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tv   Chasing Life With Dr. Sanjay Gupta  CNN  April 13, 2019 7:00pm-8:00pm PDT

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simple things that unplug and revitalize our minds and bodies and make sure our key keeps flowing. >> kompai! ♪ i'm feeling a little nervous right now to be honest. i've been doing this job for 15 years now, and you don't get these moments very often. i don't think my parents ever imagined when they left india and came to the united states that their son would one day return to india and interview the prime minister. >> are you ready? this is a big one. it's a big one for me.
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♪ >> india is in my blood. as an american doctor, i've always wanted to understand this country's approach to health. what some consider radical, embracing yoga, traditional be ayurvedaic medicine. could the future of health be somewhere in india's past? i want the same thing you do, the secret to living longer, healthier, and happier. but where do we find it? i'm "chasing life." ♪
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>> i've been coming to india all my life. it's an incredibly diverse country. and this place is not the india i grew up with. >> i've never been to kerala before. when you come here, it's like you're traveling to a different country entirely. >> kerala is a strip of tropical line in the south. its isolation has preserved some of india's oldest healing traditions. [ horn honking ] >> despite being one of this country's poorest states, it's
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also the healthiest, especially for women who live an incredible ten years longer than the rest of the country. if india has secrets to good health, this is where i'll find them. ♪ >> how do you think she's going to do? >> she's always the best. >> she is a master of a local martial art called kayari pyattu. she's 75 years old. >> big clap. that was amazing. >> it's called the mother of martial arts. a 3,000-year-old practice believed to be the foundation of disciplines like kung if you and
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karate. it's also a healing art, prosecutoring elements of yoga and traditional medicine. today it's carried on by just a handful of masters and she seems to be living proof of its benefits. [ speaking foreign language ] >> you're 75 years old. you move like you're 25 years old. how do you feel? [ speaking foreign language ] >> i have three young girls. they would love this sort of thing. but i know in india for a long time they would be able to do that. you started about 70 years ago. what was it like for girls at that time? [ speaking foreign language
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[ speaking foreign language ] >> she's doing what was once unthinkable. pioneering a new path for local girls. [ speaking foreign language ] teaching free classes for health and self-defense. her uganda daughter jamie has been training since she was seven years old to one day take over the school. >> can anybody do this. >> after learning, yeah, they can. >> do you think a guy can do this? >> of course you can. >> i can? . >> yeah. >> slowly transforming into the
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role of a ckalari fighter. >> there's a saying in kalari that in order to heal, first you have to learn how to destroy. my first lesson is a series of lunges and jumps. this series of moves so to stretch and strengthen what feels like every muscle in my body.i to stretch and strengthen what feels like every muscle in my body.s to stretch and strengthen what feels like every muscle in my body. >> okay. >> i thought i was in pretty good shape. this takes it to a whole different level. it's hard. >> no question, this is an insane workout. it's also dangerous. with a pretty wild assortment of
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weapons, including a sword, that works like a whip. >> just a flesh wound but that could have been a lot worse. [ speaking foreign language ], could have been a lot worse. [ speaking foreign language ] >> this is normally what happens here? >> yeah. >> the mat, man on the ground. >> the healing system of kalari is based on energy points in the body called mar mas, where bone, muscle and ligament intersect. >> i can tell this is going to be like a surgical procedure, very hygienic, very sterile. >> masters have a precise knowledge of the body's mar has. in combat they know which ones to target to strike a fatal blow, but they can use the same knowledge to stimulate the mar has for healing.
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>> he's going to put oil on your body. >> joust wondering how heavy this guy is. >> this technique is called chi ruti, which means foot pressure. >> i guess it's no surprise, if you want more force, stand on the guy instead of push. probably is waking up a lot of muscles and ligaments i didn't know needed waking. >> stimulating marmas is also used to treat more serious illnesses like chronic pain and neuromuscular disease. >> i always wondered about these types of therapies. they've been around for so long, there's got to be something to it. why does something last for hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years?
