Monday, August 13, 2018

Mona’s Story : Patanjali Yog gram - in Haridwar reviews July 2018


How I managed to stop hair fall and lost 5 KGs in 7 days!



One of the readers of this blog Monica Chhonkar decided to share her experience and below is her story in her own words.Thanks Monica for the contribution. I'm sure this will help a lot of people.


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Dear Folks,
 Finally I am writing about my experience at Yog gram. I am someone who loves food but at the same time do take care what I am putting in my stomach. Doctors are someone I would like to see least and avoid allopathy medicine until its severe. After going through cesarean delivery and then irregular professional routine, I kept on putting weight and then loosing it by gyming. Lately, this process started to make me feel really bored. Second reason is my knee and backache couldn't let me do gyming on regular basis Its when I decided to to opt a sustainable way of keeping myself healthy and fit. I have been thinking to go to Yog gram for quite long but was too relaxed with my surrounding. One day a friend asked me if I would be interested to join her and I instantly said yes for it.

Purpose: Replacement of Gym to Yog. Back ache, Neck pain, Detoxification, Major sleeping disorder (Insomniac), too much hair fall Pre-travel Process to register:

To travel to Yog Gram, one needs to register at their website by filling form with their personal and disease details along with their choice of room selection and its availability. Yog gram has 4 categories in room starting from Rajshri, Muniraj, Mahirishi & Tapasavi Kutiya. Costing starts from Rs.2500 for Tapasvi on twin sharing basis to highest Mahirishi Kutiya costing Rs. 5000. Rates differ on the basis of given amenities. I googled and found one of the blogs https://beingfiit.blogspot.com/ which helped me in deciding my stay. Depending on weather conditions, Tapasavi Kutiya is a good option as every other category looks same with the difference of extra living room and some table chairs.

Major difference you will find in other categories is they have Air conditioner and TV but one hardly gets time to utilize both so it’s completely an individual’s wish to choose their stay. After form submission, you will get an email from Yog gram confirming your stay and you can go ahead with the booking by depositing money (their online payment portal is always under maintenance) in their account(details available while submitting the form) and once its done, do update on their website by log in ID and password.. Within a day or two you will get the confirmation of your booking. Please feel free to call their landline for any other kind of clarification.




Some tips about packing -



1) Ladies, pack lot of undergarments along with comfortable gowns as you need to keep them changing 5/6 times depending on your treatment.


2) No point of packing too many fancy dresses as you and your entire body is going to be dipped in Oil most of the times but still totally once choice how do they want to manage. I managed in Two pair of Tshirt and shorts while in treatment center as I did not wanted my all the cloths to stained by Oil and Mud and a pair for gym track and t shirts for yoga sessions.


For man - Nothing to worry much as you can come out of treatment center even in your boxers. Apart from that you can wear anything you are comfortable with except being naked.



14th July, 2018 Journey from Delhi to Haridwar .


I got up at 4, got into the cab at 5 and reached station by 6am. Distance from New Delhi to Haridwar station is 235KM. We boarded Dehradun Shatabdi @ 6.40am from New Delhi Railway station which reaches Haridwar by 11.30 or so. Train journeys are always fun for me as I get that me time to do things. I can be seen while looking outside the window, reading any book which i may carry at my death bed, music, thoughts, eating not so happening shatabdi food, staring railway tracks and listening to their sounds, avoiding to use trains toilet but still have to, search of weird characters etc












. Distance from Haridwar station to yogram is 23 Km. Once you will get down at Haridwar station, lot of Taxi and auto guys will approach you asking for the fare starting from Rs. 800 to 1200. There are autos available too but there is no way of saving money as they will also charge between the same. So as we were four, we made a choice of taking a cab as we each had our individual luggage and also it was about to rain badly. We confirmed a taxi at Rs. 900 and got settled in our cab. 2/3 km away from the station premises, we started to see the beautiful green surrounding, blue sky and white clouds. Views like this always fix my eyes into the places. While looking at the sky, my thoughts started to get wander about how I miss all this so much in Delhi, How I always sleep with a dream in my eyes thinking that I may see blue sky next morning with green grounds and fresh air to breath. Our taxi driver named Raju was quite a fun guy until he started scaring us about how we are going to the central jail. He kept us engaged by telling us the stories about people religion, industries, yog gram. Listening to all these stories we reached Yog gram.





