August 2015
By Shivi Verma
Youth and beauty need not be a down hill journey after 40. It is possible to stay vibrant, healthy, nimble and beautiful even as you grow older. Know the secrets, says Shivi Verma
When I was in my teens I used to dread my 20s. I used to feel that life after 25 was a downhill journey and that turning 30 tipped you into old age. Why was it that one could live till one’s 80s or 90s, but youth, surprisingly, departed so soon? I remember counting the years left of my youth when I turned 27. In three years time, I would be old!
Eventually, I did turn 30, and signs began to show up. My metabolic rate slowed down and I began to put on weight in areas I had never had to bother about. But instead of feeling gloomy, I felt that post 30 was a time to become self-responsible. It was God’s way to make us realise that youth and beauty were gifts and needed to be constantly worked upon to maintain. They didn’t come free after a time. Earlier, I could gorge as much as I could, and still not put on an ounce of weight; but now I had to be careful about what I was eating. Slowly, many foods I had a weakness for left my plate. Exercise sneaked into my regimen.
Definition of youth
What is youth? No matter how hard I try I cannot look like a 21-year-old. Aging is happening all the time.
When I meditated on this I found that it is essentially a state of mind. It is an attitude. It stands for a set of characteristics that embody vigour, vitality, zest, the desire and ability to create, a belief that nothing is impossible, and that every problem is surmountable.
At 70, Hansa Jayadev Yogendra is the epitome of youthful radiance
Says Hansa Jayadev Yogendra, a yogi and director of the Yoga Institute, Mumbai, “Youth means a person who has zest, enthusiasm and a progressive attitude; who is constantly trying to better himself and can adjust to and handle a situation without stress. Such a person is eager to learn. The moment you stop learning you start getting old.”
People blessed with such an attitude never let aging become a hindrance to their zestful plans.
Peter Roget invented the Thesaurus at the age of 73. India’s PM Narendra Modi’s career peaked after he crossed 60 and he can shame any youth with his ability to travel and hold meetings, while sustaining only on water for almost a week. Cine star Amitabh Bachchan has turned 73 and is still going strong in the film industry. Sixty-year-old Mata Amritanandmayi, the hugging saint of Kerala, runs massive humanitarian projects that competes with government programmes, and has gone on hugging sprees for more than 20 hours at a stretch, without feeling tired.
Yet the role of physical good health cannot be discounted in leading a vigorous, and wholesome life. Many ambitious plans could not reach their culmination because of lack of good health. Secondly, good health is a natural mood booster. With strength in your limbs, dreams in your eyes, and faith in your heart, you can accomplish great things and keep old age at bay. Hindu religious texts are full of stories of people living for thousands of years. Though it may seem unbelievable, it does hint at a possibility. And such a possibility can actually be realised by ancient practices like kayakalpa. This system of healing and rejuvenating has a fascinating story behind it.
Thousands of years ago there existed a king who had a very headstrong daughter. She kept on rejecting one suitor after another. Exasperated, the king ordered for her to be blindfolded and seated in the centre of the courtyard. The first man she happened to touch in this state was to become her husband and carry forward the royal lineage. Accidentally, she ended up touching an elderly man who used to bring herbs for the king’s physician. Although he pleaded to be let of because of his old age, the king’s orders were irrevocable and in three months time they were to wed. Worried, the old man went to his teacher and explained his problem. His teacher instituted an intensive programme for him to rejuvenate and energize.
For 90 days the man ate a special diet, did breathing exercises, took ritual herb baths and was anointed with special oils. At the end of it his gray hair had turned black, a new set of teeth had appeared in his mouth, and his body had become younger and more energetic. He married the princess, had several children with her, and lived happily ever after.
Though popular earlier, this technique was lost due to suppression by the British. Kaya means body and kalp mean transformation. Kayakalp treatment reverses the effect of time, and regenerates the entire body, mind and spirit.
