You can become your own doctor. In Yoga you can bring health to yourself by eating the proper food, taking enough rest, fasting to eliminate all the toxins, and doing Yoga postures, while avoiding any which may aggravate pains you have. The breathing practices are also very important. You can heal yourself with fasting and by deep breathing and by directing prana to the affected areas. Visualize the part where you have the ache or pain. When you breathe in, direct your attention to the area. Feel that you are taking prana from the outside; you are taking in beautiful vitality which is given by God through nature. Breathe in as if you are swallowing gallons and gallons of vitality. Feel that it is going directly to the place that aches. Hold your breath for a few seconds while thinking that it is there and building up that area by removing the dead or diseased cells and tension. Then, when you breathe out, feel that you are throwing out all of the illness. It’s a beautiful practice. By doing this you can cure many of the aches and pains of the body. Prana has that power. It can penetrate everywhere — just through your thinking. That is the secret of Yoga practice.
Even if you miss doing the Yoga postures occasionally, don’t miss the breathing practices, which alone will tone up all the glands. Prana is the best tonic. Simple breathing can heal. Just divert that work energy to wherever you have a problem. Even if it’s a longstanding illness, do a lot of pranayama and, when you are practicing deep breathing, just feel that you are directing the prana to the affected part. But never strain when you do the deep breathing. You’re already breathing. Just do it a little deeper that’s all.
You don’t always need a lot of doctors in your life. There’s an old saying, “One doctor, consultation, two doctors, prescription; three doctors, cremation.” Let us each take care of ourselves, Medical knowledge is improving all the time, and it will continue to improve, but today’s medicine is no good for tomorrow. Without sacrificing any life we can still find ways to keep ourselves healthy. We don’t have to torture animals to discover cures. If people just ate the right kind of foods and led the right kind of life, there would certainly be no need for so many hospitals. Go back to nature and lead a natural life. Surely prevention is better than the cure.
I suggest natural remedies for many ills. The elements themselves can cure the body. For example, if you have a pain, you can use bud packs. Hot poultices or clay packs laid against the affected area will be helpful. The earth itself has a beautiful feeling and a healing quality. Mud is nothing else but Mother Earth. When you put it on the body you are embracing Mother Earth. Have you ever tried an oil bath? It’s a complete lubrication and will remove very many ailments. Profusely apply the oil all over the body, massage yourself well, let the body soak in the oil for an half an hour or so, then wash it off under a shower. Don’t apply soap. Wipe away what’s left with a towel. If you use sesame oil, it will take away the toxins and be very helpful for arthritis and rheumatic troubles. The fat in the sesame seed is totally different from animal fat. People who have cholesterol troubles should use sesame oil in cooking and take sesame baths. They can even eat sesame candy if they want. The sesame seed is miraculous. If you still have oil on your skin after the bath, mix some chickpea powder with a little water until it makes a paste and apply it. You can also use the same powders to clean the hair. The best agent of cleaning is clay. Soft clay smeared all over the body leaves the skin with a fine texture. Make a thin paste of soft clays, and rub it all over the body. Allow it to dry for a couple of hours, then just wash it off. See how beautiful your skin is. All the poisons are squeezed out. Earth has a maximum capacity to draw out all the toxins. If you have a fever, put a little soft clay soaked with water on some linen, fold the cloth, and tie it to the forehead. It reduces the temperature. If you have any inflammation, apply the mud pack the same way.
You can also heal your body just through your thinking. Every one of your thoughts has a certain power over your body. The actions of the mind are clearly visible in certain areas. Your glands change first. Isn’t it true that the moment you think of delicious candy your salivary glands act? That is how your thoughts affect your body. If you think that you are sick, you are surely going to be sick. Think that you are healthy. Remember, you become what you think. It’s simple: Think well, you become well.Think very well, and others also become well. Yes, you can send prana to others. You can send a spiritual charge by your touch. If you are really charged with that prana you can send it long distances by thought alone. You can even charge a mental object with spiritual vibrations through a meaningful offering to God in the form of food, objects, or talismans. You may even give or send this object to others or use it yourself. Good electricity conductors, such as gold, silver, and cooper are also good for charging with spiritual vibrations, or prana.
Healing is a divine thing. I’m not quoting anything nor must you accept what I say. There was a time at the beginning of my spiritual life when I did a lot of healing sometimes without even seeing my patient. But at a certain point something dawned in me and said, “You shouldn’t be doing any healing through your own projection. You should not think that you are doing anything. Certainly we feel sympathetic toward people who are suffering, and we must be able to help them. But when we are helping somebody, we should at least know the reason they are suffering. Suffering is a means of purgation. This doesn’t mean we should ignore someone’s suffering, saying simply, “Oh that’s his karma, which he’s purging. Why should I do anything?” No. You must, still have a sympathetic heart. If we want top remove suffering, we should do so indirectly, and know that this capacity comes from God. Don’t even let the person know that you are doing anything to heal them. Instead, ask him to do something to heal himself. Why should we waste our energy on him if he is not ready to undergo a little discipline? If we heal him, tomorrow he will get into the same problems that caused the suffering in the first place. He must learn what has brought the suffering. He must recognize his mistakes so he won’t repeat them. If somebody comes for help from cancer, which is caused by smoking but won’t quit smoking, why should we treat him? The cancer will just come back. People should face their own karma. It’s the best education. If we heal someone who has not learned his lesson, it’s like a professor writing an exam for a student who hasn’t studied or learned anything. There can be no real promotion. So when someone comes for help, just advise him to undergo some healthy disciplines, like asanas and pranayama, and without his knowledge send the prayers. Then he will say, “I was advised to do certain things, which I did, and I was healed.” You are safe from your own ego, and his discipline has purged his own karma, so he won’t have to repeat the suffering.