Yoga and Ayurveda: The Best Health Insurance Policy.

I think it’s great that there is a glimmer of health care reform in the United States, however, I’m not holding my breath.  I’m self-employed and, having a pre-existing condition, don’t have health insurance. Even if I could qualify for something affordable, I still wouldn’t go for the scam that is health care insurance in America. I’ve seen Sicko. I believe it. So I won’t buy into the scam. I have a friend who didn’t have health insurance and paid out of his pocket of $70k to have a brain tumor removed, and he still said it was cheaper than what health insurance would have cost him. SO!

Here is what I think is your best health insurance policy: Yoga and ayurveda.

While I write this, I am on a Holland America Cruise of the Panama Canal. We have been at sea a few days; our first port of call was Puerto Vallarta. Ninety-five percent of the passengers on this trip are about 65 and older, and just about all of them are overweight, hunchback and out of alignment in some way, on a scooter to get around, and just plain eat like crap. I can just see the doctor prescriptions now for the Medicaid to pay for more purple pills and scooters, while what these people really need is diet and exercise and to drastically change their poor habits and live happier, healthier lives. And since I teach children, I am even more devoted to my mission to teach children yoga AND how to eat. In my latest League of Yogic Storytellers post, I am on the bandwagon that we can fight childhood obesity simply be teaching children to have a relationship to their food and bodies, rather than be an alienated thing that consumes corporate food that comes out of a can or package.

But back to the cruise ship. The amount of fat, carbs, refined sugar, meat and alcohol these passengers mindlessly shovel into their mouths is astonishing. There is a gym here, but so few people use it.  And we wonder why health and obesity is such a problem in this country! Truly the high cost of health care could be eliminated if people just did yoga and followed an ayurvedic diet. It takes effort, tapas, but the rewards are worth it.

The biggest benefit of yoga is the muscular skeletal alignment. You see hip replacement candidates all over the place here, along with hunchbacks, externally rotated legs and more. Everybody takes the elevator rather than the stairs. Alcohol consumption is big profit on board and encouraged, however, they also offer “healthier you” classes at the gym.

If people also followed ayurveda, started really paying attention to their unique body and to food combinations and choices, cut out the meat and dairy overconsumption, as well as the refined flour, sugar and desserts everywhere, it would make a huge difference. Health is a personal responsibility.

Sadly, the cruise is a great opportunity to teach yoga to a wonderful population of seniors, yet the yoga program was downright dangerous. A young man with hips so tight they were up to his armpits wore tennis shoes during the class he taught in which he just demonstrated poses. I was horrified that he took these seniors into plow pose! Everything was grossly inappropriate for this age group, and sadly enough, some seniors tried and dropped out or probably felt bad about themselves or frustrated at the yoga. So many things could have been taught to empower them, such as breathing, gentle movement and neck stretches, even from a chair (props were non-existent and I felt sorry for these people struggling in triangle pose.) I will be writing Holland America Line a letter about the dangerous yoga practices they are teaching and the missed opportunity to serve seniors!

If you work with children, now is the time to really emphasize the importance of yoga, exercise, breathing and the food they eat. The future depends on it! One day we will have a cruise ship filled with healthy seniors!