Western vs. Holistic Medicine

Today we were lucky to experience two different health practices native to India. One was a little kooky in my opinion, but the other was actually very interesting! First we visited the Gandhiji Natural Cure Centre. The man who runs the center gave us an unnecessarily long lecture (in my tired opinion) which basically covered the daily activities of each client which include: becoming a fruitarian (eating only fruits and fruit juices, NOTHING else), taking a minimum of 2 enemas daily, drinking as much water as you can stand, taking daily sun baths followed by warm hip baths followed by cool baths, and drinking both wheat grass-type drinks and honey/lime/water concoctions. This man's motto for his treatment practice is "grow trees, eat fruit, cure ALL disease." He kept repeating these things to us over and over again then encouraged us to sit on the roof and sun bathe...in the extreme heat and humidity. Luckily he allowed us to come back down and served us dates and coconut and the honey/lime/water which was all actually very nice. We decided not to ask him about the negative electrolyte imbalance that can occur from chronic use of enemas not to mention the serious risk of skin cancer with sun bathing every day. Then we prayed very hard that the honey/lime water was filtered.

After a very skeptical first experience with India's version of holistic medicine, I think all of us entered the Thirumoolar Varmam Research Centre with equal skepticism. However, this experience was miles more interesting. The research center bases its studies around looking for hidden knowledge and validity in ancient indigenous Indian art forms. One major art form indigenous to the southern state of Tamil Nadu is called Varmam. Varmalogy is the study of vital points on the body where flows of energy meet to form a junction. According to an ancient text (Tholkappiam) dating back to 5,000 BC, there are over 8,000 varmam points on the human body. Current practitioners of this medicine can now locate about 2,000 exact energy junctions. The major path of energy starts in the legs, crosses at the pubic bone, then travels through the bladder to the navel to the liver to the stomach to the lungs to the adam's apple to the ear to the base of the skull then branches across the top of the head into 36 branches which then branch out across the body each into 16 more branches of energy.

The practice has been passed down between family members of different generations and also has been passed through a master/student relationship similar to a guru & student. The master is called the Asan and they help their students gain better clarity of the type and amount of pressure to provide and at which varmam points in order to cure specific ailments. The Asan also teaches the student to use heat therapy with herbs and even read the radial pulse. Practitioners of Varmam can tell what your ailment is just by feeling your pulse. They can even tell if a woman is pregnant or not and if she will have a boy or girl and even induce natural labor through pressure on the varmam points! Many of my fellow classmates were extremely skeptical upon hearing about the pulse reading.

They asked what research has been done to prove that Varmam alone can cure disease. But the doctors and non-doctors who practice Varmam explained that the aim of Varmam is never to prove anything, its only purpose is to serve the people and relieve their symptoms. They cannot trace the root of their knowledge back to one single person because it is a collaboration of people and much of the proof for their knowledge is described as spiritual. They never ask patients to stop all other treatments except Varmam in order to prove that it works. They are always willing to work with other therapies and medical fields including Allopathy, Siddha, Ayurveda, and Homeoplathy. All treatment is even nonprofit. All these people want is to use the ancient practices of their ancestors to help the betterment of their own people. The purpose of the research center is also to help spread awareness to more citizens of Tamil Nadu. Unfortunately while India was under British invasion there was no new research or experience in Varmam which lasted over 200 years.

After the lecture and a presentation of proven case studies including lab values and x-ray reports, we were each invited to see if the main doctor could cure our ailments! He could pinpoint exactly where Allie, Brittney, Michelle, April and Gina were having pain. When he performed the Varmam pressure on them they all admitted to feeling some immediate relief! The rest of us had told him ahead of time what our ailments were but we all also felt better after our short therapies. I asked the doctor if Varmam is in the United States and he said no, not formally or professionally. The people who practice it do not do it to earn a living, they all have separate jobs. They do it to practice this ancient art in the way their ancestors do and to help their own people. They don't want it to become popular and expensive. But at the same time their trying to eliminate a lot of the skepticism associated with it and so, they've developed this research center. It was truly a unique experience and they even made a believer out of me. I'm so grateful and feel so lucky that we get to learn about all the different health practices they have here in India. Can't wait for more! Hugs and kisses to everyone back home! The picture today is of a pot of water with flowers in it outside the kooky fruitarian center.