Durban — Yoga could be the best therapy for a variety of health problems, according to a panel at an International Yoga Conference themed “Yoga for Self and Society”.
People came out in their numbers to the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Senate Chamber Hall, Westville, on Thursday to hear yoga experts’ opinions.
The conference was organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, High Commission of India Pretoria, Consulate General of India Durban, Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre Durban and UKZN.
S-Vyasa University vice-chancellor Dr Manjuth Sharma said yoga had a major role to play in reducing the impact of most chronic diseases and neurological disorders.
He said a recent study suggested yoga could help in the body’s acceptance of stem cell grafting in cancer patients.
“So many people are going for stem cell grafting and the stem cell graft rejection is quite high, and yoga can help. I can confidently say that yoga can facilitate this. It helps to create a better homeostasis in your body and to develop something called ‘conscience-intelligence’ in you which will help you to fix yourself.
“Surgically, you can do something, but the body has to accept it. How can that happen? You use the body. That is why yoga-for-self is very important and if yoga-for-self is implemented well, we will create a healthy society,” said Sharma.
He said yoga also had several other health benefits.
According to Sharma, studies had been undertaken on how yoga can reduce and influence inflammation, regulate information through the immune mechanism, reduce oxidative stress and facilitate healing.
“If you ask me, ‘Can yoga cure anything?’ I cannot comment further because we do not have that kind of evidence to date which suggests that a complete reversal is possible in these conditions, but we can facilitate healing,” he said. He said it was possible to live a better life.
“You can improve the quality of life in these individuals – HIV positive people, those with chronic illness and many others where the immune system is compromised.”
Sharma said there were other studies in cancer and other chronic conditions which showed that yoga influenced inflammatory markers.
“Whenever it is needed, yoga can selectively increase inflammatory markers, and when it observes that it is no longer needed, it brings it down,” he said.
Yoga instructor Dr Ansuyah Moodley encouraged people to explore yoga before immediately resorting to pills which could cause side effects.
“With yoga there are not any of these consequences, so as the global phenomenon becomes greater in terms of the awareness, we hope everybody knows that the therapy for everything is in fact going to be yoga,” she said.
Independent on Saturday