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Chapter 9. Arthritis And Rheumatism

One of Yoga's answers to the problems with which this chapter is concerned reads a little like black magic. Still it adds a touch of the bizarre and the exotic to this exacting science of discipline and, as with all Yoga practices, there is sound good sense behind its methods. The Indians claim that people who are afflicted with arthritis or allied complaints should keep a raw, unpeeled, winter-crop potato—yes, I did say a potato!—close to their skin day and night until the condition is relieved. It sounds a little like an old gipsy legend and as a matter of fact I did meet a gipsy some time ago who was afflicted with arthritis in the shoulders. I told him this Yoga story about keeping a potato near one's skin and he looked at me in sheer amazement. He was completely puzzled as to how I had got hold of this old 'gipsy' secret, so it seems that way back in time, gipsy or Yogi, they had respect for the humble potato as a powerful cure for arthritis.

It need not be a very large potato as apparently the smaller ones work just as efficiently and I must say more conveniently. An over-large potato carried upon the person could lead to all kinds of questions and complications. The potato should be discarded when it either grows very hard like a stone or else becomes soft and wrinkled, and should be replaced by a fresh one, but make quite sure it is a winter-crop one.

You could keep it in your pocket during the day and at night slip it into the toe of an old stocking and draw the other end over your hand so that the potato does not roll away from you while you sleep. If you are married this practice could produce some hilarity from your partner but the laugh would be yours if you cured your arthritis by this unorthodox method.

So bear with the jeers of your mate and try the experiment. You may be agreeably surprised.

For good measure, while you are on the potato cure, you should drink potato water, which is one of the very best alkalizing drinks and helps the system to eliminate the impurities, which are to blame for your complaint. To prepare this drink, and it need not be unpalatable if you flavour it well, wash four or five fairly large potatoes but do not peel them. Put them in a saucepan with two pints of water and bring to the boil. Simmer them slowly for about an hour and then strain through a fine sieve or cloth. Drink the water first thing in the morning, at least once or twice during the day, and just before you slip your hand into that stocking with the potato in it before you hop into bed at night. If you visit your local health shop you will find all kinds of vegetable extracts and salts with which to make your potato water more drinkable.

It is also highly beneficial to arthritis sufferers to eat one or two finely grated raw potatoes, including the skin, every day. I know it sounds revolting but added to soups, stews, salads or vegetables just before serving you would hardly know it was there! However, your system will know it is there and react ''n a very favourable way. It is worth trying is it not? and I would be most interested to hear from my readers who notice an improvement in their condition through the 'potato cure'.

But let us now turn this from a cookery book back into a book on HathaYoga! Here is an exercise known as HALAS ANA or the PLOUGH POSTURE. One of the basic Yoga asanas, it stretches the vertebrae to the maximum, and subjects the abdomen and its organs and muscles to a powerful massage. The nerve centre and cells along the spine are stimulated as they receive a richer supply of blood. By practising this exercise your spine will gradually become more elastic and as it effects the kidneys it is a powerful way of eliminating the toxic waste that is the primary cause of arthritis and allied complaints. Waste is the foundation of all disease. It cannot flourish if the body is purified. And now for the PLOUGH POSTURE.

1. Lie down on your back, feet together and hands along your sides. Raise your legs and buttocks off the ground and as you put your hands on your hips to steady yourself push your legs over your head while keeping your knees straight. The first stage of the Plough Posture is pictured in figure 44.



2. Bend your legs backwards until your toes touch the ground. Press your chin firmly against your chest in a chin lock and place your hands, palms down, facing the opposite way to your legs. Your body now roughly resembles an old-fashioned plough. Try to increase the stretch of your spine by pushing your toes away from your head as far as you can. I have demonstrated the correct position in figure 45. Your hands may be placed in two other ways if you wish. One way is to lace them together and place them behind your head just above the neck and the other is to keep them on the hips as in stage one. Indeed this way may help you to push your body over a little more and increase the stretch of the spine.

