If you recall the episode from Ramayana, you will find that Ravan appeared to invincible despite repeated attacks by Rama and was killed only when Rama pierced his navel with an arrow. The navel corresponds to the seat of power in the body, the manipoorak chakra that makes up for any weakness and directly controls the digestive system in the body. 
 
Ayurveda maintains that death begins in the colon and the modern science agrees with this fact. Hence, in order to ensure a long and healthy life, it is of utmost importance to keep the colon healthy. Realizing this, today the market is flooded with various techniques and equipment to ensure the same. One of these is the hydrocolon therapy. The therapy with the aid of certain instruments washes the intestines with saline water to flush the toxins out of the system. However, being a synthetic process it entails certain side effects such as dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, discomfort, cramps and infection. During the hydrocolon therapy, there exists a risk of toxicity and allergy in the event of absorption of substances from the wall of colon. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not recommend colonic irrigation machines for routine use. 
 
I get many cases of people who have fallen prey to the hazards of this modern innovation. Like the gift of modern-day yog gurus is knee and spine problems for those who take to their self-styled practices, hycolon therapy comes with a high risk of infection and allergy. Both of these are wrong practice of yoga and ancient sciences which instead of helping the body, age it due to their hyperactive and unnatural nature. 
 
You will be surprised to know that the technique of using saline water for cleansing finds a mention in the vedic sutras. The book Sanatan Kriya Ageless Dimension mentions certain yogic techniques and ayurvedic formulae (free from the risks of modern technology) to remove toxins from not just the intestines but also the entire digestive tract. The cumulative effect of these practices is a strong digestive system and constant replenishment of power in the body ensuring youth, health and vigor. In the next article we will delve deeper on the causes and remedies for a weak manipoorak chakra and resultant problems of the colon. 
 
Yogi Ashwini is a renowned Yog Guru and is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation. <a href="http://www.dhyanfoundation.com/">www.dhyanfoundation.com</a>

Strong Digestion For Longer Life

If you trace a person from being an infant to a full grown adult, you will notice, in most cases, a progressive decline in the skin texture and complexion. A baby is glowing pink whereas most adults, even in their prime youth, are plagued with a diseased skin and dull complexion. This is because, in the process of growing up, one is exposed to certain unnatural practices and stimuli from which it was kept protected in the womb. 
 
Take for example, the simple act of breathing. If you observe a baby breathing, you would notice a pronounced abdominal movement. The stomach inflates as it breathes in and deflates as it breathes out. If you observe your own breathing patterns, most likely, you will find it to be the opposite and with little or no abdominal movement…this breathing pattern of yours, holds the key to the way you look and your present state of health. 
 
Abdominal breathing maximizes the up and down movement of the diaphragm and ensures that lungs function at their optimal level, that is, they throw out spent air completely and also adequately replenish the body with fresh air from the environment. A decreased lung activity causes toxic residue to stay put in the body manifesting as disease and loss of natural radiance. 
 
Our physical body, formed of the five elements, is a grosser reflection of the next layer, commonly known as the aura, which comprises of various energy centers and channels, called chakras and nadis respectively. The physical lungs and respiratory system, for example, are a reflection of the functioning of the anahat chakra in the etheric body. These chakras interpenetrate the physical and etheric layers, spiraling three and a half times in clockwise, and three and a half times in the anti-clockwise direction. When a chakra moves clockwise it is pulling fresh prana in, and while in reverse motion, it is throwing out heavy prana. 
 
Our hyperactive lifestyle and artificial environment, results in decreased activity of the chakras hampering the proper exchange of prana. As a result, there is a congestion of prana in the pranic layer and the physical body being a reflection of the pranic body, shows symptoms of old age and disease. The book ‘the ageless dimension’ details specific practices from the Sanatan Kriya to stimulate and ensure optimal functioning of the various chakral points to prolong youth and radiance. For the specific example of the act of breathing, one may practice the Ujjai pranayam. 
 
Image: Thinkstock 
 
About the author: Yogi Ashwini is a renowned Yog Guru and is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation. <a href="http://www.dhyanfoundation.com/">www.dhyanfoundation.com</a>

Breathing Right For Youthful Vigour

The vedic rishis were the masters of physical and the spiritual, super beings who controlled prakriti and all its manifestations. The physical body comprising of the five mahabhutas (elements) had been completely mastered by them.

	From the masters of the vedic era to the present-day doctors of modern and alternative medicine, all are engaged in finding a solution to somehow stop, or at least, slow down the body clock. Many on realizing that they are ageing, lose their mental balance. A lot accept it as the inevitable. Some get stressed and fearful, and it is these vulnerable people who fall prey to business-minded companies selling anti-ageing creams, tonics, rejuvenating serums which at best camouflage the symptoms, addressing just the periphery while the core goes unnoticed. With time, the core emerges revealing the facts, but by then the precious years have been lost and the damage is now irreversible.
 

	It is normal to age...but for normal people. Ageing is a phenomenon of dulling of the senses and reduction in the size of the brain, the reaction time to a stimulus also becomes more, bones become brittle and the body becomes weak. We are going against nature that is why we are ageing faster. The various revolutions like green revolution and industrial revolution have polluted the planet and played havoc with our foundations and nature. Hence, there has been an advent of so many new diseases; every step which modern science takes forward is actually towards the destruction of the body...faster. The youth of today take to artificial chemicals, laser treatments and cosmetic therapies to stay young and glowing. Some of the chemicals, which are known to be injurious, continue to be used as ingredients in most beauty products - SLS and SLES being common examples. So ageing is not natural. It is unnatural to fall sick and to age.
 