Arrival/Admission -

 At around 1 pm we reached at the Door of the Yog gram. Security guard asked our name and phone number and gave a nod to enter. As soon as we enter in the parking, a guy wearing white uniform and Yog gram had written on his pocket escorted us towards reception. After couple of formalities, we have been advised to reach at “Bhojnalaya “(Canteen) for lunch and consult the doctor at 3 pm.


Entry in Room (Tapasavi Kutiya) After our lunch, we reached our room to keep our luggage with the help of an attendant. The moment we entered in the room we saw an umbrella in black color hanging at the right hand side of the door, a table in front with a water jug, two single bed. It was a simple clean room with basic amenities. We got settled and was waiting to see the doctor.


Doctor's Consultation – Doctor's timing are 9 to 1 am and 3 to 7pm. At the reception, an attendant gave us a form to understand our eating habits & lifestyle. I have been advised to see Dr. Devasis. As per my health condition, he suggested me a diet plan along with treatment. I have been asked to reach Yoga Hall 1 for orientation to know the routine of next seven days.


Orientation Session: We left our room to attend Orientation session. While going towards the Yoga hall 1 in the evening, one cannot be left untouched by the mesmerizing canvases of nature. So at 7.30pm Orientation was done by Sharma ji to make us understand how our routine going to be for next 7 days. By this time I got to know that Sharma ji's sessions are going to be real fun. He was one of the most fun and jolly guy in Yog Gram who helps you to take things little easy.


 

5pm - Pear Juice
8 pm - Dinner
9 pm - Quath ( A kind of herbal drink)
So this is how first day looked like to me in terms of schedule, food and surroundings. Got to sleep by 10 even if I don’t feel like because our next day was suppose to start at 4am and I was shit scared of getting Enema done.

Day 1 / 15th July, 2018








Some pictures from Day 1




Day Two 16th July, 2018

So it was my sister’s birthday today who was accompanying me on this Trip. Her excitement of her birthday died on the very first day we entered Yog gram. We were feeling little bad as we couldn’t do anything for her but then I came up with an idea of not letting her sit in peace. Idea was I asking every stranger coming on our way to wish my sister and they did it too. So every time any stranger use to come to wish her, she uses to scream my name and stars running. This was indeed fun. Being sick of ghiya, kaddo pale food, she wished to have kadhi in the lunch and guess what??? Whole universe made it happened and she got kadhi in lunch. In Yog gram one of the most important things you wish for is to get less bored food.




Some pictures on Day 2



Birthday trauma

Day Three - 17th July, 2018

Today is the day where a therapy called “Shankh Prachalan” has been give to most of the people (may be not to the one who has high sugar, BP or depending upon age) In this therapy, an individual is supposed to repeatedly perform set of 7 simple Aasan and drink Aawla water until their motion colors looks like the color of water their are drinking which means, one needs to at least go 6/7 times minimum. 

This "Shankh Prachalan" is called shankh because drinking Awla water again and again and then performing these aasans bend your body like a shankh which cleans you intestines from every corner.






Pictures from Day 3
Heard fairy tales from the past with a friend 

Today, I got a chance to interact with one of the most inspiring Human who has donated 25 acres of land to Patanjali in Assam. Losing his memory drastically and still inspiring people to live with a purpose every day. “Botta" this is what you called Bade papa in their language and this is what we called him. Moment. (PS: I met him next day in front of Yoga hall to say hi to him and this time I was nowhere in his memory. Yes nowhere. I was smiling looking at him but he had no idea about that. He looked at me, smiled and left. This moment left me speechless but with lot of thoughts at the same time)



Fourth day / 18th to 20th July, 2018 (3 Days fasting)





Picture from 3 fasting days 

A moment I couldn’t pass without capturing it
Reminded me the scenery we use to make in our childhood except that missing river coming from the mid of mountain.
Scenes like this often in yog gram

7th & the last Day 21st July, 2018



Pictures from last day.


A friend we made – Mr. Kulwant Kaur, Chandigarh (A principle)


Departure to Delhi, 22nd July, 2018
Colors which is going to be missed badly



Summary

Positives
1)       Good Air quality, surrounded by nature, lot of flowers, beautifully managed.
2)       Its a system driven place and very disciplined. Everything happens on time without any delay.
3)       By the time of your departure, you will become your own doctor till some extent. (Disclaimer : only if you are attentive towards their sessions and don’t crib much)
4)       For any kind of Yoga related query, please feel free to talk to the yog guru's as they are really helpful.
5)       You will feel lighter and cleaner internally by the end of process (Because of too much oiling massage, you skin will glow too, Mine did :)
6)       You will also learn to be your own dietician and will learn to follow the same at home.
7)       Cleanliness is something you will find everywhere. 
8)       It may be too much to say, but you may start treating your body as temple and will start taking care of it.
9)       Attentive extension no. 555. The way I imagined, I couldn’t even think they had an extension number for assistance.