In India, several ayurvedic centres offer the course of kayakalp. But because of its highly strict regimen that includes total seclusion from the world for 45 continuous days, not many attempt it.
While a complete kayakalp treatment may be out of bounds for most, the process of aging can still be arrested if we followed a certain discipline in our life. While cosmetic surgeries, and botox injections are popular, quick fix, anti-aging modern procedures, they make you youthful only superficially and facially. In my quest for knowing the secrets of being youthful I met people who have managed to slow down the process of aging drastically. For them living mindfully and responsibly is the way to attain youthfulness.
Darryl D’Souza, 44, a successful holistic health practitioner from Goa, came down with a slew of illnesses like pneumonia, amoebiasis, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, acidity, dysentery, allergies, skin disorders, systemic candidiasis, blood toxicity and piles, which followed one another, when he was 20 years old. These ailments plagued him for 14 years of his life. He tried every possible medicine and treatment to heal himself, but found his panacea in acupressure as taught by Ashwin Dalal. With vigorous practice of acupressure not only did he heal himself of all his diseases, but also reversed his age by 20 years. He is confident that he will live till 150, and maintain his 20-something looks well into his 50s.
Says Darryl, “Acupressure redirects prana or the body’s bio-current to heal organs that are weak. If there are weak or aging organs then bio-current helps rejuvenate the cells of the affected organ. It also helps different cells remember their harmonic blueprint so that they can function accordingly. Acupressure played an important part in the rejuvenation of my sick organs. The weakness of internal organs always shows up on the skin externally, especially on the face, which begins to look aged. Discoloration on the face, dark circles under eyes, puffy under eyes and persistent heat boils on the face are all signs of weak or imbalanced internal organs. When such organs get healed by acupressure, the complexion all over the body dramatically clears up. When health throbs within, it comes out naturally on the skin and face.”
What causes premature aging?
The first step to staying youthful is to know the reasons that cause aging in the body.
Dr Smita Naram vouches for the efficacy of ayurveda in restoring health and beauty
Says Dr Smita Naram, co-founder of Ayushakti clinic, Mumbai, “Millions of cells die and new cells generate ongoingly in our body. If the number of new cells commensurate with the number of cells dying, then your aging process is slow. If the number of new cells generating is less than that of the dead cells, aging accellerates.”
So the trick is to keep producing equal or more number of cells than those dying in the body. But what stops this from happening naturally?
Says Darryl D Souza, “Unhealthy food, unhealthy habits, unhealthy consumables, unhealthy environment, and unhealthy belief systems damage the natural vitality and balanced growth of the human body and the human being. Surprisingly, the degradation begins right from the time we get off breast milk when we are about two years old, with wrong notions of food.”
He continues, “The human body is a 100 per cent organic system. It is made of the five elements, and it returns to the five elements. You mess with its harmonious functioning the moment you begin to put inorganic things into or onto it. Inorganic substances irritate the human body at a cellular level. Synthetic preservatives in food, taste enhancers like MSG, colouring agents, stabilisers, chemicals like butyl, acetate, coal tar, parabens and pthalates that enter through body products, fluoride in toothpaste and chlorinated tap water cause it to dysfunction, resulting in premature aging and disease. Severe inorganic irritation even causes cancer.” Add to these the regular intake of junk foods, spicy, fermented and fried foods, excess tea and coffee, no exercise and little wonder your body shows signs of wear and tear. These toxins circulate in the body through the blood and create blockages as well as weaken the functions.
According to Darryl, the human body is not meant to age till 50 years, because it was designed to facilitate the energetic development of the seven main energy centres, which completes at the age of 49 years. This measure varies, as it is tied to larger ‘time cycles’ of this planet and cosmic forces. But since our faulty practices have degraded our DNA, we don’t live till 200 years like our ancient ancestors.
All this reinforces the importance of eating healthy, exercising regularly, detoxifying our body, monitoring our thoughts, and leading a joyous life.
