Indian Journal of Ancient Medicine and Yoga

Background: Quality of Life of a person is a concept indicating to what extent he/she encircles “the goodness” of multiple aspects in his/her life. This includes psychological and physical wellness, life fulfilment, work satisfaction, and satisfaction in personal relationships. Yoga is a practice contributing to both physical and psychological health benefits. Objective: The study has attempted to analyze quality of life of people before and after the practice of yoga and understand the influence of the characteristics of the respondents on quality of life achieved after starting yoga practice. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out using a questionnaire among a sample of 100 yoga practitioners, which contained the items of the WHOQOL User Manual, sex, marital status, period of yoga practice of the respondents, and whether they had any psychological problem/s during the past six months of this study. The data was analyzed as proportion and through statistical test. Results: The study has shown the influence of yoga practice in improving Quality of Life (QOL) of the respondents, with statistically significant difference in the QOL scores before and after the practice of yoga. The positive QOL parameters have improved after the practice of yoga, while the negative parameters have reduced after its practice. Statistically significant difference was observed between the mean score of many of the QOL parameters before and after the practice of yoga. Unmarried yoga practitioners got a higher score than married respondents, higher period of yoga practice resulted in a comparatively higher QOL score than lesser period of practice, and those who did not report psychological problem/s during the past six months got a higher QOL score than those who had such problem. Conclusions: The study has clearly shown the influence of yoga practice in improving the Quality of Life of the respondents, as compared to before its practice. Conducting such studies by yoga training centres and disseminating the findings to more people through seminars and other awareness programmes would probably help in improving the number of people practicing measures such as yoga.

Kapalabhati pranayama is one of the most famous, frequently practiced and researched pranayama in yoga. Several studies have been conducted to determine whether kapalabhati pranayama has any potential health benefits. There were no reviews available that collected and summarized those experimental studies on potential health benefits. This PubMed based review was designed to examine all currently available experimental research on kapalabhati pranayama and psychophysiological variables. In the final review for qualitative synthesis, 22 experimental research – including one single arm clinical trial, twenty clinical controlled trials and one randomized control trial between 1991 and 2023 were included based on PubMed search conducted in February 2024. The findings showed that kapalabhati pranayama was found to be altered in cerebral activity, heart rate variability, attention, and anxiety. This pranayama has the beneficial effects of improving attention and reducing anxiety. This review of the literature looked at every experimental investigation on psychophysiological variables conducted on kapalabhati pranayama. To conduct more in-depth experiments on kapalabhati pranayama in the future, researchers can use the information found to identify gaps in the current literature.

In Ayurveda, all para-surgical procedures are famed due to their clinical evident approaches. The para surgical procedures mainly described are Ksharakarma, Agnikarma and different kinds of Raktamokshana. Among them, Kshara is claimed to be very superior by Acharya Sushruta due to its indigenous properties. It is also being used since era in various kind of surgical and non-surgical disease conditions in general and perianal diseases in particulars. Local application of Kshara (alkali) mentioned as Pratisaraniya Kshara by Acharya with its usage as local application is to be in defined time limit. This exact time is Vakashatmatra as mentioned in classics. But it is not confirmed what exact time in the seconds or minute as per present era. Now a day, most of surgeons make interpretation as a one second as a one vaka-matra. But definitive references for this interpretation is not available till date. So, this short communication will be helpful for analysis of time given for Kshara-Pratisaran and will define “Vakshatmatra” as per recent time unit i.e. in seconds or in minutes.

Jeevaka identified as Crepidium acuminatum (D. Don) Szlach. is a very important Ayurvedic drug originating in Himalayan region. Its pseudobulb is usedethno medicinally as tonic and aphrodisiac in Indian, Chinese etc. traditional medicine. In Ayurveda, it is used as a rejuvenative, spermatogenic and strength promoting drug and used in various important formulation. Due to its high demand it has become rare drug now a day; hence substituted and adulterated with various other drugs. Tissue culture studies using leaf, pseudo bulb and seeds are successful in this plant. Various studies like physico-chemical, phytochemical, have been conducted regarding the wild, cultivated and marketed samples. These results have shownsignificant differences in them. The major component found was 3'-O-Methylbatatasin III. It has been shown a good antioxidant and anti-microbial, analgesic and inflammatory activity. Also the drug was found non-toxic in animal studies.

Marma is a vital point where prana is situated. It is an anatomical area where the five anatomical structures are collectively present. Maharshi Sushruta has explained 107 marma. These are the places where the prana (Life Force) is said to be situated. Any injury to the Marma points that leads to deformity of the structures, produces the severe pain, loss of movements and even some times there may be a death. Acharya Sushruta described the number of marma in different anatomical parts of the body and also classified individual marma according to the distribution for better knowledge of their sites as - Sakthi, Vaksha, Udaragata, Pristha and Urdhava jatru gata. Pristha gata marma are located in the back of the body. These marmas are Located along the length of the spine and on either side of it. It is said that injury to spinal cord or its supporting structure can cause permanent change in strength, sensation and other body function. Amsa marma is a type of pristhagata marma and its marmaghata can produce Stabdhabahuta (Stiffness of the Shoulder). Amsa Marmabhighata is a vata vyadhi characterised by shoola and bahupraspandahara. It is paralleled with Supraspinatus tendinitis in modern medicine. Though not a life-threatening condition, it hampers the day-to-day activity of the individual, reducing the quality of life. Here is a case report of, 48yrs female who presented with pain and stiffness in the right shoulder since 3 months which was managed effectively with Marma Chikitsa.

Premature achromotrichia (Premature graying of hair) is one of the common cosmetic problems seen in general practice as well as in Shalakyatantra OPD, in which onset of graying of hair is seen before natural process. i.e. in young age or before the age of 30-35 years. In Ayurveda it is considered as Palityaone of the kshudraroga and shiro-kapalagataroga. And many kesharanjakayogasare explained for this condition in the form of shirolepaalong with other therapies like shiroabhyanga, nasya and internal keshyarasayana. Lohamaladilepa is one of such kesharanjaka yoga explained in Bhaishajya Ratnavali. This paper highlights about the action of Lohamaladilepa in akalapalita w r to pre mature graying of hair.