Panchakarma Part 3 - The cleanse

This was the part of panchakarma I was dreading the most as I’m not a fan of things being shoved up my back side. The week started with a 1 day virechana where I had an oil massage in the morning and then was given a bowl of dense Halwa like sweet which was known to give loose motion throughout the day. The more I went, the more the body was flushing out and I was advised not to leave my room that day. I had to note every time I had gone and then had to drink a glass of warm water to avoid dehydration. The day ended with me going day 12 times and then I had a millet vegetable stew at 630pm and my body was done with the flushing.

The next day I had a full day test before starting an 8 day basti treatment (mediated enema). In Ayurveda there are 2 types of basti and I had both daily for 8 days. The first was a basti concoction made of cow urine, jaggery, rock salt and other ayurvedic herbs, which once given, made me go to the bathroom within 15mins, this was done in the afternoon. And then second was medicated oil which was given in the afternoon, and I would need to go to the bathroom about 4hrs after. Both were done to help cleanse all the toxins from inside me and flush them out. For each basti, I had to lie on my left side while the therapist put a pipe in my back end and gave the Basti to me through here, I could feel the warm Basti enter my body. I had to lie on my left side for 1 minute and then on my back for a minute before going to the toilet and for the oil basti I went to my room until the 4hrs had passed and the natural urge came to flush the toxins out.

Throughout basti, my daily Abhyanga (oil) and Udwartana (powder) alternating massages continued and instead of the shirodara/takeadhara, I had Thalapothichil. This involved an oil head massage, hair tied and then a medicated paste being applied on my head. This paste is prepared with cooling herbs mixed with butter milk and the treatment promotes both mental and physical relaxation. The head is then wrapped using banana leaves (freshly picked from the trees outside the treatment room) and a cloth to keep it tied in place. After 1

hour, I had to take it off and wash my hair.

#Tulayogi108 #Yoga #Ayurveda #Bethechange #Yogainspiration #Yogapractice #Newbeginnings #Travellingyogi #Dailypractice #Asanas