10)    For any kind of emergency, Ambulance and its driver is always standing close to the reception.  
11)    There are treatments for sure but more that it helps you to make your lifestyle better to live healthy life.

Negatives 

You all might have heard this somewhere that "Life is 10% how you make it and 90% how you take it". So every single person is a product of their own experiences and accordingly opinions vary from person to person. I am personally an optimistic person. If I find a flaw in something and I can change it, then problem is solved and if it’s not in my control, then I let it go. Still there are things which I can be taken care:

1)       Try avoiding going to lake at late night as I saw a snake there. 
2)       There treatment center smells so much. At first, I couldn’t figure out what it is but then got to know it was smell of paper they use during massage as sheet.
3)       Enema and Jal neti section are so close to each other and smells so much. I had sense of disgust because of the smell but then you can’t do anything about it. It’s a matter of 10 minutes. 

Personal Gyaan :-

1)       Yog gram runs on the policy that “Stomach is your second brain" so don’t be surprised if you tell them that you have a headache and they ask you to eat an apple or drink lot of water rather giving a medicine. 

2)       Avoid talking to people who are crying and cribbing over food as its like that for some reason and that reason is still unknown for them. 

3)       Keep calm and keep “kaam” se “kaam” at you wouldn’t want to distract yourself from the purpose you are in yog gram. 

4)       It’s okay to leave evening yoga session at times and explore the surroundings. See the sunset, sky, flower, walk alone, sit next to lake, talk to stranger, listen to someone story. (Completely an individual choice but I do that quite often)

5)       Tapasavi rooms are okay to book for certain reasons. Close to yoga hall, canteen & reception, Cost effective and most importantly you won’t get the time to utilize the other accommodation amenities so makes sense.

Remedies by  Dr. Neeraj:




I would be more than happy if this information helps anyone. Till then stay healthy, stay optimistic and Stay content. 
Feel free to throw your questions J




Monday, March 13, 2017

Patanjali yog gram - Reviews - My experience - in Haridwar

What led me to cut short my stay from 12 days to 7 days.


Introduction:

I'm someone who loves to be fit and usually I take care of what I eat. Still, I had stomach issues throughout 2016. Doctors call it acid reflux and I think it is naval displacement ( dharan, nabhi). I'm always fascinated by yoga and ayurved so I started researching for the best treatment. After a lot of research I decided to go for naturopathy treatment and started looking for the best naturopathy centre in India. I zeroed onto Jindal nature care institute bengaluru. I paid the fees online and they replied in 2 days with the available booking date which was 3 months away so I started looking for other options and then I came to know about Patanjali Yog gram in haridwar. I started looking for blogs and youtube videos but could not find anything useful. It is then I decided to write this blog.



Bookings - Do's and Don'ts

Patanjali Yog gram offer different room categories and I booked muniraj cottage for 12 days which cost me around 40K INR but after reaching there I realized that booking muniraj cottage is of no use.

1) 2 rooms , 1 living room with sofa & TV and 1 bedroom. You will never ever get time to use the sofa and TV as you would be busy through out the day.
2) Daily room cleaning. This happens anyways in all type of rooms
3) Cold/Hot drinking water delievered to your room as per your choice. You get this in all categories of rooms
4) Travel to treatment center, canteen and clinic on battery operated vehicle. This is what they advertise but reality is different and as you progress reading this, you will get to know why I wrote this.
5) Muniraj and Rajshree cottages are really far away from treatment center, clinic and canteen.
6) Meharishi cottage is the best because it is cheap, near to all the buildings and fully equiped.
7) If you do not need TV then Tapasavi cottage is your best bet


Journey - From best to worst and the mistake which I made

I booked my flight to India and asked my friend to book shatabadi express to haridwar. Stayed first night in delhi and next morning all excited I boarded my train to haridwar at 0645 (a friend on mine gave me an airtel 4G sim at railway station). Journey was relaxing and the food given was really good. Train reached haridwar with 1 hour delay (fog to be blamed for this).

