This is the story of Vinoth who battled ankylosing spondylitis at a young age of 28. After trying the allopathic treatment, he suffered several side-effects and decided to look for alternative solutions to restore his health. This led him on the path of Nature Cure. Read his inspiring story to know more about his struggles and victory against this autoimmune condition.

V S Vinoth Kumar

33 Years, Holistic Wellness Practitioner

Vellore, Tamil Nadu

How it all began

I completed my Instrumentation & Control Engineering in one of the most reputed institutions, National Institute of Technology, Trichy and worked with IBM and Huawei for the next 3 years. I was also an activist with a deep thirst and rage towards the political and social conditions. The activist in me made me quit my job for good and turned me into an entrepreneur with the view to support small-scale businesses. For the next four years, with hardly little sleep, I was moving towards the pinnacle of my business life.

Life was beautiful until one morning of Aug 2014, when I realized that I could not get up from the bed due to extreme body pain from neck to toe. I was fine the previous night, and the next morning, I was not able to move. After a few days of regular treatments like taking painkillers and muscle relaxants, I was recommended to get admitted to the hospital for further treatment. In spite of undergoing physiotherapy along with complete rest for 10 days, I was showing zero improvements and that’s when doctors diagnosed me with an auto-immune condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis. I continued in the hospital for another 10 days with intense treatment to bring down the inflammation. Finally, I got discharged from the hospital after 20 days with the recommendation to intake 20+ tablets.

The shift from being alright to consuming close to 20 tablets a day was truly exhausting. Consumption of steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, sleeping pills and other supplements was only adding more to my trauma, both physically and mentally. I was not able to accept this state of being dependent. As I came to know that I need to be under medical care for a lifetime, I started feeling tired and hopeless. I was completely worn out worrying about my degenerative condition at the young age of 28.

My quest for relief

After those 20 days, I continued taking medicines for the next four months. Even though the quantity was reduced to 10 medicines per day, I was facing multiple side effects like acid reflux, clicking sounds in the fingers, sleep disturbance, fatigue and more. A few months back, I was a productive individual who loved his job, and now I was barely able to move. The reality of it shook me from the core. Thus, by the end of Dec 2014, I decided to stop all my medications and decided to look for a permanent cure.

Limited mobility and constant suffering made me look for alternative solutions. I joined a support group for people with ankylosing spondylitis. However, instead of inspiring me, it demotivated me further and I decided to leave it. Visited a handful of alternate medical practitioners but did not get satisfying answers and results. I started researching more on my own and then came the Eureka moment.

One Nature Cure camp that changed my life

One day while surfing the internet I came across Dr Arun Sharma’s Facebook page, on which they had announced their first camp in Chennai during the first week of Jan 2015. I had a short discussion with him and joined the camp with a great ray of hope. Struggling with high inflammation, attending sessions by lying down was indeed a challenge. But, I started getting better day by day with the diet, therapies and understanding of disease and health.

I followed this routine during the camp:

• Every morning would begin with Meditation, Yoga and other physical practices. With my inflammation, I could only perform Pranayama and mild movements of wrist and fingers. Though I couldn’t perform greater physical activities, I experienced the sacred energy shared by my fellow participants, which I believe, also contributed to my healing journey.

• Another beautiful ritual that I used to do every day in the camp was sun-gazing and sunbathing. With naked eyes, we used to see the sun as long as possible. Best time for sun-gazing is sunrise and sunset. Sunbathing by covering my head had greatly helped with the inflammation in my body.

• Following the physical practices, morning green alkaline juice; tender coconut water, juices of fresh greens, ash gourd and the like is consumed as a first thing to kick start our digestive system after 12 hours of fasting through the night. Later, the morning breakfast is a mono-fruit meal; one variety of fruit eaten as much as one’s hunger permits.

