The Hindu Business Line : Correct your posture

You aren’t overweight. So, your belly could be due to an indifferent posture. Observe yourself sideways in the mirror. If there’s a slight slouch causing your chest to cave in and your pelvic bowl to tilt forward, then your stomach wall will bulge. To correct the posture, straighten up, raise navel and chest. This levels the pelvic bowl and flattens your stomach.

To maintain this posture, do the tight-belly exercise daily. Stand straight, tighten your bottom and poke at your abdomen with your fingers to ensure it tightens.

Now, walk with stomach tight — five steps, thrice a day. Over the next three weeks, increase the number to 10, 15 and 20 steps thrice a day.

To strengthen your stomach muscles, do abdominal crunches everyday. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor, palms behind your head. Now, raise shoulders and head off the floor. Lower. Raise (exhale); lower (inhale). Repeat this 20 times. Tip: To warm up for the crunches, jog on spot for 20 minutes.

Stick to five simple diet rules:

Cut down on fats — ghee, oil and so on.

Substitute buffalo milk with skimmed cow milk; fried snacks with carrot/cucumber sticks; red meat with fish/chicken; beer with wine.

Add some fibre to your meals — raw vegetable salad, a fruit, sprouts, oatmeal — to improve elimination.

Don’t sprinkle extra salt on your food. Salt causes water retention and distends the stomach.

Drink one-and-half litres of water daily to cleanse your system.

I refer to the breathing exercise advised by you to reduce blood pressure. I feel this should help my wife, who is 50 years old and also suffers from mild blood pressure. I am 54 years old and my blood pressure is normal. Can I do the same exercise to relax and avoid hypertension?

Chandy Thomas

Absolutely! The breathing exercise will be excellent for both of you. Make it effortless. Sit comfortably on a straight-backed chair, neck supported and shut your eyes. Inhale deeply, tense the entire body until it vibrates. Then, exhale through nose and mouth and relax the body…relax it a little more.

Repeat the process three times. Continue inhaling to a count of eight, gently pushing the stomach outward; then, exhale to a count of eight, pulling the stomach gently inward. Repeat until you feel calm, and stillness steals into your head and arms.

The start helps release conscious and sub-conscious emotional tensions. And continuing the process centres, balances, stabilises mind and body. Your wife should not hold her breath during this process.

End the session by saying “I share this peace and good health with my loved ones.” Sharing gives a beautiful depth and meaning to your meditation.

I have a sinus problem. Please suggest precautions to be taken and also an Ayurvedic medicine.

Rajani

Dissolve one teaspoon salt in a glass of warm water. Tilt your head back, close one nostril with your thumb and draw the saline solution through the open nostril. Repeat with the other nostril. Do this once a week as a preventive process and everyday when you have congestion. Other steps you can take:

Add pungent spices — garlic, ginger and pepper — to your food to de-congest your sinuses.

Cover your nose by tying a handkerchief when doing anything that exposes you to dust — housework, travelling by a two-wheeler, gardening and so on.

Drink hot fluids through the day — coffee, tea, soup, water and ginger water.

Rub around your eyes gently with your thumb five times thrice a day to improve blood circulation to the sinus area.

Exercise briskly. Walk, run and then walk again. Moderately vigorous exercise releases adrenaline, which reduces swelling in the sinus by constricting blood vessels.

At bedtime, do this healing visualisation meditation. Imagine you are lying on warm sand on a beach, your feet towards the horizon.

The sun is shining at you. The sea water flows in, laps at your feet and spirals into your body — up your legs, torso, chest, neck to your sinuses.

It cleanses all blockages, obstructions and rushes down and out of the body carrying with it the toxins and leaving your sinuses clean and healthy.

Visualise three times.

Final tip: Check with your doctor whether sensitivity to birth control pills, aspirin or any medication that could be aggravating your sinus.

My tongue and lips are turning black. I am worried. How serious is this? I am 37 and healthy otherwise. Please advise.

Lakshmi

Bob Marley sang: Don’t worry, be happy! I rephrase it to: don’t worry, be active!

A dark tongue signifies sluggish blood circulation and wastes build-up due to sluggish digestion. The remedy lies in your determination. Walk everyday to boost both sluggards.

Eat easy-to-digest food to lighten the load on your liver — carrots, french beans, onions, bananas, melons, rice and sprouts.

Decrease intake of yeast, sugar and any food with fat content. Drink 10-12 glasses of water. Be patient. It may take six months for the tongue to regain its healthy pink colour.

Tip: In case you are on any form of nicotine — the terrible tongue-blackener — cigarettes, supari or in any other form, please give it up pronto!

The writer is co-author of the book ‘Fitness for Life’

Queries may be sent to life@thehindu.co.in