This is what Jim H. Broom, M.D., Psychiatrist, Sewanee, Tennessee, has to say about Isha Yoga:”Isha Yoga gives a clear, step-by-step methodology that leads one to new understandings and ways of being. One’s intuition and ability to choose what is healthy for oneself steadily increases with performance of the meditative practices given. Negative self-defeating patterns and life-long anxieties simply drop away from one with the understanding, practices, and natural motivation gained through the Isha Yoga program.”

Barry Taylor, M.D. Dayton, Ohio: Most people in the west understand yoga as primarily a physical exercise for the body. I personally consider the physical benefits of Isha Yoga to be a side effect. The main benefit is control of one’s inner energy and achieving a very deep state of relaxation. This is a very sure way for a person to be free from tension.

“The following is what others say about how Isha Yoga has benefited them:Isha Yoga has made me see the world through new eyes. My heart is softer, my body lighter and I truly appreciate each moment that I am alive – Margie Mercer, Hatha Yoga Teacher, Los Angeles, California “My experience with Isha Yoga as a participant and volunteer has set me free from the torment of my intellectual mind. Anything in the outer world can happen to me & not disturb the deep inner peace & joy instilled in me by the program.

I now know how to solve problems from within using my consciousness and understand how this manifests in my outer world. Sadhguru gave me the greatest gift of my life…the opportunity to soar like an eagle without clipped wings. His words have stuck with me through all times….’good if you do & very good if you don’t.’ What a burden this has lifted!

There are no words to describe a knowing, but with deep & humble gratitude I thank you. My only wish is that all humanity gets a chance to be touched by this great Master on some level. Respectfully submitted & deeply touched – Lori A. Fina, Respite Provider for the Mentally Retarded & Developmentally Disabled Columbus, Ohio”As someone who is quite cynical, skeptical and jaded I don’t take readily to these types of programs.

From the moment I saw Sadhguru on a video I felt an immediate kinship. He was saying things I’ve always believed in my own heart but had never thought anyone else believed. I have been down many spiritual avenues but nothing has affected me like Isha Yoga. It has enabled me to overcome serious depression without medication and a 3-pack, 30-year cigarette habit with NO withdrawal or cravings. My friends call it a miracle.

It has enabled me to stay away from drugs and alcohol (a former problem), to clean up my diet and exercise. It has given me back the hope that I had lost for our life here.I have experienced divine love and peace and cried tears of joy for the first time. It has deepened and changed me in such profound ways that I cannot express. Isha is a miracle and a blessing and Sadhguru is a savior.Isha could truly change the world if people would allow it.-Kenny Mullins, Nashville, Tennessee

“Within six months following the Isha Yoga program, I started noticing that I felt really good for the first time in years. Today, I continue my pranayama practices and meditation each day and I feel great! I have a barrel of energy and I am excited to get up in the morning. My health has been completely transformed.

The hyperthyroidism is almost completely gone. The fibromyalgia is gone. The queasy stomach is gone. The allergies are 90% gone. I have endured years of frustrating and painful symptoms. Today, they are all gone. As incredible as this health transformation has been, it is only a small part of my benefit from Isha Yoga. Isha Yoga and Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev have changed my whole life in such a profound way. Today, I can say I am “cruising at a higher altitude”-there are very few obstacles between what I feel like achieving and making it happen. Not much bothers me anymore. My mind is quieting down and my heart is opening. I find myself wanting to live a life that contributes, rather than one that only pursues ego gratification and comfort. I am excited to be alive.-Cheryl Simoni, Atlanta, Georgia

From IndiaPost.com.

Many refer to it as ‘nature’s curse on women’. It’s commonly thought of as unclean. In some cultures, women are not even allowed to cook during those days of month. But, path-breaking new research could change the way people view the menstrual cycle. And it’s here in India, for the first time ever. The blood that uselessly leaks away from a woman’s body every month until she hits menopause is a good source of stem cells, which are still at an early stage of development and retain the potential to turn into many different types of cell.

Traditionally there is a huge taboo on menstruation here, but it’s nice to see this article turn that on its head.

Research is ongoing but if established as a success, it would be a huge advance for stem cell research. Stem cell therapy has become controversial in some parts of the world because scientists believe the most useful ones come from embryos. Adult stem cells are rare in mature tissue. But if they are sourced from hitherto-useless, “unclean” menstrual blood, it would redefine the woman’s role as life-giver.