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it's like a finger to my intestines. >> how are you feeling now? >> i'm a little beat up, a little violated maybe. i feel like i'm a big pile of jell-o right now. >> i had never thought of martial arts as medicine. but kalari is actually rooted in an elaborate healing tradition. something called ayurveda. the oldest health care science in the world. this is not a bed... it's a revolution in sleep. the sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999...
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. ♪ kerala is home to a tradition called ayurveda. it means the science of life. and it's an ancient philosophy that incorporates diet and health. >> we have 300 beds and all these beds are occupied. >> you may have never heard of ayurveda, but i've known about it since i was a kid. growing up in an indian household, it was pretty much
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the source of all our home remedies. but in rural india, up to 70% of the population relies on it on their primary form of health care. this is one of the oldest, most respect ayurvedic institutions in the world, an entire hospital based on these ancient healing techniques. >> do you have any particular health complaints? >> i'm pretty healthy. the biggest complaint i have is i get headaches and my knees have always given me trouble. >> i would like to see your pulse. >> the doctor comes from a prestigious ayurvedic family who founded this hospital over 110 years ago. >> what are you learning? you figure out the heartbeat, obviously the rate. >> from the pulse, you have the status of do shas. >> remember that word, that's the key of ayurveda.
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the whole philosophy is based on this central crept, that from the moment we're born, we're made up of three energies called do shas. >> in each of us there's a dominant do sha, something that can correspond to body type. there's vada, the energy of movement. pita, which influences digestion and metabolism. and kafa which governs the smooth functioning of all our body systems. each of us has a combination of these three do shaz and maintaining that balance we're born with is how ayurveda keeps us health. >> there is some increase in the vata do sha which is causing these pains. anywhere where there is pain, stiffness, numbness, there's a
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increase of a blockage with the normal flow of water. plus, from your pearsappearance have a slim body, you have swift actions, you look like a vata person. >> it should be dominated for my to be healthy, but the doctor thinks right now my vata is too dominant. how do i get my do shaz and health back into balance? >> this is a richle which we do. it's an offering to a lot of good health. you can make your offering. >> to good health? >> yes. >> the doctor has prescribed me a treatment callgentleman new v, where medicated oil is poured around my knees. >> this is the most tensiattenty knees have ever received. the treatment is meant to unblock the flow of vata, the energy of movement.
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>> vata is cold in nature, so you supply heat. so you have the physical warmth of the oil, plus the medicines inside the oil that will give you good results. >> it's interesting, when i was a kid, my mom used to rob oil on me whenever i had any kind of injury or if i wasn't feeling well. oil starts off pretty hot, but it gets pretty relaxing quickly. >> ayurvedic treatments are ensidelined in ancient hindu scriptures, and in chanting, doctors passed them from generation to generation. a tradition that's lasted thousands of years. the architect describe over 700 medicinal plants.
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he produces all his oils and medicines based on these traditional formulas. the products they make here from pills to oils are all aimed at rebalancing a patient's do shaz. >> dr. sanjay, please close your eyes. >> this warm oil is infused with herbs called be a la which contain a stimulant, ephedrine and ash with a began da, known as indian ginseng. the doctor is pouring it onto my third eye. believed to be the seat of human consciousness.
