–through ancient Indian traditional healing, yoga

WITH non-communicable diseases (NDCs) eating up millions of dollars in treatment yet accounting for some 70 per cent of all deaths in Guyana annually, the need for a workable and cost-effective solution to tackle these challenges remains a priority.

According to the Health Ministry’s Strategic Plan for Integrated Prevention and Control of Chronic Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) and their Risk Factors 2013-2020, the annual indirect costs of all NCDs were estimated at between US$207.5M, or 10 per cent of GDP, in 2010.

The report added that the total annual costs accruing due to NCDs are estimated at US$221.5M. Specifically, it noted that the annual direct costs of treating diabetes and or hypertension are estimated to be between US$7.2M and US$10.8M, and for cardiovascular diseases and cancer, the estimate is between US$ 0.3M and US$2.5M.

The report further noted that of these sums, clinic visits, laboratory tests, treatment and drugs account for the highest burden of these costs.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Statistics (2016), cardiovascular diseases account for 34 per cent of all deaths in Guyana, followed by cancer and diabetes (eight per cent each), chronic respiratory diseases (three per cent) and other NCDs (14 per cent).

This statistical report also indicated that 12 per cent of deaths are as a result of injuries. In 2017, Guyana launched a Presidential Commission on NCDs.
President David Granger, speaking at the launch, observed that lifestyle and cultural carelessness have caused more than half of the country’s adult population to suffer from an NCD.

The Department of Public Information (DPI) quoted the president as saying at the launch, “almost seven out of every 10 deaths of Guyanese aged 23-60 years are caused by cancers, chronic lung diseases, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.”

Given the seriousness of these health challenges, and the social and economic costs on the State and families, a lingering question is natural and inevitable: Is there a solution that is workable, cost-effective and available in Guyana? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes.

WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh says yoga is a vital tool to increasing physical activity and decreasing non-communicable diseases.

Physical exercise, she said, is key to life-long health and well-being, pointing out that it “improves muscular and cardiorespiratory fitness, enhances bone and functional health, and helps prevent depression and promote mental health.”

Importantly too, the WHO regional director shared that physical exercise helps to reduce life-threatening NCDs, particularly hypertension, stroke, heart attack and diabetes, which claim millions of lives across the planet every year.

So much for physical exercise, but what is yoga? Agnela Mazrekar, a yoga teacher certified by AYUSH, a Government of India Ministry that develops, educates and conducts research in the field of alternative medicine, said, in a nutshell, yoga connects the body, mind and spirt through the practice of an eight-fold path created by Sage Patanjali more than 2,000 years ago.

Modern-day yoga scholar Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, in a paper titled ‘The History of Yoga from Ancient to Modern Times’, identified the eight-fold paths as Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.

Yama, involves attitudes towards the environment; Niyama, attitudes towards oneself; Asana, physical postures and stretches; Pranayama, restraint or expansion of the breath; Pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses; Dharana, focus or concentration; Dhyana, meditation; and Samadhi, spiritual connection which involves a meditative consciousness.
“Yoga is a universal practice; it is not related to religion, caste or creed, and so anyone can join a yoga session. Yoga is not just about exercises [simple and complex postures], but the integration of the mind, body and spirit into one harmonious whole,” said Mazrekar, an Indian national who teaches the 5,000-year-old Indian traditional practice at the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in New Haven, Bel Air, Georgetown.

BENEFITS
She claims that after one session, yoga improves brain function, lowers stress levels, and increases flexibility, and that after a few months of practice, participants experience lower blood pressure, improved lung capacity, improved sexual function, reduced chronic neck and back pain, anxiety relief, lower blood sugar levels in diabetics and an improved sense of balance.

After years of practice, the expert said practitioners develop stronger bones, healthy weight, and lower risk of heart diseases.

The Journal of Social Sciences and Diabetes in 2017 reported that based on traditional and scientific thinking, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and hypertension are some of the NCDs for which yoga may be used with “a favourable effect in modern medicine”.

The findings of the latter NCD in the scientific journal resonates with 69-year-old Jeewan Shaw, a diabetic; one of thousands of Guyanese living with the lifestyle disease.

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) 2018 report, of Guyana’s 505, 722 adult population, some 53, 496 persons are diabetic, representing a national prevalence rate of 10.6 per cent.

The report estimates that the State, on average, spends US$369.90 annually per patient; that around 18, 921 persons are unaware they are diabetic, and one in 18 adults have the lifestyle disease which, on average, claims the lives of 1079 persons every year.

Shaw related to this publication that he felt a renewal in life when he learnt of yoga, which he credits as being “a wonderful coping mechanism” to his diabetic condition.

