Panchakarma – The Five petal lotus from Ayurveda
A true blog based on Samhitas
A true blog based on Samhitas
Panchakarma is one of the most well-known treatment procedures in Ayurveda. There are a lot of misconceptions about both Ayurveda & Panchakarma. So many people ask Vaidya (Ayurvedic practitioner), can I take Panchakarma treatment? Everywhere, we could see many centers offering ayurvedic detoxification, Kerala panchakarma, etc. What is Panchakarma? What should you give attention to while doing it? Let’s dive in-depth.
In Ayurveda, treatment procedures are broadly categorized as Shodana (Cleansing) & Shamanam (alleviate).
In Shodhana Chikitsa, with the help of medication, the aggravated Dosha ( Vata, Pitta & Kapha) gets expelled from the body. The following treatments come under Shodhana Chikitsa
These treatments together are known as Pancha Karma (Pancha Means 5).
In Shamana Chikitsa, with the help of medication, “thri-doshas” (Vata, Pitta & Kabha) are brought to normalcy, but without expelling the aggravated doshas from the body. This includes medicines to increase the digestive fire, medications that help proper digestion, Upavasam (fasting), exercise, etc.
As we discussed already, Panchakarma involves five main procedures. Before undergoing each of these treatments, one has to follow and do certain things before and after. These help us get the desired result for that karma. All these treatments can’t be done in any season; similarly, they can’t be exercised on all kinds of people. These indications and contraindication are discussed in detail in Ayurveda.
Let’s see a few contraindications.
Vamana(Emesis) should not be exercised on pregnant women, children, people with heart disease, weak, very lean, or overweight.
Virechana(Purgation) should not be exercised on people having newly originated fever, diarrhea, less digestive fire, or any bleeding disorder.
Similarly, certain conditions are there for each treatment in the Panchakarma process. Considering nature, health condition of the person, stage of the disease, climate, and detailed observation, the vaidya (practitioner) decides which treatments have to be done.
Snehanam and Swedanam are two preparatory treatments done before starting the Panchakarma.
Snehanam: Depending on the health & diseased condition of the person, certain medicated oils, ghee, vasa, or bone marrow have to be decided and given orally every day for 3 to 7 days. The quantity consumed increases day by day, and continues still specific symptoms are observed. Strict dietary restrictions have to be followed while doing these along with enough rest, both mental and physical. During this period, you should not sleep during day time and should sleep at night, also use only warm water for all daily activities like washing your body, brushing, etc. You should not talk too much or get exposed to sunlight or heavy wind. Noncompliance to these will bring troubles and adverse effects from fatigue to fever. One should take food only once or twice a day that too easily digestible and warm. Continuous monitoring is essential to decide what to do and what not to do daily during the treatment.
Swedanam: After doing Snehanam for up to 3 days, medicated oil is applied to the body, and a steam bath is taken. These two procedures will help bring back the aggravated doshas to the koshta ( gastrointestinal tract) from the other body parts. In the course of Swedanam, specific food has to be taken based on what panchakarma treatments are decided to follow. Vaidya will fix this after observing the patient.
Snehanam & Swedanam will help the proper removal of impurities from the body. Now let’s look into the primary treatment procedures in Panchakarma which follow after this.
Vamanam: In this process, with the aid of medicines, impurities are removed from the body through vomiting. This is important for managing increased Kapha.
Virechanam: In this treatment, with the aid of medicine, impurities are escalated from the body through stools. This is important for increased Pitta, and other conditions arise due to imbalanced Pitta.
Vasti: In Vasti, special medicated decoction or medicated oil and ghee in a specific ratio is taken, and enema is given with that for a specific time. All impurities come out along with medicines given after some time. This is important for excess Vata and related issues.
Nasyam/ Shiro Virechanam: Nostrils are the entry point to the head. For all diseases related to the head and above the shoulder, Nasyam is the main treatment procedure. Medicated oil, ghee, powder form of herbs, extracted juice of herbs will be used for Nasyam, and these will bring out the vitiated dosha through nostril. The medicine is directly poured into the nostrils. Broadly two types of treatment lines are there with Nasyam
Prathimarsham Nasyam: 1 or two drops applied in each nostril. It can be done every day to all age groups.
Marsha Nasyam: Medication is used in larger doses ( 4,8,16,32 drops) for a specific time period.
Rakta Mokshanam: Draining impure blood from our body. This is done in two ways. One way is using leeches to suck blood, and the other through draining at specific quantities through blood vessels using needles.
Once the whole treatment is over, the vital energy levels and digestive fire will be slow & low. So one has to be careful with the strict diet, physical exertion and should follow guidelines prescribed by vaidya after observing your condition. After a few days, you can resume normal daily life and routines.
The treatment is more personalized for each individual, depending on Prakriti and health conditions. Which and all treatments are to be done? When to do it? What medicines to use? Which food to take, all these are decided by the Vayida after keen observation. Improper treatment may bring more trouble to the patient than any benefit. So one must understand the treatment and take it seriously. Make sure you undertake it with proper guidance and with experienced practitioners.
Not just diseased, a healthy person could also take Panchakarma. Our improper daily routines and climate will bring imbalance to our body, and Panchakarma will help restore balance by properly eliminating impurities and keeping you healthy and immune to diseases.
