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Experience in Yoga

Naranjo Myriam, Medellin, Colombia

In 1972 I began to experience various symptoms in my body. At the beginning a little ball, approximately the size of the thumb nail formed below the right breast. I never imagined that such a small thing could affect my health and be the beginning of a serious illness. A year later I noticed that my tongue was acquiring a blackish colour; also a mole in my face changed colour. Therefore I visited the doctor, thinking that this may have been the result of an inadequate diet.

The doctor recommended a biopsy, the result of which showed a malignant tumour with no serious symptoms present,. The doctor insisted on removing the breast completely. New symptoms occurred in 1975 after a frightful experience I had when some thieves entered my house. This psychological influence produced an intense vaginal haemorrhage. After this I began to experience pain in the hips, and in order to walk I had to move very slowly. Later on I began to experience pain which commenced in the tips of the toes and continued through the legs right up to the hips. An X-ray showed that there was a tumour of approximately one centimetre in the femur of the left leg. Soon I was paralyzed in that part of the body and could no longer walk. At the same time, all my hair began to fall out.

My doctor recommended the use of a wheelchair and said that I would live 'a little bit longer', two or three years perhaps. But I insisted on continuing to work in the manufacture of clothes to support my family. I was in a desperate situation but I did not lose the desire to cure myself.

Finally I came to yoga at Satyanandashram, in Medellin. I was initiated into the practice of shankhaprakshalana and a special vegetarian diet of spinach, salt-wort, green tomato, cabbage, parsley, salt water, and panela water with soda crackers. I practiced asanas and pranayama as well as amaroli. I felt better almost immediately without having to resort to drugs. I felt that if I took drugs I would nourish the illness. After two months of yogic treatment my hair came back.

Shortly afterwards I visited my doctor and he was surprised to see me so much better. I told him about the course of yogic treatment I had taken. Naturally he did not believe it. By 1976 I was strong enough to return to my full time work. Now I am supporting my two children and I feel perfectly well. The colour of my skin has changed from muddy to normal. I continue to practice the yogic breathing exercises daily, without taking recourse to any drugs. I believe that I got better more thanks to yoga than to the radiotherapy. I also think that the desire to live, and faith in the power of a positive mind helped very much. I have seen in the hospitals I visited that the majority of people suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses complain too much and feel sorry for themselves, becoming increasingly more negative and pessimistic. But I also met a very positive person who had great faith in God and cured himself of advanced cancer.

Up to now all medical examinations have demonstrated that I am perfectly well and without any of the symptoms of one of the most fearful illnesses-cancer. When anyone inquires about my health they are always surprised to find me so much better than before.