	Ageing can only be stalled by natural means, artificial techniques like face lift and breast enhancements etc, are very harmful. Nobody knows of the techniques of the Vedic masters, which are often misrepresented by equating tantra with pornography. There are many businessmen who come from humble backgrounds and by selling yogic kriyas and ayurvedic medicines amass great wealth and then venture into politics. This puts forth a wrong message that yoga is meant to achieve material and political goals. It is actually the other way round…people who have had enough of life and worldly pleasures enter yog to move beyond. Through the book, “Sanatan Kriya: The Ageless dimension’, reader can be informed about threats to him/her as well as get to know the authentic techniques of the vedic seers to attain the glow and radiance he/she is desirous of.

	 
	 
	Yogi Ashwini is a renowned Yog Guru and is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation. <a href="http://www.dhyanfoundation.com/">www.dhyanfoundation.com</a>

Natural Antidote To Ageing

At the time of conception, you were just one cell. Gradually this cell divided itself, multiple times repeatedly, to create the body that you identify yourself with today. In the process of growing up and your day-to-day activities, the cells keep on dividing. Each cell can divide only a limited number of times (modern science calls it the Hayflick limit) and every new cell is weaker than the parent cell. Even as you are reading this article, the cells in your body are constantly splitting up into new ones, and some old ones are dying. This is constant weakening of cells manifests as ageing in the body. 
 
We are constantly ageing. In fact, ayurveda describes the body as that which is constantly moving towards destruction, shiryate iti shareeram. Why? Because you come with a limited life force, called prana, in the body, which is what governs these cells. Clairvoyants at Dhyan Ashram observe this prana in the form millions of micro chakras governing each cell and in turn being controlled by the major chakras. The weakening of cells in an ordinary person is clairvoyantly seen in the form constant change of colour of prana, from subtler to grosser. This does not hold for practitioners of yog and sanatan kriya, who are able to affect a reverse process in their bodies, that is, moving from grosser to subtler frequencies by interacting and exchanging prana with subtler energies under the guidance of Guru. 
 
This is how rishis of yesteryears were able to maintain their youth and glow till the last breath. They would, when the time would come, leave their bodies at will with full awareness and choose the body they would want to go in. (I have already explained past and future lives in my book, "Sanatan Kriya: 51 Miracles and a Haunting.”) 
 
The symptoms of old age can be delayed and youth enjoyed till 80 to 100 years even in the present Yug and level of evolution by incorporating the certain vedic techniques and rasayans into one’s routine, as detailed in the book ‘Sanatan Kriya, The Ageless Dimension’ which create an internal environment that slows down the rate of cell decay and prolongs your lifespan. In the next article we will delve on how we ourselves expedite the ageing of our body. 
 
Yogi Ashwini is a renowned Yog Guru and is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation. <a href="http://www.dhyanfoundation.com/">www.dhyanfoundation.com</a>

Stalling Ageing Through Cell

Not very long ago, a British University studying the behavior of heavenly bodies and recording the sounds emitted by them, concluded that the sound of om is the sound which the sun gives out. Ofcourse, they called it the sound emitted from transverse pulling of the guitar string, but still no one has ever conducted such a research, kudos to this university for reintroducing us to the power of om, which has been called as the eternal sound of creation by the vedic masters. Now we have modern science backing this! 
 
Vedas are the source of everything. Time and again, great men across cultures have turned back to the vedas to find an answer to the deepest secrets of creation, be it the working and properties of heavenly bodies, complex theories of science and geometry, or the undying quest to find a solution to an ageing body… 
 
In deep states of dhyan, I have encountered rishis and yogis, with long lustrous hair, flawless body, glowing skin and youthful radiance…how is it that the vedic masters could maintain their youth till the very end while modern men struggle to hide their grey locks as early as 25? Recently, Dr. Michael Mosley of BBC came up with a study that eating less and fasting can lead to a longer lifespan. Professor John Axelsson through his study concluded that adequate sleep is the key to staying young. These studies, although incomplete and unable to address the issue of ageing in totality, are great efforts to reintroduce us to certain concepts, which were given by the vedic rishis eons ago. One cannot blame these western scientists for presenting a lopsided approach to anti-ageing; possibly they did not have access to vedic scholars who could explain to them the process in its entirety. 
 
After two decades of extensive research on the being and practically experiencing and seeing the working of various layers of the body, I have come to conclude that ageing works at a cellular level and touches upon all organ systems of the body. With every breath you take in, every activity you are engaged in and every thought that enters you, you are constantly ageing. Tackling ageing calls for taking the body as a whole and in totality, and not focusing on any one aspect, say diet or sleep, in isolation. 
 
The book, ‘Sanatan Kriya: The Ageless Dimension’, which was written two years prior to these western researches, addresses the issue of ageing in totality and discusses the concepts touched upon by Dr.Mosley and Mr.Axelsson in far greater detail. In this series of articles, we will discuss how to hold and increase vitality of the body and also how to maintain its beauty, glow and strength naturally, without the side effects of modern chemicals as detailed in the book. I am not saying you will become physically immortal but you will leave your body, you won’t die. 
 
About the Author: Yogi Ashwini is a renowned Yog Guru and is the guiding light of Dhyan Foundation. <a href="http://www.dhyanfoundation.com/">www.dhyanfoundation.com</a>

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