Scottish children feel benefits of yoga

By Catrin Nye, BBC Asian Network

I used to have a quick temper and yoga has calmed that.
Quarry Brae Primary school child Brandon

"Maybe out in the playground someone annoyed you or made you feel cross. You felt that angry feeling inside; I want you to let all of that go."

Those are the calming whispers of Miss Carr, teacher at Quarry Brae Primary and newly trained yoga instructor, who has a class of 10 and 11-year-olds huddled in front of her with their legs crossed, eyes closed and thumbs and index fingers forming the yoga Mudra.

The lights are dimmed, a lavender candle is burning nearby and, with a Glaswegian twang, the children chant "Ommmm".

It is not what you might expect from a classroom in Glasgow's east end.

Quarry Brae is in Parkhead, a stone's throw from Celtic football ground, and by the head teacher Sara Adam's own admission is a deprived area that is finally getting much-needed investment.

In October 2009 the area of Parkhead West and Barrowfield was identified by the Scottish government as the most deprived in Scotland.

Things are on the up though, and rusty swings and litter-strewn parks sit next to new housing developments.

For Quarry Brae Primary teacher Ms Carr and head teacher Mrs Adam, yoga is bringing a calming influence to the children and helping to get them in a mood to learn.

"Perhaps they haven't got that support for education at home," explained Mrs Adam.

"They may not be coming out to school ready and settled, which contributes to children learning.

"Yoga combats those issues because lots of children need movement and breaks in the day when they can get their self-discipline back."

Peace island

Yoga being incorporated into the classroom, with breathing exercises sitting between math and English lessons, is the dream of Scottish Indian couple Sam and Sunita Poddar.

They moved to Glasgow in the 1970s and, after making their fortune in care homes, last year bought an island in Ayrshire called Wee Cumbrae (now Peace Island), which they are busy turning into a yoga retreat.

The project to bring yoga to schools is a collaboration between the Poddars' charity - Patanjali Yog Peeth UK Trust - and Glasgow City Council, with 15 schools in the city involved so far.

The scheme involves Mr Poddar giving a taster lesson to pupils and then inviting teachers to free training so they can deliver the yoga classes without him.

Ms Carr is one of the first to complete her training and says it is helping both her and her pupils.

"We have a laugh and we have good fun with it," she explained. "It's really improved my relationship with the children, their concentration levels and their attitude to one another.

"Teaching can be quite stressful and the yoga class is a nice time for me and the children to connect."

Brandon, 11, is quick to back her up and just as quick to try and give yoga tips.

"I got hit in the face with a ball," he explained. "Usually, I'd go up and start a fight with whoever did it but I don't any more. I used to have a quick temper and yoga has calmed that down."

Pay back

Mr and Mrs Poddar are dedicated to yoga and, specifically, their type, which is called Pranayama.

It puts emphasis on breathing techniques with Mr Poddar's classes involving plenty of inhaling and exhaling as well as more recognisable stretches.

Sam and Sunita Poddar say yoga can build bridges

There is no charge for the classes and the couple say they do it for free to help spread the benefits of yoga and repay the benefits being in Scotland has provided them.

"We really want to reach every child in Scotland and this is the start," said Mrs Poddar.

"I've been in Scotland for 33 years and wherever we are, in terms of success, has been given to us by this country. It's time to pay back some of that and this is why I'm out there to help."

Mr Poddar added: "Children are our future and health is everyone's business.

"Yoga can also build bridges between generations and communities. Often, in my classes you see a daughter, mother and grandmother sitting together. It's all about good health, body and mind."

In times of economic crisis, people turn to yoga

By Dorene Internicola, Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:34am EST 

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - As layoffs loom and pensions plummet, more people are unrolling their yoga mats and polishing their poses to find flexibility and sanity amid the financial chaos.

 

Fitness experts say gym memberships are holding steady, or rising, and yoga classes are thriving.

 

"The economy may have taken a downturn, but attendance in our yoga classes has grown," said Jess Gronholm, National Yoga Coordinator for the Crunch health club chain.

 

"A yoga practice becomes a refuge from the negativity of an economic recession, and the studio becomes the sanctuary," said Gronholm, whose employer has over 100,000 gym members in five U.S. states.

 

Yoga, which originated in India, uses movement and postures to strengthen the body and breathing techniques and meditation to quiet the mind.

 

Gronholm believes the 5,000-year-old practice is just the ticket in these belt-tightening, nail-biting times, when banks aren't lending, consumers aren't buying, and experts are calling the latest economic numbers terrifying.

