Thanks to the evangelical fervour of Yoga practitioners in India, it has acquired the status of spirituality and gives off a whiff of sanctity. Victor Besa / The National
Thanks to the evangelical fervour of Yoga practitioners in India, it has acquired the status of spirituality and gives off a whiff of sanctity. Victor Besa / The National

Yoga is great exercise, but it’s cruel to call it a cure for cancer



Yoga has become a pious bore. Thanks to the evangelical fervour of its practitioners in India, it has acquired a whiff of sanctity. Doing yoga, its followers imply, makes a person not only physically fitter but also a morally better person.

Worse than that are claims that it can cure cancer. The latest person to utter this incredible belief is Shripad Yasso Naik, who heads India’s ministry of alternative medicine. As recently as last month, referring to a yoga institute in Bangalore, he said: “The institute has found a technique of yoga for the prevention and cure of cancer.” He said the institute would provide scientific evidence to back up this claim within a year.

Mr Naik is not the first Indian to make such claims. The website of India’s top yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, also states that yoga can cure cancer, along with virtually every ailment that afflicts humankind. Epilepsy, heart disease, muscular dystrophy, asthma, obesity, Parkinson’s disease, kidney problems, eye diseases, arthritis, piles, hepatitis, leukoderma, bronchitis, sexual disorders and memory loss can all be cured by yoga, according to Baba Ramdev.

Another site I stumbled across claims that hair will start sprouting from a bald head if the person twiddles and rubs his fingers in a certain way. Can yoga solve the Israel-Palestinian impasse too? Not yet. But give it time. Meanwhile, there is no stopping yoga’s inexorable march across the world, conquering countries and winning over celebrities. Yoga teachers spread the message with fervour. Almost all my friends in New Delhi do it.

The more they praise it, the more it irritates me. I am prepared to accept yoga as an excellent form of exercise for the body but I cannot accept it as something that is spiritual. Equally irritating is the tendency of yoga teachers to get carried away by their evangelical fervour and to keep pushing you to do more and more because they are so convinced of its wonderful properties. In doing this, they often ignore the factors related to age that can make over-strenuous yoga a disaster for some people. Plenty of people have suffered injuries in performing exercises inappropriate for their age or level of physical fitness.

What are these instructors trying to prove? That something so beneficial cannot possibly have any drawbacks? I can see the usefulness of flexibility up to a point, but why is it so wonderful to be able to wrap your legs around your neck? Does it add to the sum of human happiness?

And why are some people who do yoga so fanatical about it? A few years ago, actress Uma Thurman got up during a flight to do yoga in the aisle. Last week, a ­Japan-bound plane had to return to Hawaii because a man insisted on doing yoga on the floor instead of sitting in his seat.

One reason why some Indians are so fervent about yoga is that it is something their country can claim as a contribution to the world. India’s achievements, particularly in ancient times, in science, maths and religion, were extraordinary but in modern times, it has been less successful. Its name is synonymous with poverty. Naturally, then, there is a great deal of pride over this fantastically successful export.

But this should not mean that you can make preposterous claims that have no scientific basis. Describing yoga as a cure for cancer is deeply irresponsible. Many people with the disease or their relatives may take such claims at face value and abandon conventional treatment, giving false hope to desperate people.

My father, who was 87 and the sanest of men, was swayed by a neighbour into making a long, exhausting journey by train, car and bus to an ashram in Haridwar several years ago in search of a cure for my brother in the United Kingdom, who was dying of oesophageal cancer.

He took the UK doctor’s report on his son’s condition with him. I had read it a week earlier and almost fainted. The cancer was advanced and metastatic. His doctor gave my brother only a few months to live.

At the ashram, a collection of quacks told my weary and frightened father that they could cure his son and told him to arrange for him to be flown to Haridwar. Later, during the long journey home, my father’s reason resurfaced, mercifully, and he realised that these men were charlatans. But if he hadn’t seen sense and had acted on their advice, imagine the dislocation and discomfort my brother would have endured in flying to Haridwar, leaving behind his family and home.

There is no need to bestow yoga with miracle qualities or to propagate it with a missionary zeal. Let yoga remain what it is – a fine form of exercise, breathing and meditation. It’s just not holy writ.

Amrit Dhillon is a freelance journalist in New Delhi

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Cryopreservation: A timeline
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Teachers' pay - what you need to know

Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:

- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools

- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say

- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance

- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs

- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills

- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month

- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics