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Journalism of Courage
On an average, about 16 per cent people worldwide have problems with constipation, with 33.5 per cent attributed to adults over 60 years old. Though not fatal, it can impact bodily and mental functioning and be a dampener on the feel good factor by manifesting as headaches, stomach ache and lethargy with the latest research claiming its effects on cognition too.
There are three asanas which, along with intermittent drinking of two glasses of warm saline water, will do the magic. Those who have hypertension can avoid the salt and drink plain warm water. These form a
natural antidote without side-effects or fear of addiction as happens with laxatives.
Practice: Prepare about 8 to 10 glasses of warm saline water. Drink two glasses and then do the three asanas described below. Then drink two more glasses and repeat the same three asanas. Continue up to four rounds, that is, about eight glasses of water. Then relax in vajrasana. Mostly, you feel a pressure to run to the loo. This may continue for sometime till your intestines and bowels are empty. Avoid fatty, fried or spicy food on the day you do this practice.
1. Drink two glasses of the saline warm water.
2. Stand with your feet a few centimetres apart with arms by the side of the body. Relax your whole body.
3. Fix your gaze at some point above the eyes. This is important as it helps you maintain balance while coming up on your toes.
4. Raise your hands over your head, interlock your fingers and place your hands on your head with palms turned upward.
5. Inhale and stretch your arms over your head and simultaneously come up on your toes to experience full body stretch from the fingers to the toes.
6. Exhale, lower your whole body, come back to the starting position and leave your body relaxed. This is one round. Do five rounds.
1. Stand with your feet about shoulder length apart from each other.
2. Interlock your fingers and raise both hands above the head with palms facing upward. Elbows should be straight.
3. Inhale. Then as you exhale, bend your torso to the right without bending from the hips, keeping body and face forward. Bend maximum. Hold for a few seconds. Then as you inhale, come back to the centre. Then exhale and bend to the left.
4. This makes one round. Do five to seven rounds.
1. Continue in the same starting position as in Triyak Tadasana with legs apart and hands by the side of the body.
2. Inhale and raise both hands to the shoulder level. Exhale and twist the body to the right with the right hand circling the waist and the left hand resting on the right shoulder. Twist maximum and look at the back.
3. Hold final position for a few seconds or as long as you can hold in exhalation. Then as you inhale come back to the centre.
4. Without lowering your hands, exhale and twist to the left side with your left hand circling the waist and right hand resting on the left shoulder. Hold for a few seconds. Then inhale and come back to the starting position. This makes one round. Do five to seven rounds.
5. Drink two more glasses of water and continue doing these three asanas as described above.
6. Depending on individual propensity, you may need to drink six to 10 glasses of water.
7. Maintain a diet rich in fibres and low in carbohydrates, fat, junk food and include fresh fruits in your daily diet. Drinking two glasses of warm water first thing in the morning is also a good routine for constipation.
