Scientific evidence is beginning to back up the glowing testimonies of those who use the Art of Living technique to relax and re-energise. Roberta Gray reports.
How's your day going so far? Chances are, it's already had its ups and downs - an argument with your partner, perhaps, or missing the bus or a more serious worry about a relationship, an illness, finances or work. They're all common troubles, things that will affect all of us throughout our lives: but the question is, how are you coping?
"When your energy is good, you can cope with pretty much anything that comes your way," says Sue Hindle, teacher of a relaxation technique called the Art of Living. "You simply shrug your shoulders and get on with things. The secret of coping in life is your energy: with it, you can ride the waves, but without it, you may go under."
The Art of Living is an holistic approach to life developed in India by philanthropist and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The programme focuses largely on breath because, as Ravi Shankar explains, "breath is the link between the mind and the emotions. People have not been taught how to let go of anger and frustration so they're stuck with it. It is very important to learn how to become calm and serene."
The lungs are one of the most neglected organs of the body, says Hindle, who will be teaching an Art of Living course in Dublin this month. We know that eating and sleeping properly gives us energy, but often forget about breathing well. "The largest proportion of the body's detoxification goes on in the lungs, but we tend to breathe very shallowly - most of us use scarcely 30 per cent of our lung capacity, and the rest just stagnates, so the lungs can't do their job properly."
Hindle is an English lawyer who, until she discovered the Art of Living almost 12 years ago, was finding herself "doing the whole burn-out thing - working six days a week and all that." When friends recommended Art of Living, she resisted then gave in gracefully, but says she immediately saw the benefits of the practice - a series of deep, rhythmical breathing techniques - to her physical and mental health. Not only did they relax and re-energise the body, she explains, but they also allowed her to let go of negative patterns of thought and feeling.
For fellow practitioner Martin Giannini, the potential for such techniques to heal on both a physical and an emotional level were even more dramatically illustrated. A former member of the US Peace Corps, he was put on the antimalarial drug Lariam at the age of 21 and experienced horrific side effects: he believes the drug was responsible for sending him into a cycle of severe depression alternating with manic, psychotic episodes "like a never ending acid trip that goes on for weeks without end". A year ago, he threw himself off the top of a building.
"Luckily, it was at the back of the Mater Hospital," he explains. "My housemate was trying to check me in, but I didn't want to be checked in. I broke my lumbar spine, both heels and my right wrist. But from day one in the hospital, I just asked myself what I could do to help the healing, and I started up with my meditation and breathing exercises, which I had learnt on an Art of Living course the previous year."
Six months later, Giannini was practising Aikido again and his doctors described as miraculous the rapid healing of his bones. He now practises yoga, breathing and meditation techniques for one or two hours every day and is training to become an Art of Living teacher.
Like all teachers of the technique, his work is on a voluntary basis.
More than two million people worldwide have now been taught Sudarshan Kriya, its key breathing technique, with the Art of Living foundation placing a large emphasis on outreach work. One of its successes has been the Prison Smart (stress management and rehabilitation training) programme which has been taken by over 100,000 prisoners worldwide, including the US, South Africa, Germany and Russia.
And scientific evidence is beginning to back up the glowing testimonials of Art of Living practitioners. A study carried out by the Indian National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences and presented to the UN Mental Health Committee in 2000 found that 68-73 per cent of patients suffering from depression were successfully treated using Sudarshan Kriya: after one month their depression was in remission and after three their symptoms had disappeared.
The same study found levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the blood decreased significantly with Sudarshan Kriya, while researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences noted that cancer patients who attended Art of Living workshops showed heightened levels of NK (natural killer) cells, the immune system's surveillance cells.
Sue Hindle's workshop takes place in the Cultivate Centre, 15-19 West Essex Street, Temple Bar, on October 19th-23rd (Wednesday-Friday, 7pm-9.30pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am-3pm). Tel: 01 674 5773. Cost: €250 or €175 concessions (students, unwaged). www.artofliving.org