 

"At the very least members can come in and 'take a break' from whatever else may be going on in their lives. And at the very most, a practice can become a transformational experience that reenergizes and rejuvenates you," Gronholm said.

 

A recent Roper poll, commissioned by Yoga Journal, found that 11 million Americans do yoga occasionally and 6 million perform it regularly.

 

RELAXATION AND MEDITATION

 

These days, when an estimated 10.3 million Americans are jobless and countless more worry they will be, devotees are eager to cite the tranquility they have found by twisting their bodies into pretzel-like contortions.

 

"People want to do something relaxing and physically active," Yoga instructor Adam David said after leading his class through a vigorous ashtanga-style session at a New York City studio.

 

"My experience is that attendance in classes has gone significantly up in the past few months," said David, who turned to teaching yoga when his advertising jobs dried up in the recession of 2001.

 

He conceded his private clientele have fallen off a bit, but "generally, my long-term private clients are financially well-off and eager to recommend me to their friends."

 

At Equinox Fitness, which operates a chain from coast to coast, the yoga business is also booming.

 

"We've added yoga classes" said Nicole Moke, spokeswoman for the luxury fitness centers. "We add classes every January."

 

And if the brunt of hard times should fall upon their well-heeled membership? "We've added a lot of meditation classes. Our members seem to be very excited about that," she added.

 

California-based YogaWorks, which operates yoga studios on the East and West coasts, agrees that business is thriving. "In our experience attendance is up year over year," Marketing Director Terri Seiden said.

 

"We expect to see this trend continue. In difficult times practicing yogis are more reluctant than ever to give-up their practice," she said from her office in Santa Monica, California.

 

Seiden said YogaWorks opened a new studio in January and has plans for more. "To that end we are hiring more teachers and studio staff," she said.

 

So is yoga a recession-proof shelter from the storms of economic turmoil?

 

"We don't say yoga is recession-proof but rather recession-resilient," Seiden said. "Yoga is one way that people can take care of multiple needs - it is a complete workout for your mind and body, a form of stress relief, entertainment and there is a sense of community as well."

 

Om, Anyone?

Sexual morals of Dutch youth "gone astray," says government minister

Amsterdam (ANTARA News/dpa) - The sexual morals of Dutch youth has gone astray, the country's youth and family affairs minister was on Monday quoted as saying in a report by the daily Algemeen Dagblad.

 

"A girl is seen as an object and sex as a currency. The meaning of love does not play any role anymore in the lives of youngsters," Minister Andre Rouvoet said.

 

Rouvoet said he wants to raise debate about the subject and emphasized he was not proposing specific legal measures.

 

The minister was responding to a television documentary Sex Sells, aired on Dutch television last week.

 

The film showed 12- to 16-year-old boys and girls speaking candidly about sex. They told of their first sexual experience, which for some had occurred at the age of nine years old. The average age they lost their virginity was 13.

 

The teenagers said they often use sex as a currency, with girls providing sex services to boys in exchange for chocolate, cigarettes, cloths, and free nights out.

 

The interviewees came from an ethnically diverse Amsterdam neighbourhood and a small town with a predominantly Dutch population.

 

"If the mentality among Dutch youths is to enter a garage to get a girl the very moment you want sex, then we have lost the principle of a normal relationship," Rouvoet said.

 

"Many children have distorted ideas about sex, friendships and relationships. This cannot have a healthy influence on society," he added.

No Matter the Approach, Sex Ed Works

Report Shows Any Sex Education Works in Delaying Sexual Behavior Among Teens

By DEBORAH PAN, ABC News Medical Unit, Dec. 19, 2007

Teenagers who receive any kind of sex education -- whether it's comprehensive or abstinence-only -- are more likely to delay sexual intercourse until after they turn 15, according to a new report.

But some sexual health experts worry that the study's failure to distinguish between comprehensive and abstinence-only approaches could give the public the wrong idea about the efficacy of simply telling kids not to have sex.

In the study, released Wednesday in the Journal of Adolescent Health, researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed responses from more than 2,000 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 to the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth.

They found that boys in this age bracket who received formal sex education -- either in schools, churches or community organizations -- were 71 percent less likely to have sex before age 15. Girls aged 15 to 19 who received formal sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before age 15.

Formal sex education also seems to lead to safer sex, the study found. Males attending school who had received sex education were almost three times more likely to use birth control the first time they had sex -- though no such associations were found among females.

"Formal sex education was particularly beneficial for youth who are traditionally considered to be at high risk for adverse sexual health outcomes, such as sexually transmitted diseases or unplanned pregnancies," says lead study author Trisha Mueller, an epidemiologist at the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health.