Detox your body
Diseases can accellerate aging. As toxins find home, and organs start getting affected, health and youthfulness exit from our body.
Say Dr Ranjita Singh, resident doctor at Nature Care, a naturopathy centre in the heart of Mumbai, “Osteoporosis, heart attack, cholesterol and pain issues indicate premature aging because of wrong food habits. So when you embark on the process of reversing your age or regaining the lost vitality of your body the first step is to detox your body of accumulated toxins.”
Both ayurveda and naturopathy have an extensive regimen of detoxification. Through this method the body is purged of all stored toxins, thereby revitalising tired and weakening internal organs.
Panchkarma is a three-to-five weeks detoxification process in ayurveda involving five steps.
Liquefaction and melting of old and deposited toxins from cellular level through diet, herbs and hot herbal massages.
Moving them to the digestive track through special massage therapies, diet, herbal ghee and herbal medicines internally.
Expulsion of toxins from your system through strong purgation. A great deal of pitta and aama in the form of mucousy yellow hot liquid will leave your body. This deeply reduces migraine, acid reflux, IBS, and skin problems like psoriasis, and eczema.
Specifically designed herbal enemas are given to take out excess air from the body and lubricate joints, skin, hair, and overall cells in the body. Lubrication reduces degeneration, helps renew cells, improves metabolism, digestion and energy, reduces fear, phobias, depression and anxiety, improves flexibility of joints, reduces stiffness, osteoporosis, and osteoarthritis. Improved metabolism helps to control diabetes, cholesterol, reduces weight, and risk of heart problems too.
Rejuvenation of the cells with special herbs and diet. Cell to cell rejuvenation remarkably help all bodily channels to improve memory, focus, strength, vigour, vitality, youthfulness, immunity, confidence, and bliss.
In naturopathy too a person is detoxified using enemas, different massages, various packs, detox diets, and health baths such as sun bath, steam bath, spinal bath, tub bath, acupressure and mud packs.
Girija Singh, 61, from Chattisgarh, suffered from depression, fibroid, ulcers and frozen shoulders for many months. She tried all possible treatments, but found relief only after she went for the detox regimen of naturopathy. When I met her she was having a bowl of fresh tomato soup, and a bowl of salads. She confessed that after spending 10 days at the naturopathy centre and going through its healing treatments, her frozen shoulders had improved drastically. She was beaming with health and happiness and looked not more than 50 years.
Take the right diet
Half the aging process can be stopped in its tracks by eating right. Natural foods have the power to detox, heal, rejuvenate, and build up stamina and keep a person looking healthy and young.
Says Hansaji, who glows with health and vitality at 70. “Every human is different. Therefore it is best to consult your body before embarking on a prescribed diet. You may eat four chapatis easily but if I eat four chapatis I would have a problem. Yoga says, know thyself. Who am I, what is my nature and habits, are they healthy or not? One must watch oneself, and correct oneself if one goes wrong. You must be very careful about the food you eat. Yoga says, as the food so the mind, as the mind so the man. We believe in discipline in food.”
If all of us listened to the body we would find it giving clear signals about its needs.
Says Dr Ranjita, “It is important to know what to eat, when to eat and how to eat. If a person has plenty of fruits, fresh vegetables and juices he will not fall ill. Osteoporosis, heart attack, cholesterol, pain issues arise out of bad lifestyle and bad habits, and increase aging. Excessive stress also causes aging.”
She gives a few handy tips. Start your day with lemon in lukewarm water on an unwashed mouth. Walk for 15 minutes. You will never have constipation. Eat small amounts of food at short intervals. Keeping a gap of four-five hours between meals creates acidity in the stomach, because of which whatever you eat turns into carbohydrate, increasing obesity. Eat only one carbohydrate at a time. Avoid the combination of roti and rice.