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as a western doctor i've been trained to focus on one part of the body. you get injured, you treat that part. but here, they take a holistic approach no matter what the problem. >> it feels relaxing. what exactly is it for? what's happening? >> we do it for problems where there is blockage, no vata in the head. it's used to treat insomnia, depression, some people even cry during the treatment. just venting our feelings. >> it is an emotional experience, but how much is just about the relaxization, do you think. >> we say the human body is like a tree which is upside down. the root is in the head and the branches are towards the bottom. so you treat the head, the roots, and the effect goes
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kerala has a near-perfect environment for growing food and medicinal plants. but ayurveda isn't just herbal remedies, it's a whole philosophy on how to live and eat. >> is she a good cook? >> she is a good cook. >> he grew up in kerala immersed in the world of ayurvedic cooking. >> he opened a chain of successful restaurants in london before coming home to create this farm and culinary center where he spreads the word about the healing power of food. >> how did you decide what to grow? >> my biggest fascination was spices because that's what spiritually connected me to food. you know, we always believed food is the fundamental bridge between us, nature, and life. >> you're trying to talk to me. how much of this was about
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health? >> it's all about health. >> even the elephants love the food here. >> welcome to to the kitchen. >> thank you very much. this looks like you mean business. >> we are cooking a dish made of fresh vegetables. >> people always say you should eat seven different colored foods a day. you can get that very easily. >> you say this is an ayurvedic ki dish. ayurvedic and diet here are the same thing. >> that's a healthy cooking style. >> a tommy indian can you be barred bored is like a medicine cabinet. ginger, cinnamon all things i grew up with without knowing it was preventative medicine. >> instead of the money being paid at the hospital, we should
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spend that money for good food. >> pretty magical. >> dass is not just a chef, he's also an educator. [ speaking foreign language ] and he wants to pass the ayurvedic tractions and knowledge to future generations. today lea today's classroom is in the garden with a lesson on one of the west's big super foods, turmeric. >> what do you tell them? >> unlike the west, turmeric has been part of our life ever since we can remember. turmeric helpss an antioxidant, helps with cancer. they have never seen this. >> this is the first time you're seeing this? [ speaking foreign language ]
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>> like old times medicines, these were in food. if you give a teaspoon of turmeric power, they won't eat it. but when it's mixed with curry, it tastes better. that is the secret. >> you think you're going to eat this more often now? yeah, because it tastes good or because it's good for you? okay. >> this is the golden spice, turmeric. it has this compound in it known as could you minimum, it's a boo active compound that reduces inflammation at the molecule lar level, cancer, heart disease, even alzheimer's disease are things it's going to affect. tonight, dass has invited me to a feast called the sadia. >> start with the chips, then pickles, then dry dishes, then
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thick dishes, then the wet dishes. >> so left to right? >> left to right. >> is there a special technique to this? >> it's about making your fingers like a spoon zoo like a grabber. so you use your thumb to push it in. >> when you eat with your fingers, it tastes so much better. >> once you look past the costumes and the ceremony, what's happening here at its core couldn't be more basic. a mindful approach to eating pretty sur fresh, simple foods. that's the foundation of a healthy life. >> delicious. new lower price. wow. that's a lot of asparagus.
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if you spend enough time here in kerala, it quickly becomes clear, this is a socialist state and universal health care is a big reason the people here are some of the healthiest in the nation. but kerala is not without its problems. obesity and diabetes are major health issues, in large part because of an increasingly western diet. but some people are fighting that trend in a small village with a big name.
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>> country nam than am. >> this local resident recently decided the best way to keep his village healthy was to practice one of the india's oldest traditions, yoga. >> watching you walk around, everyone stops you. >> yeah. >> you become the yoga man. >> yeah. they are all my students. >> the whole village? >> you have hindus, you have muslims, you have christians. how hard was it to start a program like this? >> when i started, my first difficulty was i spoke with a priest of a church and i show some asanas. 100 church members came to my
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class. >> now anywhere from 100 to 500 students a day show up for his free classes. and they're certainly going out of their way to make me feel welcome. >> like a yoga marriage. >> i want to go to yoga every day if this happens every day. >> okay. >> yoga means union. union of body, mind, and spirit. the practice is nearly 5,000 years old and is considered the sister science to ayurveda. >> one. >> we often think of yoga as a workout. but the physical postures called
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asanas are just one part of the practice which includes meditation and breathing techniques. >> this village has made a commitment to make themselves healthier and this is how they did it, by having group yoga sessions where young can old, different religious all get together. >> in the last six months, he's trained at least one member of every family in the practice. >> full rotation. [ speaking foreign language ] >> creating a new kind of union as india's first complete yoga village. >> breathe in. lift your hand. >> then put your forehead on the floor. >> breathe out. down. breathe in. very good. >> good teacher. thank you. >> a recent study at harvard
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medical school concluded the benefits of yoga and meditation like lowered stress and blood pressure can reduce hospital visits up to 43% and can save patients $25,000 a year. here, without any fancy gyms or props, they say the whole village is already feeling the benefits. >> how was the yoga class? >> it is very fruitful for me. earlier i saw a diabeticic patient, around 200 and i was using three tab lets per day. after practicing yoga for seven months, it just come down to the normal level of about 110. now i do not use any tablet at all. >> you want to make people healthier? what is it that you're hoping to achieve? >> my aim is the next generation. if the people do yoga in their house, the children will watch.
