SLAP AND STRETCH FOR GOOD HEALTH!

Did you ever think that slapping yourself could actually keep you healthy? Well, some say that it works! Read on to find out!

CHENNAI, March 26: The five-day workshop on a Chinese self-healing technique called Paida Lajin,held at the TAG VHS Diabetes Research Centre, has shown positive results in the participants, according to doctors, staff nurses and participants.

Derived from classical Chinese medicine, Paida Lajin is a self-healing method promoted by E-Tao founder Hongchi Xiao.  Referring to it as an effective, simple, safe and universally applicable method in his book, Paida and Lajin Self-Healing, Xiao describes the technique as, “(…) the “simplest healing method”- Paida (patting and slapping the skin to draw out toxic waste in the body) and Lajin (stretching to make the body flexible, to cure diseases and to enhance overall health.)”. Lajin is practiced on a wooden bench called the Lajin bench.

In the abridged workshop conducted from March 9 to March 13, there were 25 participants who were primarily in-patients and out-patients receiving treatment at TAG VHS. Of these, five of them dropped out in between. Some of the participants were selected as they had either Type-I or Type-II diabetes, hypertension, Parkinson’s disease or juvenile diabetes, to specifically monitor the impact of the programme on them. Participants were advised not to take medication before coming for the sessions.

The staff nurses involved said that they were trained by Hongchi Xiao himself and the workshop was conducted under the constant supervision of him and his team.

The pamphlet explains various applications of the technique to tackle all kinds of illnesses. These include day-to-day illnesses like cold, fever and headache to serious ailments like acute heart problems, diabetes and heat strokes. For example, it says that if a person has a nose bleed, they must slap the inner elbows and back of the hands.

To see the effectiveness of Paida Lajin, doctors and staff nurses monitored the medical readings of the remaining participants on each day of the workshop and claimed that there were positive changes in the readings for almost all the patients.

“We have seen that the technique was mostly effective. We deal with research concerning diabetes, juvenile diabetes, paralysis, Parkinson’s disease and so on. One of the men suffering from Parkinson’s disease was able to walk on his own in less than five days, something that medication could not achieve over so many years,” says Dr. C. V. Krishnaswami, Chairman, TAG VHS.

Adding to this, Staff Nurse Sasikala.K says that the same patient has halved his dosage after the sessions.

Other instances include low blood sugar levels in diabetics. Suba.P., Staff Nurse, TAG VHS, says, “When I took the readings in the morning, before the session began, the CBG [blood sugar] levels would be 400[mg/dL].In the evening, after the session was over, the sugar levels would be normal, around 100[mg/dL].”She claims that some participants lost nearly 3kgs at the end of the session.

Giving her own example, Sasikala says that she had severe constipation and gastrointestinal problems which have completely disappeared after she employed Paida Lajin to heal herself. She explains that the wrinkles on her face have also gone.

The session also required the patients to follow a particular diet. This included fasting on certain days. Dr. Krishnaswami says, “The technique needs to be practiced along with meditation and the prescribed diet. Participants must continue to practice Paida Lajin to see consistent, positive results.”

He also says that Paida Lajin can make the skin look younger, hair grow faster, double a person’s energy and increase stamina. Participants say that they do not feel lethargic anymore and are much more energetic after the session.

Calling the workshop enjoyable, Anantharam (name changed), one of the participants, says, “It was a wonderful experience. I have been a diabetic for nearly eight years and my high sugar levels almost pushed me into taking insulin. But after this workshop, I have completely gone off medication. My reports show that my sugar levels are lower than what they used to be with medication. It has come down from above 200[mg/dL] to about 120[mg/dL]. I feel great.”

He says that he has tried to maintain the regime and follow an ayurvedic diet even after the sessions apart from walking for about 10 kilometres every day.

Xiao says that pain, numbing, swelling, bruises, red and purple patches, itching and other sensations can be felt during and after the person slaps the targeted region. These are considered to be good reactions to the healing process and will disappear quickly, he says.

Dr. Krishnaswami says that there are only a small percentage of people who cannot bear the pain. He adds that with practice, the pain reduces.

Suba says that there were a few diabetics who had high sugar levels after the sessions and this would mainly be because of fasting for long durations for the first time. In such cases, insulin was given.

The workshop was free for all participants. It was hosted with the support of the DEAN Foundation, an organisation that provides hospice and palliative care.

Weekly workshops are conducted on Saturday at TAG VHS as more patients have shown interest in the concept. Suba and Sasikala feel that the sessions will be more effective when newcomers see the change after Paida Lajin is carried out on people with ailments.

Paida Lajin is not new to India. It has been practiced in places like Mumbai, Puducherry and Mysore. The technique is being promoted across the world in countries like Hong Kong, Australia, Africa, etc. through similar workshops by Xiao and his team.

Xiao writes that Paida Lajin, which is one of the E-Tao self-healing methods, will solve the problems of expensive treatment and inaccessibility to health care services. He also says that all blocked meridians, i.e., channels through which vital life energy runs and drives blood flow, must be cleansed using Paida and Lajin to cure all diseases in the body as diseases occur due to blocked meridians. He states that it is not a substitute to medical treatment but advises using medication as a last resort.

Despite this, Dr. Krishnaswami says, “We need to do more research in the field to see if the technique can solve other mental and physical illnesses that it claims to.”

Doctors and researchers contacted say that it is too early to comment since they are still getting acquainted with this new method and research in the field is in its early stages.

While this self-healing technique may have shown positive results, no randomised, double blind, controlled trials – wherein homogenous groups of larger numbers are compared to see whether Paida Lajin is the sole reason for the positive changes in a person’s health conditions – have been conducted yet. Health experts say that such trials are essential to justify the effectiveness of a method.