"Sex education should be continued to be supported in formal settings, such as schools, and to be the most effective, should occur before youth engage in sexual intercourse for the first time."

Sexual health experts not affiliated with the study say it is an important addition to continuing evidence that sex education works to promote healthier behaviors.

"This study expands on studies that have shown that sexuality education can delay the onset of sexual intercourse -- once again dispelling the myth that early sexuality education might increase sexual activity," explains Eli Coleman, director of the program in human sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School. "This study shows that sexuality education leads to more responsible sexual behavior."

Pepper Schwartz, professor of sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle, agrees.

"I am thrilled to have this study because it confirms, in some ways, the bottom-line fact: talking about sex, and giving information about sex, makes kids more thoughtful about it and more likely to be able to form a moral code and plan of action -- rather than unconscious reaction."

Read More ....

Aboard the 'Booze Bus'

A "drunks-only" ambulance is mobilised on occasions of widespread drunkenness in central London. What's it like aboard the "Booze Bus" on one of the busiest party nights of the year?

By Alexis Akwagyiram, BBC News

"I love the job - I like being able to make a difference. No two days are ever the same," says paramedic Brian Hayes with a jovial grin as he describes his job.

Over the course of a 12-hour shift on Friday night, he and his two colleagues on the Alternative Response Vehicle - or Booze Bus, as it's more commonly known - draw on their reserves of composure, ingenuity and stoicism to treat more than 20 dazed drunks.

At St Thomas' Hospital, where some of these patients are taken, a visibly-frustrated doctor speaks despairingly of dealing with a tide of alcohol-related problems, instead of people who are seriously ill.

"Everyone I've treated tonight has been drunk - this is ridiculous," he says.

At about 0200GMT, he predicts things are only going to get worse as the night goes on.

"I have no beds in my observation units as we're full already. This is the calm before the storm - it'll go ballistic."

One drunk patient had assaulted him, he says, and the waiting room was full of people being sick or aggressive.

"Twenty-four hour drinking has made a huge, huge difference. The problem is that staff are dealing with people who are drunk and don't know what they're doing," he says.

"Doctors are run off their feet and in the vast majority of cases it is just alcohol. It is binge drinking. We don't see people who've had just two drinks. People have had 20 shots of vodka.

"They're generally 18 to 25, but it's all sorts - including lawyers and people in their 60s."

An hour later the stench inside the ambulance is thick and overpowering after three patients have been picked up.

The smell of stomach bile, excrement and stale urine fills the enclosed space as the vehicle speeds through the West End streets.

Drink-drugs cocktail

A scantily-clad 21-year-old woman lies motionless with one arm attached to a saline drip. She was found lying unconscious near a West End club and taken inside by a doorman.

Her stockings sag limply around her ankles and she occasionally stirs to vomit into a tray, her eyes opening briefly and rolling towards the ceiling.

On a seat next to her a man in his early 30s is being attended to. He was found unconscious in a corner of the same nightclub suffering from the effects of a cocktail of drink and drugs.

Another seat is occupied by a 60-year-old man, found outside Holborn Tube station, whose silver hair is matted with a layer of thick, crimson blood. He is slumped, with a steady trickle of saliva dribbling down his chin. The man has soiled himself.

The Booze Bus - or Vomit Comet, as it has also been dubbed - was Mr Hayes's creation three years ago. The three paramedics take the alcohol ambulance out at times of heavy drinking, such as the World Cup, Gay Pride and the festive season. On a busy night it treats more than 20 people.

"The idea was to make everyone's life easier and make handling Christmas drinking more manageable," says Mr Hayes, 37.

"Normal ambulances are freed up to do work that matters and can save lives. It also means there's a hospital bed free."

Unlike other ambulances, it does not carry an ECG machine because it won't need to treat chest pains and the extra space can be filled by a patient.

Office parties

It can take up to five patients to hospital in one trip - if no-one is seriously injured - rather than sending multiple ambulances.

On a Friday night in mid-December, with Christmas office parties in full flow, Leicester Square and Soho are packed with revellers, increasing the demand on London Ambulance Service by 10 to 15% compared to a normal Friday.

Mark, a civil servant manager in his 40s who had been drinking since 12 noon, found himself slumped over his Chinese meal due to one such party - prompting his colleagues to tie him to a chair and carry him out of a restaurant.

And there was Sally, a 24-year-old accountant, who was struck by a glass which was either dropped or thrown at her firm's festive celebration and left a shard embedded in her forehead.

Meanwhile, Stephan, a Swedish special effects technician broke and dislocated his ankle after climbing over railings to get into Soho Square Gardens after drinking at least seven pints at his work party.

