who would criticise me or break my spirit and surrounded myself with only things and people that supported me.
'On the last day of the third month I lay awake waiting to die. Nothing happened,' she said. 'I was petrified though.'
Its been four years since, she said, and look at me, can you believe that I am a cancer patient. She most certainly did not look like a cancer patient. She did pretty much all the stuff that we did in that workshop (which was very physical). She spoke loud and clear and was very articulate, in fact she seemed more alive than most of us there.
Case for homeo there.

The Year That Was - A Health Issue!

Godavarikhani market - fresh as it can get!What an year! It began with much uncertainty due to a health condition and continued through the year. I guess I started noticing the changes in myself - the sudden increase in weight and several other factors such as blood pressure shooting up (I could feel it) etc but what pushed me to see the doctor was a huge swelling in my right foot. I was all set to drive off to Pune after a nice little two-day visit to Bellampally with Satish when I checked about the swelling with Vardha - it was rather huge and I was having difficulty wearing my shoes and sandals. He asked me for a BP reading and it was absurdly high.
Vardha suggested a series of tests and asked me to cancel the drive. I got the tests done next morning, collected the reports. All the readings - cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides - were all absurdly high. Thankfully the ECG was normal. We took the flight to Pune the next day. I was kicking myself for neglecting my health, and saw the good Dr. Sethia, Anu's doctor in Pune. She came with me for her own medication and was much support. He ran a series of tests himself and concluded that I needed to get my act together on the BP, cholesterol, thyroid and some other issues and precribed many medicines. I decided to follow all that he said and returned after a quiet, worrisome trip post-New Year.
The swelling persisted, which needed more tests. Ram was concerned. He fixed up a meeting with Dr. Gopichand. Visits to the cardiologist, scans of the abdomen and then an exploration of my varicose veins, led my doctors, now Dr. Prabhudheer, my good friend and a wonderful soul, to conclude that there was a grade 4 leak in my valves at the thigh which was good enough for a swelling. Another problem! I met Dr. P.C.Gupta, a true professional if there was one, and he said it involved a surgical procedure and that he would shut these veins off and start off new veins and all should be fine. However he wanted to rule out one possibility and asked me to do a creatinine-protein test.
And then all hell broke loose.
Turns out I was losing large amounts of protein through the kidney. There was a hush at the reading 5.42. Normal level is 0.2! He advised me to see the nephrologist. My thoughts were a bit hazy - kidneys, why me, why now, what is this. I waited a while at the CARE Hospital nephrology department and while waiting called Dr. Prabhudheer. Do you know a good nephro I asked? He said there was one at Sai Vani, Dr. M.V.Rao. I rushed there with the gang in tow- Ram was driving my entire show now. Another series of tests and scans and one look at the reports and Dr. Rao said, 'This is adult nephrotic syndrome'. I looked on in a daze not understanding what it was. Sounded complicated. 'But the good news is that the kidney function is perfect - your creatinine levels are normal. However you are losing protein. We need a kidney biopsy and we can start off on medication. Get the biopsy done at Apollo.'
Things were spinning out of control. Kidney, biopsy - whoa, these were big words. The fear of death started looming. I was already watching the state Rajan Bala was in, with his kidney failure condition and wondered what it was all about. These doctors seemed quite casual about the way they spoke of it all but my world was turning topsy turvy. No stop salt intake, non-vegetarian, low protein diet, only one litre of fluid etc etc. Life jerked to a stop. Why, why?
Anyway, with long faces, we returned home, Ram and I, and fixed up with Vardha, who stood like a rock all through, (he always does, good old Don, despite all the ribbing we give him) to meet the Apollo chaps and get the biopsy done.
We met Dr. Ravi Andrews at Apollo, who told me that the biopsy was safer than crossing the road, that I could live with this syndrome a full life or take the risk of not getting treated and going into kidney failure, and we did everything including a test run of how the biopsy procedure works, some pre-biopsy tests. The admission slip was issued and only room availability was to be checked. We decided to do it after the Sankranti festival, two days later. There was much uncertainty, each test showed something new, this entire nephro area seemed a bit hazy not just to laymen but to doctors as well. I was really keyed up.
That evening Koni dropped in and we were talking about the condition. He started talking of how homeopathy helped his daughter Sagarika over the long run. It suddenly hit me that when I was young, Mom had used homeopathy from Sivananda Murthy garu in Warangal to cure me of adenoids (I was scheduled for a small surgery just as in this case). The adenoids had vanished in a week. No trace of them ever after! Hey, I said, not a bad idea. It worked once so it will work again. Ram, who was there, also agreed, which was pretty uncharacteristic. I thought he might rubbish the idea (normally he does with such ideas) but he felt that this biopsy business sounded rather aggressive and we could try the homeo route. That gave me some more time to find my feet (pun intended).
I met the good Dr. Mohan, my regular homeo doctor and a pretty good one at the job, at Musheerabad the next day. The normally composed Dr. Mohan gave me some medicine but he looked a bit flustered and gave me the number of Dr. Krishnan, a nephrologist at Apollo, Vikrampuri, and asked me to meet him. He was not too sure it appeared. While going home, again wondering what to do, with my homeo doctor sounding uncertain, I dropped in at Mythily's house for dinner, and out of the blue, Harsha started telling us of this high profile, miracle homeo cure doctor from Tirupati whom he had met a few weeks ago. He treats high profile patients and had treated Harsha out of a condtiion which needed surgery. Could we see him I asked? He called him. Yes. But at Tirupati. Tomorrow first thing in the morning. It was nine in the evening. We booked our flight tickets. And flew.
And the the journey began! Into homeopaths, naturopaths, ayurveda, spiritual healers, kriya yoga experts, energy healers, healing correction healers, a regression, affirmations, radical forgiveness healers, alcolohic anonymous methods to heal, sujok and so on.
It was a fascinating path and I met several incredible people. More on them later!