“I believe yoga has actually prolonged my life,” said the elderly man, who was first diagnosed with the lifestyle disease some two decades ago. The ancient Indian art and science of healing, he said, has kept him both physically fit, and in a balanced mental state.

“Yoga does not only involve stretches to tone the muscles of the body, but it includes meditation, which relaxes the spirit, and together they put the body at complete ease; no tension and stress to increase the blood pressure and sugar levels,” Shaw told this publication.

Yoga, he said, aside from helping him cope with diabetes, has also helped him to overcome a severe emotional hurt. Just over 10 years ago, the father of two told Guyana Chronicle, he endured much emotional pain during the divorce of his wife of more than 20 years.
Anything could have happened, he said, but noted he decided to stay on course, and through yoga, he was able to take control of his life.

LIFE
“I view yoga as LIFE, and by that I mean, those words stand for ‘Look Inside For Everything’. I looked inside and discovered my inner self; I was able to develop willpower, and these help me to overcome my challenges and become the contented soul I am today,” said Shaw with a pleasant smile.

His lifestyle reverberates in a recent message by Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence in observance of Caribbean Wellness Day 2019. Minister Lawrence advised that the elderly should be encouraged to live healthy lifestyles to avoid NCDs, and pointed out that overall wellness cannot be divorced from mental well-being.

“In fact, this constitutes one of the key areas of our health,” the minister said. “We must promote the mental well-being of all, where we can learn, work, play and listen to each other. In other words, as we speak about well-being, we cannot forget mental health; there is no balanced health without mental health,” she emphasised.

Shaw is one of the thousands of Guyanese battling diabetes and mental health issues, but is perhaps one of a few who have developed a coping mechanism that targets both the physical and mental state of the body, and is inexpensive compared to the prices for prescriptive medicine.

Aside from helping persons to avoid and cope with various lifestyle diseases, yoga is also a useful tool in helping persons to overcome physical injuries. According to the Harvard Medical School in an article titled “The physical benefits of yoga”, the ancient Indian practice helps in stress management, promotes flexibility and reduces joint pain.
Sarina Kawall, 25, a hockey player and student of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, related to the Guyana Chronicle that two years ago, she suffered a torn ligament during a match, and it was yoga that helped her to make a full recovery.

“About two years ago, I was playing a match when I suffered a torn ligament in the left leg. The injury caused me great discomfort, and I had to seek treatment.” Sarina said, adding: “I did physiotherapy for some time before starting yoga. The stretches and meditation, I believe, helped me to recover much faster than I expected.”

Kawall, who has been practising yoga for more than two years, told the Guyana Chronicle that apart from recovering from her injury, the ancient Indian form of healing has also helped her to get over the anxiety she was going through during the period of her injury.

CALMNESS AND SERENITY
“I returned to my calmness and serenity, and I enjoy today a better frame of mind,” the young lady said. She believes that since yoga also helps in balancing the mental state of persons, the Public Health Ministry should consider adopting it as a tool to tackle mental health issues in Guyana.

This, she said, would be helpful to the citizenry, as it is an effective, inexpensive and convenient.

Sandra LaRocque, wife of CARICOM Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque, expressed similar sentiments, and related a similar experience to Kawall’s.
An artist and sculptor, LaRocque related to this publication that a few years ago, she suffered a back injury that caused her tremendous pain, and yoga aided in her recovery.

“The physiotherapist who was working with me was a bit surprised at my flexibility when doing stretches to relax the muscles in my back. I developed this flexibility doing yoga, and this greatly helped in my recovery. Even though from time to time I still experience a slight pain in the back, it is far less than what it was before. The stretches I do in yoga, I believe, helped me to recover faster that I had initially expected,” said LaRocque, also a student of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre.

Like Kawall, she shared that yoga has helped her to maintain a serene spirit, as well as discover her hidden talent as a painter and sculptor. According to LaRocque, as a creative mind, the meditation aspect of yoga has enabled her to not only overcome challenges, but focus her energies towards producing more pleasing creative works.

“Recently, I was a bit anxious about the limited time I have to get ready for an art exhibition at the Castellani House, and whether I should go to yoga classes, as I have not gone in a while. And after some thought, I decided I will go, and it actually helped me to better manifest my creative thoughts in my work,” she told the Guyana Chronicle.

Yoga instructor Mazrekar said health and wellness are closely related to the lifestyle of the individual, the latter of which has a tremendous effect on the person’s health, depending how he lives.

The principles of yoga, she contends, equips the practioners to balance the body, mind and spirit, and on achievement of this balance, they become better able to deal with the stresses of life without any great monetary cost or mental or physical strain.