According to TOI,

The exit of British television celebrity Jade Goody from the reality show Big Boss was a shocker. But what surprised most was the revelation of the fatal disease – cervical cancer that Goody was detected with. The word ‘Cervic Cancer’ since then has been googled infinite times (according to Google Trends) in the past one week thus revealing the immense curiosity, coupled with a lack of awareness about the cancer.

The growing risk of cervical cancer in women in India (aged 0-64 years) is 2.4% compared to 1.3% for the world.

Since I don’t really trust the TOI as a source of reliable information, especially when it comes to health, please click here for more information regarding prevention and treatment of this cancer.

I was amazed to read this:

Since the age of 16, Goody said she has had four smear tests to detect cervical cancer, which all showed up pre-cancerous cells in her womb.

She said she had had treatment three weeks ago following an abnormal smear test, after she collapsed at her home in Essex.

But she was given the all-clear and decided to go ahead with the India trip because she was being paid £100,000 and needed the money, she said.

Cervical cancer is entirely preventable when detected early, by smear tests and there are common techniques available to remove the pre-cancerous cells. Is it the fault of the NHS for not providing her this treatment? The Mail says:

Her publicist Max Clifford, who is paying for the tests, says her condition should have been diagnosed earlier.

He said: ‘What has happened to Jade is very wrong and very worrying.

‘According to the doctor I have put her in touch with this should have been diagnosed a long time ago.

‘Thankfully Jade is now with the best people there are, having thorough investigations and then the treatment she desperately needs.’

In the US, the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, has come under much scrutiny and huge debates have ensued (mostly among conservatives) over whether or not the mandatory vaccination of girls may promote sexual activity.

Apparently in the UK the ‘jab’ will be routinised amongst 12-13 year old girls next month, and The Telegraph reports that now older women may be eligible for it:

Professor Margaret Stanley, an adviser to the HPV sub-group of the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation, described the move as a “remarkable volte-face”.

“Vaccinating older girls and women who have active sexual lives will have an effect but it will be much less than immunising the virgins,” she said.

“There is the real anxiety that these older girls and women may think that they had had a magic bullet, are protected, don’t go for their smears and the cancers aren’t picked up at an early stage.”

Ministers at the Department of Health were said to have chosen the cheaper Cervarix vaccine over the more expensive Gardasil to avoid any extra expense.

A DoH spokeswoman confirmed ministers were considering a possible extension: “We are looking at the most effective uses for the vaccine and are currently assessing the strengths and weaknesses of offering it to over 18s, including cost effectiveness.”

But she added: “There is no evidence that extending the vaccination to over 18s would deter women from having smear tests. Receiving the vaccine could in fact provide an opportunity to remind women of the need for screening.”

This is a heartening story from the front page, to do away with all the stories of sex-selection and missing girls in Rajasthan:

Benefactors wrote a new chapter in the history of the state infamous for female infanticides, when they saved the life of a seven-month-old baby girl. Yogita was brought back from the brink of death after ‘Bhamashahs’ – as good samaritans are known here – pooled in the required funds for her surgery.

Born with a rare disease – transposition of great arteries with a defect in the right ventricle – doctors had put Yogita’s life to just a few days. For her father Vinod Bhoi, who works as a peon with a cloth merchant in Padra village of Dungarpur district, funding the expensive cardiac surgery was next to impossible.

It was an initiative taken by the Dungarpur collector Neeraj Kumar Pawan which changed the way things stood for Yogita. Contributions flooded in, mostly from local benefactors, and Yogita underwent the Rs 5 lakh “arterial switch” surgery at Delhi’s Escorts Hospital on July 17.

Interesting, though, that in the photo the mother’s face is blocked out by who I imagine to be the collector. Note also that the administration will also cover her future treatment and education.

I wonder why the collector decided to take the initiative. Regardless of the reasons (let’s hope it wasn’t to boost his reputation), the girl’s life has been saved and that speaks for itself. The cynic in me wants to believe that it’s just a publicity stunt; after all, how many girls are not so lucky? Yet the optimist is appreciative that at least one more girl has made it this far.