Some of my older readers may find difficulty with Halasana at first so try it this way. Take your starting position with your head two, three, or more feet away from the wall according to your height and convenience. When you swing your legs over your head your toes will touch the wall. Try then to walk down the wall with your toes, but gently please. Do not try to force your toes lower down the wall than they will comfortably go, otherwise an enraged and rigid muscle could repay your lack of consideration by giving you agony for weeks, which would have the effect of scaring you away for evermore from this most valuable posture. So careful, please.

When you are able to perform this Plough Posture to your liking try to increase, all the time, the overall stretch, as this position is most beneficial when carried to its extreme form, i.e. with the toes at the maximum distance from the head and the chin pressed firmly into the middle of the chest, as in the illustration.

The way you unwind yourself from the Plough Posture is equally important as the way you get into it. Performed in its correct way, the unwinding of the Plough requires considerable muscular control so, as always, go slowly at first and constant practice will give you the control you need. As you unwind this posture keep your head on the floor throughout until you return to the starting position flat on your back. Your natural tendency will be to raise your head as you unwind but, although you must do it this way when you first begin, always bear in mind what you are aiming for. The keeping of your head on the floor increases the work on your dorsal and abdominal muscles and gives them a very powerful massage and exercise. As you unwind bend your knees as this will make things easier for you than keeping them straight, and above all unwind slowly- This posture is, as you will have realized by now, deceptively simple looking. Graceful in execution and beautiful in its static stage, nevertheless it uses a lot of muscles, which you may seldom have used before in this particular manner, and it also requires a high degree of muscular control to perform it to perfection.

When you can do this classical Plough Posture perfectly you might like to try three variations, just to add variety to your daily practice schedule. In each case the posture will limber the spine, keep it more supple and youthful and therefore discourage arthritis and rheumatism.

Variation 1. This differs from the Halasana I have just described only in the position of the arms. This time they should be outstretched and pointing the same way as your legs so that you can touch your toes with your fingers.

Variation 2. Execute the first Plough Posture I described and then move the legs as far apart as possible, remaining thus for as long as you comfortably can. This imparts an extra stretch to the muscles of the legs and thighs.

Variation 3. This variation of the Plough Posture is called Kama Peedasana or the Ear to Knee Posture.

Proceeding from the Plough Posture, draw your knees up to your ears, your legs remaining flat on the ground from your knees to your toes. Bend your arms and place your hands behind your knees in order to keep them pressed to the floor. Only the most supple among my readers will be able to do this at first but regular practice of the other variations will limber your spine sufficiently for the Ear to Knee Posture.

Whichever variation of the Plough Posture you perform, do not omit the Yoga Complete Breath while remaining in this staticpose. Your chest will be somewhat restricted and you may possibly find that the taking of a deep breath is a little uncomfortable at first, but do keep trying and you will find it gets easier as you practice. No Yoga asana should be performed unless it is in conjunction with Yoga breathing. The one complements the other to affect the entire organism.

The following exercise will help those who suffer from calcium deposits at the shoulder joints. Sit down in the Lotus Posture, or if you cannot yet do this sit down in the Easy Pose. If this too is beyond you sit down on a hard chair with your back straight. Raise your right hand and bring it behind your shoulder and at the same time bend your left hand behind your back and join your two hands together. I mentioned this position of the hands earlier in connection with the Bull Posture for sciatica but sufferers from arthritis and rheumatism in the shoulders will also greatly benefit from this simple arm exercise. Remain in the position for as long as you comfortably can and then perform it with reversed arms. Practise this exercise at any time of the day you possibly can and incidentally, if you have round shoulders it will greatly improve this condition.

I will end this chapter with another breathing exercise which most of you will find easy and pleasant to perform. It is called the WINDMILL breathing exercise and again will help to rid the body of calcium deposits and tone the nerves and muscles of the back, shoulders, and arms.

1. Standing legs apart inhale very slowly and deeply through the mouth. At the same time lift your arms sideways to shoulder height, palms downward. Complete your inhalation.



2. While holding the breath swing the arms, upwards and backwards three times in succession like a windmill, and then in the opposite direction three times. This should be done rhythmically and without hurry.



3. Exhale with some force through the mouth as you slowly lower your arms. Finish this exercise standing up straight and performing a few Yoga Complete Breaths.

If you suffer from arthritis or rheumatism practise the exercises in this chapter faithfully and don't forget that potato will you!

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