How Yoga understands Peptic Ulcer

A man complained of repeated episodes of peptic ulcer



He said it was flaring up almost once or twice a year, for 5 – 6 years. It all started with a pain in his abdomen. Accompanying signs were acidity, gas, and belching. All this, initially, lasted a couple weeks, he said



He managed to control the symptoms each time with allopathic medicines, but, the problem continued every year. The year the ulcer didn’t flare up he would have trouble with his bowel. There’d be a lot of flatus, abdominal cramps and a feeling of incomplete bowel movement. Colonoscopy showed no abnormality; but the treatment would provide relief

How Yoga understands this

How Yoga understands Peptic Ulcer complaints is by postulating that they are in the Annamaya Kosa. Observing the man’s lifestyle, it became amply clear that these periods of bowel upsets were always the result of tension both at work and domestically. Yoga therapy helped him a lot. First and foremost, he was encouraged to speak his mind and heart out And this is what he revealed:

“I know I’m a highly sensitive man. My ambitions are big and, subsequently, I have to work hard worker. Matter of fact is, I’m almost a workaholic. I’m highly irritable, particularly if people don’t measure up to my expectations What’s worse is that I’m sentimental. So, when there are emotional conflicts at home, since I don’t wish to hurt anybody, I hug all my feelings to myself. On the other hand, work targets are so demanding that my timings for food and sleep have also become erratic. Somehow, I think that my system has learned to cope up with all these changes I have become, career wise, highly productive and successful. However, there are periods when things go out of hand, that is beyond my capacity to cope. That’s when I end up with trouble either in my stomach or the bowel. This subsequently, further deteriorates the quality of my life. It turns into a viscous cycle and I ending up taking medicines for weeks".

What Yoga therapy recommended

We perescribed a series of Yoga practices. These included:

• Uddiyana Bandha
• Nauli
• Pranayamas – Anuloma Viloma, Sitali, Sitkari
• Loads of Shavasana and Meditation

The man returned within 3 weeks, saying he had seen drastic improvements with reduction in medication. In 7 – 8 weeks he was even better. Within 3 months the CT scan showed such a reduction in the size of the ulcer, it was just the size of a pinhead.