Yoga class in Kinghorn is the best medicine!

Debabrata Ghosh (Debu) was a consultant physician in geriatric medicine for 25 years at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

But he decided to take full retirement in 2006 after suffering from psoriatic arthritis, mainly affecting his hands and feet.

Debu (81) said: “At that time, I was taking several drugs and my joints were periodically injected with steroids. But I then started practising yoga.

“After one year, pain and swelling of my joints completely disappeared and my psoriasis improved up to about 70 per cent. I could not believe that yoga was so powerful in alleviating my problem.

“I then decided to become a yoga teacher to help others keep fit and healthy and I found it also helps people suffering from different diseases like hypertension, diabetes, heart problem, arthritis, obesity, depression, Parkinson’s disease as well as cancer.”

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Debu did his yoga training at the Patanjali Yog Peeth (UK) Trust, Glasgow, and Patanjali Yog Peeth at Hardwar, India.

He said: “When I went to India I could see that everyone over there was doing yoga and every morning there was someone on television who was practising yoga.

“Generally people who were doing it were saying how much better they were feeling as a result and this inspired me.”

Debu said a common trigger for psoriasis was stress which is why he believed practising yoga helped because it was very relaxing and reducesdstress through various postures and controlled breathing.

After doing his training, Debu decided to start teaching yoga for free in 2009 at Kinghorn Church Hall on Monday from 2.30pm to 4pm.

He has also been taking yoga classes at Dudhope Multicultural Centre, Dundee on Saturdays for 18 months.

While his students are mostly retired people, Debu said locals of all ages are welcome to attend the sessions.

One of the class participants, Elizabeth Chalmers (82), who attends along with her husband Jim (84), claims they have not had bad colds since they started practising yoga ten years ago.

Jim said: “It makes you feel very relaxed and keeps you limbered up.”

Jean Drummond (80) from Kinghorn said: “I like coming to yoga on Mondays because it keeps you doing exercise which you might not do otherwise. I have done it for a few years and find it very relaxing. Debu is really good at teaching yoga, he is very sincere.”

Sarah Garland (75), who attends the class with her husband James (78), have been practising yoga with Debu for the past six years.

Sarah said: “Doing yoga really makes you feel half your age.

“My husband underwent a triple heart bypass operation and he got through it no bother at all – he was out of hospital and back home in five days.”

She added: “Since we started doing yoga we have never looked back.”