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when they grow up, i think if everyone do yoga, they can produce the consumption of medicine. >> he isn't alone in his mission, in fact, yoga and ayurveda are the core of the indian government's new health care plan. i'm heading to the capital to talk to perhaps india's most powerful yogi, prime minister narendra modi. ♪ woman 1: this is my body of proof. man 1: proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. man 2: proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2: ...with humira. woman 3: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms.
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♪ delhi is beautiful chaos. a sprawling capital of 20 million people. it's always been a part of my life, and every time i visit, i'm stunned by how much it's changing. >> it's a completely different place than i remember when i was a kid. i mean, these big fashion names
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and prices, still delhi, but it's a new delhi. >> i know from the health care in the united states that keeping a nation of more than a billion people healthy has got to be a daunting task. but prime minister modi has a plan. >> thank you, again, mr. prooirmt. i really appreciate your time here. here you have a family, as you say, of 1.3 billion people. what is the state of health in india? [ speaking foreign language ]
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>> prime minister modi believes an embrace of traditional practices can elevate the health of his people. he's created a government ministry to promote yoga and is bringing yoga programs into schools and has declared june 21st international yoga day. >> some 8,000 people showed up in new york. >> new delhi over the weekend setting a world record. >> this year, more than 200 million people around the world joined in. [ speaking foreign language ]
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>> you have many religions here and many still associate yoga with hinduism, sun salutation, oem. [ speaking foreign language ]os oem. [ speaking foreign language ]hs, oem. [ speaking foreign language ]ms salutation, oem. [ speaking foreign language ],s salutation, oem. [ speaking foreign language ] s salutation, oem. [ speaking foreign language ]. [ speaking foreign language ] >> what about ayurveda? ayurveda and yoga are considered the sister sciences of how do they balance? [ speaking foreign language ]
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>> i think this is a very important point. my parents are both scientifically minded people. since i was a boy they've been teaching me about ayurveda and yoga. the discussions would always be, i know that it feels good, i understand that it's been around for thousands of years, but how do you show everybody else that it works? [ speaking foreign language ]
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>> five time . >> thank you. [ speaking foreign language ] >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i know. it's hard to imagine that things like ayurveda and yoga can help solve 21st century health problems. but i'm about to see how india is taking these ancient practices into the future. >> i don't think the world has thought about yoga like this. alrighty, you guys are almost all set.
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and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. inhale deeply. >> it's first period. early morning class at india's first yoga university. espiasa in bangalore.
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i want to see if yoga is different here than it is back home. and can it actually heal us when we're sick? >> so how was it? >> there are some moves which challenge the body. >> that's true. >> but it's very relaxing as well. what is the thing you tell the students they're most likely to gain from this? >> the first thing is the mind. our mind is like an monkey mind, it keeps jumping from place to place. what we're trying to is use the mind to bring it back to the present moment. yoga is not about the flexibility of your posture, but it's the flexibility of your mind. through the posture, you gain that flexibility in your mind. >> by that standard, these students have some seriously flexible minds.
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and it seems there's almost no limit to how far the practice can go. for some people, anyway. so everybody feel okay? was that a challenging class, or no? okay. does anybody know what yoga is like in the united states? have you seen -- >> in the u.s. it's like hot yoga, power yoga, there's different sorts of yogas. what we do is more of a spiritual connect. we connect the mind and the body. the holistic approach. >> the other thing you find is there are a lot of mirrors and decorations. you end up looking around. yoga is all about looking within. so how do you do that in a studio? you're looking at your posture, it looks so beautiful.