Eat bananas since they have dopamine that controls stress hormones. Consumption of Vitamin C, Omega 3 fatty acids bring down aging. Magnesium reduces cortisol hormone. Include pine nuts and peanuts in your diet since they are good for the heart. Eat oranges, pineapple, and amla which are rich in Vitamin C.
Says Dr Smita Naram, “After 40, people should drastically reduce the intake of carbohydrates in their diet. It should only form 20 per cent of your food. Have more proteins and vegetables. My colleague Sarla Nair has only vegetables and mung chillas at lunch. A protein and vegetable diet helps reduce weight. Avoid toxic and inflammation-causing food like wheat, red meat, deep fried or fermented foods. I have studied that all those who live healthily beyond 90, have reduced the intake of carbohydrates after 40-45. Morarji Desai, our ex PM, stopped eating wheat completely after 45, and stopped cereals totally after he turned 70. He only ate dry fruits, figs, fruits, lentils, and vegetables. Have more alkaline foods and avoid acidic foods. But at the same time I am not in favour of extremities. Everything can be had in moderation.”
Hansaji suggests that one should have water half hour before lunch and one hour after lunch. She eats small amounts of food four times a day. “Eat only when you are hungry. You must have liquids. During breakfast have boiled water with ginger, lemon grass and milk. During lunch drink a glass of buttermilk. At night have a bowl of soup. Eat only as much food as will make you hungry after four hours.”
She herself takes five almonds, pistachios, cashews at breakfast. Or 10 peanuts boiled in salt water. Around 10 am she has fruits or something made by her mother. “Our point is eat everything but in moderation. I only have two spoons of anything.”
She believes that the human body is totally self-sufficient. It is not meant to suffer. If something goes wrong it can correct itself provided you don’t interfere. “I don’t take medicine for mild fever,” she says.
Be a yogi
Without physical exercise, the lean and slim body you look for, will not manifest. Though cardiovascular exercises work well to burn fat, and keep you trim, yoga as taught by our rishis come with added benefits. Yoga works on strengthening the mind, which reduces food craving, stress and builds up will-power. It helps the person stay motivated to lead a disciplined life. Above all it inculcates a leaning towards a holistic, balanced and positive way of living. Through yoga immunity is boosted, hormone secretion becomes optimal and the rate of new cell regeneration becomes higher and faster. Yoga not only helps heal chronic diseases that accellerate ageing, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, joint pain, cholesterol and asthma, but maintains optimum functionality of the body keeping a person fit, strong and supple.
Hansaji says. “Yoga is not a set of asansas. It is a way of life. If you think before taking any action then that is yoga. It is about constant self-improvement. If I got angry 10 times a day, I should get angry nine times a day.”
Her father-in-law Sri Yogendraji, founder of the Yoga Institute, which is the oldest organized yoga institute in the world, never fell ill in his life. He never had to take medicine.
Hansaji’s mother, Smt Tarapatni, 89, looks not a year more than 70. She leads a strong, self-reliant life through regular practise of yoga. She can perform asanas even at her age. She shares the secret of her health, “The moment you wake up focus your attention to your breath. Take a long breath, then stretch your body, press your stomach, give your attention to your back. Stretching is very important. Asanas like parvatasan, pashchimottasan, talasana, yeshtikasana can be performed by anybody at any age to regulate metabolism and maintain health.”
GP Shukla, director, Kaivalyadham, has been doing yoga for the past 25 years. Vouching for its efficacy he cites the case of a middle-aged man who had come to Kaivalyadham eight years ago with severe back pain. He couldn’t walk and had to be carried by two men. Within three weeks his condition improved and he began to feel much better. After four to five weeks, he was able to walk independently. He was so impressed by the result that he became a life member of Kaivalyadham.
“Asanas that help in staying younger are bhujangasana, vakrasan, parvatasan and vrikshasan. Vrikshasan alone is capable of helping you maintain physical, mental and emotional fitness,” says Shukla.
Sheela Preman was able to resume dancing after she took up yoga at the age of 50.