Breakfast in Shatabadi:



On reaching haridwar I was confident that I would book ola (Indian version of UBER) and reach Yog gram. I booked the ride and it showed me around 100 Rupees for the trip. I called the driver and he asked for 1000 Rupees which was 10 times the amount shown by app. I told him that I would complain about him. I cancelled the ride and booked again. As soon as he picked the call he said
"hazaar rupya lagenge aur hamse zuban ladane ki zaroorat nhi hai, tum hume jaante nhi ho". ( I will charge 1000 rupees and do not mess with us, you do not know who we are)
Then I realized that both the drivers were sitting together as I could hear two voices. I wanted to complain right away but then I thought that I have come here for yoga and should ignore stupid incidents.

I looked for auto and he asked for 300 rupees. I boarded the auto and it took more than 1 hour to reach yog gram. I should call it a road made of pot holes, auto kept jumping through out the journey which resulted in naval displacement then I realized why OLA drivers were adamant for 1000 rupees ( still I feel that 1000 is too much and they should not accept the booking at first place). The driver was really nice as he gave free ride to children coming from school.

We reached Yog gram and I paid him 500 for his nice behaviour.

My mistake was to look for taxis. Best way is to hire taxi or auto till patanjali yog peeth and from there you get shuttle bus till yog gram. You will feel less jerks in bus as compared to taxi/auto.




Life in Yog gram starts.


I showed my identity at reception and they called a security guard to check my luggage. They usually check for tobacco and other eatables in your luggage as those are not allowed. Then I met this arrogant guy at reception ( forgot to ask his name). I asked him about next proceedings and he pointed towards the door and asked me to meet the doctor. There was no sign or whatso ever written to tell me that where the doctor is. I came back to reception and asked him to show the exact the place. He called someone and this guy took me to waiting area.

My first interaction at reception told me that this is a government styled place but the guy at waiting area soon made me change my perception. This guy was really nice and polite and we talked for sometime and it was already 4:30. I asked him why the doctor is still not here. He said it is the off season and there are not many patients so doctors usually come late. I finally met the doctor at 5PM. He wrote he diet plan,treatment plan for me and asked me to purchase some items required for treatment . I took the treatment plan to a shop where they charged me rupees 800 for towels, jal neti pots etc.

They sent me to my room in a small bus and my luggage was picked up by them.


I returned at 630PM for brefieing session where I was told about my routine and the guy showed us the different places where we would be expected the next morning.

Finally I got dinner at 8PM. Roti, sabzi and fruit.

Accommodation:


Day 2 Starts

4am - Wakeup
Went for Jal neti, anema (I hated it).

5 am - Juice (Kadha) was served in Canteen ( Video shot in evening)



6 am   Yoga  - Class was taken by Mohitji . A young male teacher who is there for service and does not take any salary. I enjoyed the class

7am -  Doctor neeraj's Lecture followed by Hasya yoga ( Laughter yoga). It was fun

8am -  Meeti patti on stomach and eyes , during this whole process a guy named shailender ji kept singing religious songs which kept us entertained

8:30 - Breakfast ( dry fruits and some sprouted wheat)



9am - Time for treatment - body massages, bath etc. I was impressed with the treatments but was turned off at the fact that they did not have proper measures to tackle cold weather. I felt cold during massage.

11 am- Got free and went to the room, took some rest

12:00 Lunch - Veggie soup and Fruit



12:30 - 2pm was rest time in my room. I started feeling lonely already

2PM- Meeti patti again in yoga hall. Met shailender ji and He is also there for service to man kind and does not charge any money. I told him about my naval displacement problem and he asked me to talk to him next morning during yoga class.

2:30 - back to treatments

5PM - Juice (kadha)

5:15 - havan ( yajna) performed daily by shailender ji



                                         


5:45 - Yoga class:

Yoga hall visit


                                       

7 PM - lecture by doctor Neeraj ( he talks pure science and what ever he tells is really nice)

8 PM - Dinner

9 PM - Juice ( kadha)

9:30PM - Back to the room and sleep




Day 3 and 4 were same as day 2 with lots of talks with shailender ji and Mohit ji about life , spirituality, life style , yoga etc.

These two guys are really positive and are fun to talk to. Meanwhile Shailender ji kept telling me asanas for naval displacement.

Day 4 and 5 were fast days for me , I got only saunf honey water 5 times a day. I told the doctor that I started to feel weak so he prescribed 10 munnakas (I think its dried grapes).

On day 5 I met doctor neeraj and told him that naval displacement isnt getting better so he sent me to holistic centre. The guy  there treated me but I was sure that the problem wasn't cured and I knew the reason was fasting. It is said that people with naval displacement problem should not stay empty stomach for long.

