Swami Ramdev's Camp

March 11th to 14th, I attended Swami Ramdev's camp when it was organized in my hometown. Never before have I gotten up at 3:30am for 4 days in a row to drive out and run to catch a 4'*7' space at 4:15am in a large stadium for morning exercises. Swami Ramdev made me do it.

Turns out fitness wasn't and probably still isn't an important element in my life. I use this body 24/7, have for 28+ years and hopefully will continue to do so for time to come, but my awareness of its parts, their functioning or lack of it, has been relatively limited. The camp made me consider my body more carefully, to understand what's happening to it, what shouldn't happen, and what I should do to fix it.

Every so often, someone comes to our attention who basically seems to 'have it all figured out'. He questions our lifestyle and shows, through his own way of living, what we're capable of. I had heard of Pranayama as some esoteric breathing exercise, but Swamiji extracted 7 out of the 100+ known exercises, added a schedule, packaged everything in simple language, coaxed us into doing it and presented examples of people who's lives have greatly benefited.

Doctors, according to him, are required only during emergencies and not for ailments/issues like diabetes or high cholesterol. He demonstrated (and firmly believes) that the human body is able to cure itself of all such sicknesses, all we have to do is discipline our intake/outflow of air, water and food and routinely exercise (yogic jogging and light execises, yogasana & pranayama).

Health-care costs are growing across the globe. India abolished product patents and instead issued process patents back in the 70s so it could produce necessary drugs at affordable prices for its own population. Today it's producing generic drugs for the entire developing world. But more than modern drugs and well-equipped clinics, we need health awareness at greater levels so we can prevent diseases, even cure some, and be our own doctors.

The lesson is the same, faith and practice.