How Ushtrasana helped 12-year-old improve his lungs, breathing and not fall sick every season

It was obvious that most of his physical, mental and emotional problems were due to poor respiration and his lungs working partially. The reduced O2 levels resulted in poor functioning of all his bodily systems, impacting the growth of muscles, bones, causing low haemoglobin, poor supply of oxygen-rich blood to his brain and poor mental output. A low immunity got him down with frequent fevers, cough and cold, which made him feel like a loser. To be happy and joyful with energy, you fundamentally need your heart and lungs working to an optimal level. This is what was addressed in his yoga session. In about 15 days, his pallid face got some colour back.

In a month’s time, his weight had gone up by 2 kg and all his other parameters, like wanting to go out to play, enjoying school, his learning output, started to show a positive turnaround as the life force. His breathing became better while the asana postures helped in activating his digestive and immune systems. He fell ill much less.

His practice included asanas like Shashankasana, Simhagarjanasana, Vipareetkarni asana, Dhanursana, Suryanamaskar and Kapalbhati, Nadishodhana pranayama and on and off yogic breathing. But, one asana which one can say was instrumental in correcting his condition was Ushtrasana with deep breathing.

USHTRASANA

This asana opens up the chest area to the maximum. When done with deep breathing in the final position, it fills the lungs with a full gush of oxygen and expels carbon dioxide. It corrects rounded shoulders and hunched back postural issues. Besides improving the respiration, this posture, done with deep breathing, massages the stomach, liver and intestines, stretches the thyroid glands, loosens the vertebrae and stimulates the spinal nerves. All this with an improved respiratory system works overall on your body. All backward bending asanas also open up the general persona of the person.

Practice

· Sit in Vajrasana.

· Raise your body on your knees with arms by the side of your body. Keep knees a little apart.

· As you inhale, lean back, moving your left hand towards the left heel until it is resting on it.

· Simultaneously, raise your right hand straight in front and slowly take it at the back as far as it can go, thus executing a full backward bend with the head also thrown at the back, and touching the right heel.

· In this position, do three rounds of deep breathing in and out.

· Then, as you exhale slowly, bring your right hand forward by the side of your body.

· Simultaneously, bring your left hand also by the side of your body.

· Repeat the same, this time joining the right hand to the right heel first.

· This makes one set.

· Initially, do three rounds and then build it up to five rounds.

This boy went through personality transformation through yoga because this practice connects all the disparate functions of the body to work as a unified whole. The body then helps transform the mental and emotional state of the person, thus achieving a holistic benefit to the practitioner.

(Kamini Bobde is a Kundalini practitioner who follows the Swami Satyananda Saraswati tradition of yoga. She is the author of Kundalini Yoga for All: Unlock the Power of Your Body and Brain. Published by Penguin)