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>> the city is around 100 acres. >> 100 acres? >> yes. >> espiasa yoga is the main form of treatment. >> we have different departments, you can see here. there is neurology, oncology, pulmonology, resume atolling. >> you really have it broken down like you would see in most hospitals around the world. >> just like the hospitals i work in in the united states, this is a research facility, where treatments are tested and evaluated. dr. charma heads the physiological function lab. >> what we're looking at is the beat to beat variability. >> i have to tell you, when i
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saw a yogi doing a handstand, i imagined there would be a bunch of candles. and we've got an ekg. in this experiment we're looking at heart rate variability. that's how quickly the hard responds to a stressful situation like being upside down. >> we see his response, the respiration goes up, heart rate goes up. then by the second or third minute, it reaches saturation. then he brings it down. >> are you doing okay? >> yeah, yeah. >> through repeated practice this pose seems to condition the heart and the mind to stay relaxing and adaptable. i could see how this could be good forwarding off heart disease, high blood pressure, and strokes. >> i think the really important thing here is having more variability is a good thing. he's basically showing that his body can respond to a challenge. >> yes. >> he suddenly gets a challenge, his heart rate can go up and it
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can come back down quickly and relax when it needs to as well. >> can you just come down, very slowly. >> are you okay, kieran? yoga's effects on the body seem obvious. but as a brain surgeon, i'm really interested in the mind. the doctor is as well, with a fundamental yoga technique known as alternate nostril breathing. what does the color mean here? >> the flow changes. you see in your case there is for oxygenation on your left hemisphere. >> he tells me that stimulating the left side of the brain activates the rest and digest systems. i wouldn't have thought there would be that much of a difference in my brain,
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breathing from one nostril to the other. >> that's the beauty of yoga. what we do in this laboratory is understand how exactly we can use a yoga intervention for disease management. >> you talk about it like it's prescribing, you know, a medication or something. in this case you're prescribing a series of postures to treat things like diabetes or heart disease. i don't think most of the world has thought about yoga like this. >> this is going to help people a lot. >> this merging of tradition and technology was the brainchild of dr. narendra. you're a scientist, a mechanical engineer, you studied rocket science and worked for nasa. >> we don't know what is mind. we don't know what is
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consciousness. we don't know. i side let's combine the best of the east with the best of the west. the best of the west is modern scientific research. the best of the east is what we have here. >> i definitely have a new appreciation for yoga. and my medical training and my indian ancestry suddenly don't seem all that far apart. but is the prime minister's push for these traditional practices really catching on in modern media? before heading home, i'm making one last stop in delhi to find out. i'm stopping off to see my cousin and the rest of my family in india. >> good to see you too, it feels like you've come home. >> tonight is the indian new year, a perfect time to reconnect. all right. happy devali.
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when is the last time we all got together? three years ago? >> sanjay, why don't you come often to india? you should come with the kids. >> they miss it here. >> tell them i miss them. >> one of the first things the prime minister did was to go create a world yoga day, international yoga day. >> he started yoga day and he's leading it, that's the best part. millions of people are doing it. >> do you think that yoga is becoming popular again? >> absolutely. these days people are doing different yogas, like power yoga. >> water yoga. people are really getting into it. we've been to two or three meditation classes and trust me, he slept in all of them. >> that's a good sign. >> when someone says what is aruvedic medicine, how do you
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describe it? >> it's part of our diet now. >> it's funny, when i was young, mom used to use mustard oil for everything. if i hurt my knee, mustard would help. if i was misbehaving in school, mustard will help. but she believed it would work. >> she still does. >> i guess mom was right. >> mom is always right. >> what's happening here in india is something we should all pay attention to. by bringing the country together behind these ancient practices, they're taking control of their health. of mind and body. finding the keys to wellness in their traditions. in their kitchens. things we can all do anywhere.
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and the two halves of my life, american doctor and indian son, finally feel like a perfect union. thank you. cheers to everybody. happy devali. >> anthony: peru is a country that's historically driven men mad, mad for gold, for coca, for its magical, ancient history. but now, there's something else drawing outsiders to its hidden mountain valleys. we love this stuff. we obsess about it, gorge on it and fetishize it. i'm talking about chocolate. once a common treat, it's now becoming as nuanced as fine wine, making the pursuit of the raw, good stuff all the more difficult. i'm joining that hunt in remotest peru, but not before

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