The Hindu Business Line : Marrying the east... and the east

More women than men come to his classes to learn qigong (pronounced chee-goong), "and that's because women are more sensitive and sensible and care more for their well being. That's why men die younger. Because they think qigong, yoga, meditation is sissy and that exercise is not macho enough. But only if they knew the benefits, they will start flocking to the classes."

If you see his muscles, his lean frame, the flexibility, the agility with which he moves, whether it is to perform the `dancing dragon' moves or to take on the pose of a `tiger', body taut, eyes fierce, palms thrust out as claws and breathing like the jungle cat, you'd take his words very seriously. Alex Lim, a Chinese who was born in Indonesia and who learnt Kung fu there as an 11-year-old boy, is an expert at marrying the east... and the east!

Apart from Kung fu and Tai chi (which he describes as a branch or flower of the qigong tree) he has also learnt yoga and meditation and has come from Perth, where he teaches these practices, to Chennai on an invitation from Swami Suddhananda, founder of the Suddhananda Self Knowledge Trust. A great admirer of his treatise on "self-knowledge", Lim sums up the concept neatly when he says: "To me practice of yoga, pranayama, qigong, different type of meditation is like a full cake; the topping is self-knowledge. It's like the cherry on top of the cake. I don't want to say cream because cream has unhealthy connotations! When it comes to emotions, which we believe are also linked to diseases, you need self-knowledge."

Explaining the benefits of qigong, as also yoga, Lim says that if the nadis are all open, "your prana flows unobstructed as also your blood and you get a lot of oxygen. And the nadis open because of these exercises; they do not only contract but also relax the muscles. So you have the combination of flexibility and strength. If you have only flexibility you can still get problems because you can do all kinds of contortions but that doesn't mean that you are strong. Like many yoga teachers I know in the West. But you need strength along with flexibility, and have to strengthen the organs internally."

In Indonesia while learning Kung fu, he had to also learn qigong (the word qi means energy, life force, breath, prana; gong means the right effort to produce life force or prana), "to be able to withstand any accidental blows without any internal injuries."

On the similarities between qigong and yoga he says, "Qigong is like a forgotten cousin of yoga and pranayama. They belong to the same family." The similarities pertain to breathing exercises and there are some asanas too "but not too much. For qigong you don't require reasonably strong joints as you do for yoga asanas, which are a lot harder. Qigong can be done even from a hospital bed while undergoing treatment or recovering from a problem. What it requires is mind focus; mindfulness is important in qigong. But I find these are not being practised in yoga any more. Yoga and pranayama are getting separated; when people say yoga they mean asanas, but actually both together make yoga."

He says these days people are more interested in the actual asanas, "which to me is only a little part of the whole yoga. But for qigong mind focus is still important as it is this that increases joint mobility... but the important similarity is opening the nadis and making the prana flow to every single cell in the body."

Yoga better known

Qigong benefits: It is a combination of flexibility and strength that toughens internal organs.

Lim says that in the western world qigong is not as well known as yoga "which was popularised from the 1960s by the Beatles, and other famous people still promote yoga. But when they realise how easily this can be done, they come for it."

Qigong works very well in getting rid of joint pains — knee, ankle, as also backache — and hence more middle-aged or older people opt for it. "Unfortunately because the exercises are not spectacular to look at, qigong appeals more to older people. The younger people feel very excited when they feel the prana moving in the beginning but after that they want more action; spectacular stuff, that yoga has," he says.

Lim lives in Perth at the Sivananda Ashram and has about 60 students learning qigong from him; his monthly fee is A$50 for four sessions of two hours each. "I teach them several simple exercises to get rid of pain for good, but this can happen only with the cooperation of patients; if they give up before getting the benefits, I can't do anything." He also treats patients with diseases from cancer to Parkinson's, using also acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

He gives the example of an Australian dentist (59) with Parkinson's; he knew every specialist and tried everything; the last thing he tried was Tai chi and it didn't work. His Tai chi teacher referred him to Lim, who says against Tai chi being only 200 years old qigong is over 5,000 years old. "And it's so much simpler; so he practised qigong for nearly six months and one day came smiling to me; his specialist had just told him he had no more signs of Parkinson's."

Obviously modern medicine doesn't have answers to every ailment, so are more people returning to traditional practices to remain healthy or treat diseases?

Lim thinks allopathy doesn't go to the root of diseases and hence is `more like a bandaid. I think 95 per cent of diseases and health problems can be cured right to the root by the so-called alternative medicine; I say "so-called" because these are not alternative systems, 1,000-2,000 years ago they were the mainstream. So why now something that is only 150-200 years old is calling others alternative?"

Brainwashing

He adds that people have moved away to allopathy in millions "not so much due to promotion as brainwashing, calling it the most modern or latest technology. Just like saying: Do you want the latest computer or mobile handset; it's the same thing. It's human tendency to think that something new is always better than old, but people don't realise this is old knowledge and hence precious."

In China too, people have moved away to modern medicine, "but the difference there is that in Chinese hospitals both are practised side by side. In India ayurveda is gaining popularity and so is yoga and pranayama. But ultimately it's all about self-knowledge that Swami Suddhananda is teaching. Something so good, so profound, so ancient... people must be stupid to leave it and go for something new which is superficial. Just because something is new, it is not necessarily the best," says the passionate proponent of ancient practices.