Shailender ji singing



I talked to shailender ji and he pressed some accupressure points on my feet and It made me spit some 1 litre of sour liquid. I felt really light after that.

All these days doctor Neeraj's lectures in evening were really great and he would answer the questions asked by people.

Day 6 I broke the fast and took soup , fruit etc and decided to take rest and skipped all the treatments.

By night I felt weak and I had pain in elbows, knees and ankle then I knew it was because of all the body massages happened for 5 days and now my body was recovering.

Day 7 morning.
I had restless sleep and my body temprature was high. At 6am I called 555 number ( emergency number) and asked for thermo meter as I wanted to check my body temprature. The guy said I would need to come to reception to take it and he shamelessly suggested me to take it at the breakfast time. ( Now, I knew booking muniraj cottage does not come with extra privilege).

I slept for 2 hours, then I went to the reception and checked the temprature. It was normal and my body was still aching.


I came back to room and thought about checking out the next day as usually their treatment is for 7 days for most of the people.

I called the reception and asked them to provide the taxi driver's number which would drop me at railway station. Here's how the conversation went.

Me : Bhayia main muniraj cottage ( my room #) se bol raha hoon, mujhe taxi wale ka number chahiye . Kya aap de sakte hain ? ( Bro, Can you give me taxi driver's number)

He : Bhayia notice board pe laga hai aake dekh lo ( It is written on the notice board, go and check there)

Me : Notice board kahan par hai ? (Where is the notice board)

He : Reception mein ( in the reception)

Me : Aap kahan par hain ? ( and where are you)

He : Reception

Me : Bhayia, main theek feel nhi kr raha. Kya app itni help nhi kr skte? ( Bro, I'm not feeling well. Can't you help?)

He : Thik hai baad mein call kr lena ( alright, call back later)

Me : Main 10 minute mein call krta hoon ( I will call in 10 minutes)

He : (Really arrogant and rude tone) aadhe ghante mein call kr lena ( call in 30 minutes)

I was upset. Checked the train tickets to delhi ( it was available) started packing my bag and decided to leave right away. I was done packing in 15 minutes and then I received the call from someone else from reception and he gave me the Taxi driver's number.

I booked my taxi and called reception to send the bus to pick my luggage.

Discussed about the refund and manager told me that their policy is that they do not refund if anyone leaves before 7 days. I told him that it is 7th day and their usual treatment is 7 days. He said that they do not count the 1st day ( he failed to show any policy which showed that they do not count 1st day as treatment day). Finally the discussion was over and they promised to adjust my amount in next visit.

Final good bye.

I met the doctor and asked him to discharge me. He asked me about my health. I told him that naval displacement is not cured. He ignored it and asked about my cough instead. I said I'm all good ( I lied because I wanted him to sign the discharge form asap so that I could make a quick exit).


Taxi came at 3:30 PM. Boarded my train to delhi at 6:30 and on reaching delhi I had high fever, bad cough and really upset stomach.


Positives :

1) Yoga teachers are nice to talk to and would always be happy to answer all your queries
2) Doctor neeraj's lectures. He talks pure logic and wonderful to listen to.
3) Daily havan
4) No delay in any of the meals
5) All the staff members at treatment centre are really nice and friendly ( there guys are really fun to talk to)
5) Cleanliness
6) Fresh air
6) Opportunity to learn jal neti, kunjal and yog asanas
7) Yog Nidra session by Mohitji (really relaxing)
8) Rooms are cleaned everyday
9) Take airtel sim with you. It works like a charm


Negatives:
1) Some guys at reception are too cold infact rude
2) No proper measures taken to tackle cold weather at treatment centre ( they have heaters in massage rooms which are ineffective)
3) Remote area ( if you feel sick or something serious happens then it will take really long time to reach the hospital)


Tips :

1) Do not go alone . Take someone along with you and make sure he/she joins as patient because attendants do not get treatment and their food is arranged in different canteen.
This would take your attendant to boredom.
2) Go for Tapasvi or Maharishi room as distance to canteen, yog hall and treatment area is less
3) Take 4 towels ( 2 standard size towels for bath and 2 small ( 1 feet X 1.5 feet) towels)
4) Go in moderate weather avoid too cold or too hot weather
5) Go to yog peeth from railway station and take shuttle to Yog gram

Stay Happy ! Stay fit ! Stay blessed!


Some pics :
















Monica's story
Monica went to Yog gram in July 2018.

http://beingfiit.blogspot.com/2018/08/amazing-7-days-of-my-life-at-patanjali.html