• In the afternoon, raw salad is eaten. It is the combination of one hard and one watery vegetable; namely carrot and cucumber along with the toppings of tomato, coriander leaves and coconut. Consuming fresh raw lively foods gave more life (prana) to my body, soul and mind as ‘we become what we eat’. With more prana, my body was able to conserve more vitality for healing.

• By 6:30 pm, I used to eat my dinner. It included 1 part of whole-grain and three parts of vegetables in either steamed or minimally cooked form. The spices and salt were added after the cooking is over. Table salt was replaced by rock salt.

• Everyday knowledge sessions introduced me to the philosophies of Nature Cure and helped me shape my living and well-being in a much better way. I also enjoyed attending an hour-long satsang post-dinner.

• Tona, a non-violent therapy used to improve the health of the intestine and regulate bowel movements.

I witnessed miraculous results in the very first week and was able to sit on my own! The inflammation in my entire body had come down. I decided to slow down my work in the startup sphere and began my journey of exploring the world of Nature Cure.

The journey had just begun.

After attending the camp, it took me two more years to restore my health completely. Now, I have a better understanding of the philosophy & practice of Nature Cure in a better manner and started periodic fasting. I did periodic fasting every week on my off days from work. After three months, I then practised progressive fasting; one in which I fasted for a duration of one to three days. I consumed only sips of water at the same time.

A new challenge arises

While I was continuing my journey to be in the best of my health, I was hit by a phase of healing crises from July – August 2015. It led to hip inflammation that did not allow me to sleep properly. I completely rested myself for the next eight days and continued with fasting with sips of water, pranayama and sunbathing. Also, I stayed in constant touch with my mentor Dr Arun Sharma who was my constant source of motivation. I used hydrotherapy as well wherein I applied a wet pack in the painful spot. He advised me to follow a non-crises diet plan which is given to people with a chronic condition. Under this plan, I underwent rhythmic fasting for over 48 days. Post this; I was able to restore my health to a greater extent.

Addressing my emotional health

I now aimed for holistic healing and started paying attention to other aspects of my life. After overcoming the physical challenges, I now wanted to tap into the unresolved emotional traumas. Thus, I explored CranioSacral Therapy under the guidance of Mr Stefan Reiter. I discovered that I was holding onto pain. This pain made me attract tumultuous situations in life and kept me engulfed in negative emotion. Once released from the bondage of my own emotions, I felt free and alive. I further explored Neuro-Linguistic Programming under the guidance of Ashok Subramanyam. This course helped me get rid of my recurring negative patterns of consuming junk food and the spiral of guilt that followed later. I took up the vipassana program, explored bach flower remedies which helped me to stay grounded immaterial of all the challenges around.

With all these learnings & experience I became more harmonious inside and with the external world, I let go of aspects which are unnecessary and started embracing aspects which are helping me in this journey of optimal life.

Conclusion

From being a software developer & entrepreneur, my illness made me realize that there is more to life. We all are on this planet to contribute towards higher welfare. This served as my inspiration in turning into a Nature Cure Practitioner. Since the last three years, I’ve been a wellness practitioner and trying my best to inspire and better the lives of people. To date, I have hosted 100’s of workshops, online programs and camps and inspired over 1000 people and handheld them towards optimal health & life.

I follow an optimal diet and lifestyle routine and am leading a fulfilled life with my wife and our one-year-old daughter.

Disclaimer: The above guidelines are shared for understanding and not a medical prescription or a treatment protocol. Get in touch with a Natural Health practitioner to understand the philosophy & practice of Natural Cure and to integrate an optimal dietary and lifestyle routine or consult a medical doctor if you are looking for a treatment.

(About Vinoth: I am a 33 yrs. old wellness practitioner who owes his life to Nature Cure. Earlier, I was a successful entrepreneur for more than 4 years, I decided to give back to Mother Nature by being a Natural Health (a.k.a Nature Cure) Practitioner. Through my retreats, workshops & coaching program I help people to restore their health from various medical conditions.)

Help Vote (15)

Comments (3)

Share

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+
• Linkedin
• Email
• WhatsApp