He himself practises qigong for 2-5 hours depending on the time. "But all this, without self-knowledge, is useless, because if you still cannot control your emotions, manage your thoughts or lose your cool easily, it can affect your liver, stagnate your prana in the liver. Anger and irritation... all these turn into disease eventually and can cause a stroke. People with strokes usually have a history of quickly losing their temper."

Self-knowledge

"It is mastery of the self. The best thing about Swamiji to me is that he is a friend, a true, real human being; with all that knowledge he doesn't put himself on a pedestal. What he teaches is so simple, profound and so direct, and it helps me so much with all my skills on the physical side.

"As Swamiji says, to meditate you do not have to become a zombie; some people say when you mediate empty your mind of thoughts. No such thing is required. You focus on one particular thought or something you want to contemplate about... but it's not possible to empty your mind, or else you'll be run over by a car! When you meditate you are very conscious of what you do, and that is very useful in martial arts," he says.

Coming to the benefits, Lim says people want instant solutions, and many a time before reaching actual benefits, give up "and then when they become older and get all kinds of joint problems, they think: `I should have done it.' But anyway it's never too late."

He also cautions people to be sensible about their diet and refrain from smoking and drinking; "if one does all this and if he smokes and drinks at the same time, he can't get these benefits. If you are also prone to anger all the time, it's no use. You have to manage your anger." As for diet, he says one doesn't necessarily have to be vegetarian, "but eat sensibly. Treat food like medicine so you'll never overeat otherwise you'll get an overdose."

Lim is vegetarian, except for fish "which I take for the Omega3 for the joints." At the Sivananda Ashram in Perth, as a committee member he is in charge of food "so I ensure that people eat sensibly". His breakfast comprises cereals, seeds and nuts. "I look at migratory birds, what do they eat... they can fly for long miles flapping their wings, and when they are tired, dive down and eat fish or seeds, so I thought if we eat like they do we can also be strong like them."

He avoids ghee that the ashram uses and takes extra virgin olive oil and sunflower oil. He doesn't take milk, "except in sweets like rasagullas! Sweet is different, it is a luxury but you don't take it every day. After the age of 28 or 29 you should stop milk which is too rich."

Milk and milk products are responsible for more and more people with clogged arteries, as also bone spurs, he says. "But what about osteoporosis, people ask. Well if you want bone density do exercise — yoga, qigong, etc, but no weightlifting if you haven't done it before because you'll have problems with joints."

When you joke about the 52-year-old Lim having grey hair, he says, "They are due to the stresses of life (he has been married and divorced twice) and genetic factors... but what lies underneath is more important!" It's "no more marriage" for him, because "it only gave me headaches; now I'm leading a peaceful life. The biggest trauma in life is relationship."

He enjoys music, but only instrumental, "no words because words can influence the mind and you start to ponder on the words." He likes to watch movies with a message, but sometimes for entertainment. "Like Monsoon Wedding; I also know film stars like Aishwarya Rai; just because you practise all this doesn't make you a freak. You are a normal, ordinary human being. But you don't go into excesses; you are the master of yourself. It's not about conquering other people and beating them into pulp. You can do that with just a few words... destroy people like that (snaps his fingers). But mastering yourself is the challenge."

Lim recommends

Keep your breathing simple and just like a baby's. When we are born we have the correct breathing. But because of lifestyle we become lazier and lazier and become shallow breathers and have chronic fatigue, says Alex Lim, qigong teacher.

A simple exercise he recommends can be done anywhere, at home or office, standing or seated on a chair. Keep your feet on the floor, your back 90 degrees to the floor, "otherwise the `chakras' are closed"), the tongue on the roof of your mouth... "that connects two major `nadis', what we call the conception `nadi' or channel and the governing channel that goes up the spinal chord to the brain and stops on the roof of the mouth. The tongue going on top of the roof (of the mouth) is like connecting two electric wires, and you have the full circuit. We call it the microcosmic circulation of energy."

And then breathe "like a baby. As you breathe in sink the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, not so much the chest. We are created not to have a stomach like Ganesh. Breathe in and out; it's really simple, so simple that many people don't like to do it because of that!"

For those who use the keyboard or mouse constantly, he recommends wrist exercises — rotating both wrists clockwise and anti-clockwise and wringing the palms "just like you do to shake away the water after you wash your hands."

And then there are many more complicated exercises to speed up the metabolism... to watch Lim do the `swimming dragon' movement is mesmerising. As he lies down to turn his body into the shape of a boat or lifts his entire body above the floor in one horizontal line, balanced on his two wrists, one protests that all that is too difficult.

"Well, I started young and was stilly and stupid, but learnt through trial and error, but what I teach you now is already refined from all my mistakes, so you should get results faster. It took me 30 years, it should take you only one year," he says optimistically adding, "Age has nothing to do with what I teach. So what if one is growing old? That doesn't mean you have to put up with aches and pains and disease. So many people die in their sleep. Isn't that beautiful. No disease nothing, just the end; don't you want to be one of them?"

Response can be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in