But 18-year-old James bucked the party trend and was instead a victim of pure violence. He was found wandering around Leicester Square shirtless, with one shoe and a bloodied face after being set upon by more than a dozen youths.

Throughout the night and early hours, the three crew members exchange rapid-fire banter and remain upbeat when faced with a procession of bleary-eye patients in all shapes, sizes and ages.

"It's about being tolerant. Most of the people we deal with have been vomiting on themselves," explains Mr Hayes.

But he adds: "It scares me that these young girls are getting into nightclubs. There is a massive problem with underage drinking.

"I don't know what's happening to society as a whole. It's scary - it's not just the kids. It's also adults. People in their 40s and 50s who you would think know better.

"But then you get a job where you make a massive difference, and you feel much better."

Alcohol disease 'hits young hard'

By Branwen Jeffreys, Health correspondent, BBC News

Doctors are seeing rising numbers of patients in their late teens and early twenties with severe alcohol-related disease, many of them women.

Of 115 specialists who replied to a BBC questionnaire, 77 said they had treated at least one patient aged under 25.

Many said the social acceptability of heavy drinking was the most important influence on young people.

The warning comes as a new alliance calls for a rise in alcohol taxes, and a bar on TV advertising before 9pm.

Twenty-four organisations, representing doctors and charities, have joined together to form the Alcohol Health Alliance.

It wants the government to make alcohol misuse a higher priority.

Public health minister Dawn Primarolo said the government had already drawn up a plan for concerted action.

The drink industry says alcohol consumption is falling, and that increasing the cost would hit the majority of people who enjoy a drink in moderation.

Generational shift

The comments of the specialists who responded to the BBC reveal a generational shift on hospital wards around the UK.

Whereas before most hospital consultants would have seen patients in their fifties or sixties in the past, they now describe seeing patients in their early twenties with alcohol-related hepatitis, and women whose livers are permanently damaged with the scarring known as cirrhosis by the time they are 30.

Dr Jonathan Mitchell, a consultant hepatologist in Plymouth, is one of the specialists who contacted the BBC.

He said many of his patients did not realise the permanent damage to their health caused by regular heavy drinking.

Until it reaches a critical stage most liver disease is virtually without symptoms.

Dr Mitchell said: "I've seen patients who've been admitted with pretty catastrophic bleeding from stomach and oesophagus with no prior warning of a problem of their liver.

"Others may present with jaundice or swelling of the abdomen because there's a lot of fluid in the abdomen.

"All these three things are signs of quite advanced liver disease and can come out of the blue."

Heavy drinking 'normal'

Fatty deposits gradually build up on the liver as alcohol interferes with the way it would normally be processed.

What follows is an inflammation within the liver which often leads to low grade hepatitis.

Although the liver has a remarkable capacity to regenerate the damage eventually reaches the stage where the scarring permanently alters the structure of the liver.

For some patients this will lead to an agonising wait on the liver transplant waiting list before they are forty.

He is not alone in his concerns that the normalisation of heavy drinking is putting a generation at risk from a silent killer.

Of the 115 consultants who contacted the BBC 101 said there had been an increase in the number of patients they were seeing for alcohol-related disease.

The shift in the age profile of their patients is also very marked, with 77 saying they had treated a patient under the age of 25.

Worrying snapshot

The doctor's responses are a depressing snapshot of the ages and condition of the patients they see:

• 24-year-old woman with advanced cirrhosis who died
• 25-year-old with advanced alcoholic cirrhosis
• 19-year-old female with end stage liver disease
• 21-year-old who died from acute alcohol poisoning.
  
  

While attention is often focused on the social disorder caused by binge drinking, many doctors say the serious health effects are not given enough attention.

Professor Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, is one of the leading figures in the new campaign.

He said: "If you look at the burden of damage to society, it's hugely greater for alcohol than for drugs, but the majority of money has always gone on drugs, partly because of the strong link to crime."

Government view

The government has recently beefed up its Home Office target for reducing harm from alcohol.

It has also introduced a cross-departmental Alcohol Strategy.

This includes a public information campaign to promote sensible drinking, an independent review of alcohol pricing and promotion, toughened enforcement of underage sales by retailers and plans to introduce more help for people who want to drink less.

Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, said the government had introduced a comprehensive strategy to tackle problem drinking.

She said tax on alcohol in the UK was already the second highest in Europe, and only about 1% of pubs had extended opening hours since extended licensing laws were introduced.

A bigger problem was the discounting of prices by supermarkets and off licences.

She said: "We're looking at where it's available, who it's available to, how it's being marketed, what the targeting is and what we can do to give clear messages and to make those who are selling it responsible."