Sheela Preman, 50, used to be a classical Mohini attam dancer but after marriage dance took a backseat. When her children grew up and went to study abroad, she had the desire to take up dancing again. But her body felt stiff. A routine check-up with the doctor revealed that yoga could help her in resuming her dancing. She enrolled for a yoga course in Kaivalyadham. Her limbs became flexible. “I have high energy level. I walk for an hour. I do breathing exercises and basic asanas like bhujangasan, tadsana, and ardhchandrasan. I have started dancing again. Now I am learning contemporary dance,” she admits with bright smile on her face.
Hutoxy Peer, a 73-year-old woman, lost her hearing after suffering a stroke. Her fingers too became stiff and immovable. But the practise of yoga helped her to regain hearing, and return flexibility to her fingers.
Heal your emotions
Pradeep Pawar credits his youthful looks and body to healing his emotional baggage
All our attempts at looking youthful might fail us if we ignored the crucial aspect of being emotionally fit. Positivity attracts success, health, good relations and abundance. Negative emotions on the other hand, exert pressure on our body’s resources. They secrete hormones and chemicals that corrode us from within, making us look ugly, tired and old. When a person focuses on his spiritual health all the above factors fall into place naturally. Says Pradeep Pawar, facilitator and healer, “Negative emotions arrest the secretion of DHEA hormone which is responsible for keeping the body young. Therefore, it is essential to not let toxicity enter your mind if you wish to stay youthful. Maharshi Mahesh Yogi came up with the idea of age reversal through meditation. His Transcendental Meditation was relatively easy and its aim was to stop the mind from getting into negative conversation.” Therefore the less you worry, fear, envy, compete, hate, judge or condemn, the happier, more efficient, joyful and youthful you look.
Says Bruce Lipton, scientist and author of The Biology of Belief , “Up to 90 per cent of doctor visits are related to stress. When stress hormones are released, the blood vessels in the gut squeeze shut, in order to push blood into the arms and legs. The gut takes care of the body, and when stress hormones are released, nourishment to the gut is denied. Number two, the immune system protects the body from bacteria and viruses. It also uses a lot of energy, so when stress hormones close the blood to the gut, they also shut down the immune system. That is why people fall ill when stressed out. These stress hormones are released by programmes of the subconscious mind – the beliefs that we are not good enough, don’t have enough. Today, we are stressed out all the time.”
And stress is nothing but the unhealed, unaddressed, parts of our psyche. Once we start the process of de-stressing ourselves, the road to internal self-transformation begins.
Adds Pradeep, “For people to stay in a happy, permanent meditative state, it is important to reprogramme their cellular memory of ego and anger-based reactions. Most people are on auto pilot mode. Once awareness sets in, the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle becomes a natural part of their existence. Once I got rid of my emotional garbage, the desire to eat flesh left me on its own. I would naturally choose foods that my body wanted instead of what my tongue demanded. There was no struggle anymore. My glowing skin, thick head of hair, increased physical strength, and sharpened senses all came as natural gifts to me. I do my regular walking, bending, stretching, twisting exercises.”
Therefore it is important to read good literature, do meditation, have a healthy self-esteem, lead a balanced, self-aware life and exercise control over our thoughts, words and actions. Spirituality helps a person to not get too caught up in the vicissitudes of life. It enables a person to develop trust in the process of life and replace fear with love. When you become equanimous, you can sail through the challenges of life with ease. With less worry, more joy and acceptance of the vagaries of life all that you need would come effortlessly to you. This also includes youth, health and beauty.
So start working right away.
Caption!; At 70, Hansa Jayadev Yogendra is the epitome of youthful radiance
Caption2: Dr Smita Naram vouches for the efficacy of ayurveda in restoring health and beauty
Caption3: Sheela Preman was able to resume dancing after she took up yoga at the age of 50.
Caption4: Pradeep Pawar credits his youthful looks and body to healing his emotional baggage
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