Dr. Kay Joglekar, a board-certified pediatrician, has been practicing medicine for 17 years in Jackson at the Child Care Clinic.
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Learn how to do pranayama
Each morning, Dr. Kay Joglekar starts her 20-minutes of pranayama with a prayer before she rotates through five different breathing exercises. For each exercise, sit in a crossed-leg position, spine erect.
• Bhastrika, the first exercise, means “bellows.” Extend your arms, palms up, thumb and forefinger touching. Shut your eyes. Breathe deeply in and out through your nose. Focus on the tip of your nose.
• The second exercise is kapal bhati, meaning shining forehead. Breathe, forcing expiration through your nose.
• Anulom-vilom, the third exercise, puts you into more of a meditative state. Put your thumb against your right nostril and take a deep breath through your left nostril. Slowly remove your thumb from the right nostril as you put pressure on your left nostril with your middle finger and breathe out through the right nostril. Then breathe in through the right nostril. Next, put pressure on the right nostril with your thumb, releasing the middle finger on your left nostril. Breathe out through the left. Keep repeating the pattern.
• Bhramari, the fourth exercise, is called “bumblebee.” With your thumbs in your ears and eyes closed, make a humming sound.
• The last exercise she does is “the chanting of “oooommmmm.”
“It is important to end the pranayama with the ultimate form of relaxation, which is shavasana (corpse posture),” she says.
Dr. Joglekar lies on her back, feet turned out, hands outstretched, palms up. She progressively relaxes her body, starting with the little toe, working up her legs, her torso, down her arms and to the tip of her head.
Yogic deep breathing improves health
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| Dr. Kay Joglekar, a pediatrician, teaches her patients and their parents about the benefits of pranayama, yogic deep breathing exercises. |
A Jackson pediatrician, Dr. Joglekar was visiting her parents near Mumbai, India, when she came upon a group of people doing “pranayama,” a form of yogic deep breathing exercise. With the instructor’s permission, she joined the group that day. She gradually learned how to do pranayama on her own and about the benefits pranayama offers.
She now begins each day with pranayama and teaches her patients about incorporating the breathing exercises into their lives to better their health.
“Pranayama is a very simple technique that should be done daily and that anyone can learn,” she says.
“It doesn’t replace medical care, but it is a tool or adjunct for overcoming several medical problems or stresses. It has been relatively recent that pranayama was introduced into the American medical system as a form of alternative medicine.”
She speaks from experience. After two to three years of diligently doing pranayama daily, she says, “I’ve been able to wean myself off of several asthma medications.”
The breathing exercises also are known to increase focus, concentration and memory and to help with hypertension, diabetes, asthma, ADHD, insomnia, migraines and other problems, she adds. Several scientific studies have been done primarily in India and the United Kingdom to validate this.
Dr. Joglekar explains: Pranayama is a form of yoga, a discipline practiced in India for 8,000 years.Prana means breath or life force in Sanskrit; yama means discipline or mastery. Pranayama, considered the expansion of the life force, to clear and cleanse the body and mind, is conscious deep breathing.
Whereas most adults are shallow breathers using only about one seventh of their lung capacity, those practicing pranayama use forced breathing of the whole available lung tissue.
The deep breathing calms the mind and increases oxygenation to the body’s tissues, she says. “The breathing technically changes the autonomic nervous system to have a dominant parasympathetic effect that reduces the heart rate and lowers blood pressure. Some studies show that melatonin is released, causing people to have better sleep and boost the immune system.
This is one way to better your health, she says, without spending money. “You just breathe free air; the benefits are priceless. I have seen so many people weaned off expensive medications.”
Dr. Joglekar feels so strongly about the benefits of pranayama that she says it should be a part of school curriculum, taught with the A, B, Cs. “It is a tool that will help children the rest of their lives. I’ve seen pranayama work.”
To do pranayama, she says, “all you need is a quiet corner in your home and 15-20 minutes each day.” Though it’s best to do pranayama in the morning on an empty stomach, it can be done at any time of the day, she adds.
She talks to her patients and their parents about making it a part of their lives. Some are receptive, but many are just looking for a pill to make things better or expect instant results, she says. She sees an increase in parents asking for drugs to control problems like ADHD, and she is reluctant to solve all problems with medications. “I would like patients to give pranayama a try.”
She considers pranayama “a life-saving tool to deal with life stresses. We can’t change the stresses or control them, but we can control how we react to the stresses. That is where pranayama helps; with pranayama, your reaction to stresses changes.”
“Yoga,” she says, “is India’s gift to the world.” Her ancestors knew the importance of integrating the mind, the body and the spirit. She would like pranayama to be her legacy in Jackson. Those who accept her encouragement to try pranayama, she says, “are all so thankful.”
For an appointment or more information about pranayama, call her at 731-664-8080. The Internet also is a good source of information, she says.