by Ahmed Khan, The Rahnuma Daily Editor-In-Chief (Online English Edition)
@editor_therahnuma, editor@therahnuma.com
(Hyderabad) RAHNUMA Zeeba Khan is an internationally renowned Ayurvedic clinician, meditation teacher, and energy healer of Indian origin, whose students include the beginning yogi as well as senior bankers from the Singapore’s financial hub. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had the good fortune to become acquainted with one of the more interesting, traditional, and brilliant female coaches I’ve ever encountered.
Tell us about your work, and what you do?
My purpose is to heal people. As a result of the holistic Ayurvedic expertise and customized lifestyle plans that I provide, I change people’s lives so that they can actually live their best life, feel good again, and feel connected mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The result is that clients feel motivated, inspired, determined, and educated to take control of their own health.
I employ diet, supplements, yoga therapy, meditation, and Ayurvedic treatment to restore balance to my patients’ mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health and to help prevent disease and disorders caused by stress. I use an integrative and holistic approach to healing that takes stress management into account. I educate and empower clients by co-creating a toolbox of resources they can turn to in times of stress. It’s imperative to build a silo so that when we are faced with a challenge, we are not running on empty and are able to bounce back more quickly.
What are breathing exercises?
“Stop, and take a nice, long, slow, deep breath.”
The prana, or breath, is the entry of life-force energy into our physical body. Without breath the body is useless. We need to learn how to breathe. Our breathing is indicative of our mental and emotional states. When we are calm in our breath, we can calm our mind – even if it’s racing. One tool I teach people is to become more aware of their breathing, and how to reduce stress using different pranayama breathing techniques. Breathing right can help boost people’s moods and energy levels. It can even motivate us. Breathing also activates physical and mental energy, as numerous scientific studies show. If you put just one breath between a stimulus and your usual, conditioned reaction to that stimulus, you are able to change your action from a reaction to a response. I teach my patients that it is in that moment that they have broken their pattern of past conditioning. Doing so consciously allows one to make a new choice, and start evolving into a new person. Breathing properly can change one’s pattern of conditioned reactions, and subsequently one’s entire life trajectory. Stop, and take a nice, long, slow, deep breath.
All of the world’s ancient traditions and Abrahamic religions teach us that challenges, no matter how dismal and devastating they might seem, do not last forever. When we are in the midst of a challenging time, our pain sometimes feels like it will last forever. I help my clients learn to breathe through their stress, connect with a Higher Power, and remember that pain is a part of our life, but that like pleasure, it too will end. Nothing lasts forever – neither pain nor pleasure.
“This, too, shall pass.”
The days of hardship and despair will eventually pass, but during the journey, we can ease the pain by befriending ourselves and exercising more self-love, self-kindness, self-forgiveness, and self-compassion. When we find that we’re beating ourselves up with critical self-talk, that’s the time to pause, take a conscious breath and reconnect with our Higher Self. One conscious breath is all that’s required to break a loop of ruminating thoughts.
Talk to us about Yoga, and what are some of its greatest benefits?
Yoga means union with God. Union of the yogi with the Divine. Yoga is one of many channels through which we connect with the Divine. In ancient Indian philosophy, Yoga is also a microcosm for all of life. Many of the prayer postures found in the world’s ancient traditions and Abrahamic religions are similar or identical to yoga asanas, or poses.
Two commonly practiced prayer postures across all faiths are holding your hands in a prayer position and prostration.
Placing your hands together, palms lightly pressing into each other, at the center of your chest is a posture of composure known as Anjali Mudra, or offering hand gesture. Pressing these pressure points on the hands literally rebalances the left and right hemispheres of the brain; our mind unifies with our heart, body, and spirit.
By resting our forehead on the ground during Sajdah and Balasana, or prostration, we bring the energetic currents within us back into a healthy balance. Yogis teach the Earth’s electrons remove any negative charge that we were carrying. This relaxes our mind and slows down our racing thoughts, and calms our emotions, thereby evoking feelings of inner peace and contentment.
Both physical postures are scientifically proven to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn awakens our body’s natural healing mechanisms, and lowers stress. They remind us that life is a gift that we should intend to use wisely.
What is Ayurvedic healing?
Ayurvedic healing is a system of restoring balance to the body. It teaches us that health is not merely the absence of disease, but rather that our natural state is one of health, happiness, and an inner sense of well-being. This is achieved when our body is clear of toxins, our mind is at peace, our emotions are calm and happy, our wastes are efficiently eliminated, and our organs are functioning normally. Ayurvedic healing is about balance, and the more we are balanced, the more we will be healthy.
How long would a person have to practice breathing exercises to start feeling their benefits?
“All it takes is a few breaths, if you know how.”
The typical results for my clients are actually immediate, within 60 seconds. If we are correctly engaging in postures and guided breathing exercises, all it takes is a few breaths, if you know how.
How can people contact you to benefit from your practice?
People who are looking to live their best life and feel good again – whether it’s mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, can reach me at zeebahealing.com or zeebahealing@gmail.com. Alternatively you can find me on Facebook and Instagram @zeebahealing.
Thank you for enlightening us and we look forward to hearing from you again!
