Yesterday I did some catching up with an old school friend of mine. We were very close yes, but then sort of drifted apart after she got married & I started working for Dell. Yesterday, she told me about her father-in-law. Oh btw, let’s call her “XYZ” ok… & her father-in-law “FIL”!
So she told me how her FIL had developed some kind of heart problem… not exactly heart-attack, it was more of Angina pain only, but, he would get stressed out with the slightest bit of physical activity… a 2 minutes walk or 10 steps up the stairs would leave him completely red in the face, panting & gasping for breath!
The doctors said he was bordering the “danger zone”. She mentioned something called a TMT test, which had to be conducted… & which recommended a further Angioscopy to be done on him. I’m not very familiar with the medical terminology, but she said that the TMT measured “something” while he “walked” and the Angioscopy required “something” to be inserted into his body, to do “something something” in there!
Her FIL is apparently extremely scared of doctors and hospitals & stuff… & he completely freaked out when they started to inject that “something” for the Angioscopy in the hospital! He broke out in cold sweat, almost fainted… & simply wouldn’t let them give the injection! Eventually, he just jumped out of the bed & came back home! Fell severely sick for sometime, until he was finally pressurized into going again for the Angioscopy!
But guess what! Again the same thing happened! He still couldn’t go through the required procedure, and came back home from the hospital! Obviously, the whole family was after him, trying to get it across to him that the Angioscopy HAD TO BE DONE! My friend was also pushing him for it. But he just couldn’t gather the nerves to go through it!
Now this was over 3 years ago. Back in those days, there was this weird craze about Baba Ramdev and his Pranayam & Yoga! It was like the “talk of the town” back then! Everywhere you went, people had nothing else to talk about other than “Do you do Kapal-Bhati regularly?” It was the latest “in thing” back then!
My friend told me that her FIL had also been advised by hundreds of “well-wishers” to do the “Pranayams”, but, like most other mortals, he just couldn’t get around to “doing” it regularly! She said he’d start on it after every few weeks or so… do it for a minute or two, with half his heart into it, and then just leave it! But this time it was different.
This time, it was either “do the thing” OR “go through the Angioscopy”! And he was just so scared of having something foreign injected into his body, that he apparently decided he’d rather do the former! He asked for 3 months time from the family, got up early next morning, took his car, went to the neighborhood park, and started doing Anulom-Vilom. He’d watch Baba Ramdev’s show in the evening and do the simple stuff next day in the morning.
After a few days, someone else from the neighborhood sat down next to him in the park & started doing the Pranayams too. Then a third guy joined them. And a few more followed suit. Eventually, there was a huge group of over 15 odd people, all doing Pranayam in that park every morning. And this FIL was implicitly made their “acting Yoga teacher”.
Big responsibility, right! My friend told me her FIL would sit down every evening in front of the TV, with a pad & pen in his hand, making notes for the “class” the next morning! ‘Coz earlier he was only doing it for himself, but now he had to answer other people’s questions too… so he had to be prepared for it! The others all depended on him!
Three months later, they had the TMT done again… everything was perfectly normal, Angioscopy was NOT required anymore! It’s been over 3 years now. The FIL is healthier and happier. The “Yoga Club” has become official now & holds a “kitty party” on the 1st of every month. The FIL is the President of this club, being the senior-most member of the group and also the person who actually “started it all”.
The club consists of people from various walks of life, including the Commissioner of Police & the likes! And they all highly respect my friend’s FIL. The entire family’s social status has improved! They have acquired “contacts” with high-standing individuals and families! And the best part is… the family’s internal relationships have changed so drastically!
The same FIL, until a few years ago, was an extremely cranky and suspicious kind of person. Always picking up fights with everyone, couldn’t trust even his own kids and wife! He had actually told his wife, his younger son & my friend (married to the younger son) to leave his house! My friend, her hubby & her MIL stayed separately… and the FIL stayed with his elder son & DIL! Things were so extreme back then! But with regular Pranayam, his whole personality changed, she said! The family is united once again, the business has also improved and now the FIL is after my friend… so that she also starts doing daily Pranayams! :-D
The most amazing thing in this whole incident is the fact that the FIL’s “FEAR of doctors & hospitals” was so powerful that it actually managed to cure him of his heart ailments! Some motivation!