Namasthe, Here we are back with another informative series on Food and Ayurveda. Ayurveda takes a preventive approach to health, good lifestyle and proper food habits are the primary aspects. This will be a series of articles to give you insight into food and how it affects our health from an Ayurvedic perspective. Food plays a vital role in our physical and mental wellness. Knowing what you are eating, what to eat and not to eat can help you take care of your health.
In Ayurveda, food has classification based on its quality to affect Tridoshas (Kapha, Vata, and Pita) and other vital body functions. Most of the time, properly evaluating your health condition as per Ayurveda and adjusting your food based on that can bring the cure.
Todays article is about taste and how you could decide what to eat and what not to eat based on your health condition and taste.
In our daily life, we go through several discomforts. The food we take plays a vital role in managing these discomforts. There are fundamentally six different tastes. Ayurveda classifies these six different tastes based on their effects on Tridosha. If you know which Doshas are contributing to your discomfort, you could easily decide which food you can have and what to avoid with this simple idea of taste. ( Though this information will help you in general, in certain cases there are exceptions, consult a physician for specific details)
Arogyaniketan Ayurveda Clinic & Panchakarma Centre
Dr. Parvathy Chandran BAMS
We provide classical Ayurvedic Treatments, Massage, Shirodhara, Panchakarma, etc. Please visit https://arogyaniketan.in for more information and details about our facilities.
Your health is in your hands, not on medicines!
Namaste,
This blog is the second in a three-part series on Diabetic and Ayurveda. It is recommended that you read the first part of this series to understand the subject properly.As we discussed in our earlier article when our body is not able to take up sugar ( glucose) into its cells and use it for energy, it results in a build-up of extra sugar in our bloodstream – The condition we call Diabetes.
Sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy food habits, stress, improper sleeping habits, etc results in the accumulation of fats over cells, and slowly cells become insulin resistant.
In type 2 diabetes ( most commonly seen one) insulin production will be normal in our body but because of fat accumulation over cells, they can’t utilize the insulin and glucose properly. This leads to increased sugar levels in the blood.
To treat diabetes modern medicines usually suggest oral medications and insulin therapy. Both of these work in one of these ways to treat your diabetes:-
Are these treatments really helping to get rid of the root cause? Or just treating you symptomatically? We already have sufficient insulin production in our body but body cells can’t utilize it and again if you are giving extra work to the pancreas to produce more insulin, over a period it affects the efficiency of the organ and it can’t produce enough insulin, even if we push it with external medication. And slowly you have to depend on insulin injections.
Type 1 diabetes: about 10% of people who have diabetes are of type 1, where insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed. So they have to take insulin injections every day.
From the above discussion, we can conclude that type 2 diabetes ( while on allopathy medication) over a prolonged period ends up as type 1 diabetes. Moreover, the treatment emphasises keeping the blood sugar levels in check rather than addressing the cause of it.
Ayurveda addresses the root cause of the disease rather than the symptoms. Once the root causes are fixed, symptoms will disappear naturally. What is the Ayurvedic approach to diabetes? How does it treat diabetes? All these we will discuss in the next and last blog of this series.
Be free from Diabetes through Ayurveda
Give your health some priority; consider spending some time reading this exclusive content. It is like an investment, how you seed a plant – It needs time to grow and show results. The whole world is like a fast food store now, everyone needs quick one-shot solutions, but our body doesn’t work that way all the time.
Namaste,
This blog is part of a three-part series on Diabetic and Ayurveda. Here we throw some light on understanding the disease, how modern treatment works, does to your body, and how, with Ayurveda, you could completely cure the disease.
Here we try to understand what is diabetic and how you developed diabetes. It is essential to know that because once you get cured, you should not be inviting it again.
Before getting to details, let me answer your curious mind. Is diabetes completely curable with Ayurvedic treatment? The answer is YES, it is. Type 2 diabetes is completely curable, and we could effectively manage Type 1 diabetes with treatment, all these if you are ready to follow certain things. We will see more in detail soon.
In a healthy body
Once the food digests, the glucose from food gets into our bloodstream. As the sugar level in blood increases, it triggers the pancreas to start secreting insulin hormone. So now you have insulin also in the blood. The liver, muscles, and adipose tissues absorb glucose from blood with the help of this insulin. Thus our cells get enough sugar, and the body gets energy. As the sugar gets absorbed by cells, sugar levels in the blood come to normal, and insulin production gets reduced.
The disease
In the so-called diabetic condition cells fail to absorb enough glucose from the bloodstream; without sugar, our cells can’t function properly, which will affect all the organs and overall functions of our body. It invites so many troubles.
Why can’t cells absorb glucose?
There are two probable pieces of knowledge we have
a) Insulin resistance of Cells (Type 2 Diabetic): Our cells need insulin to absorb glucose from blood; what if cells can’t absorb enough insulin? They can’t get enough glucose too. This is the most commonly observed diabetic condition.
b) Less insulin in the bloodstream (Type 1 Diabetic): What if enough insulin is not getting produced by your pancreas. Without enough insulin, cells can’t absorb glucose. Type 1 diabetic condition is not that prevalent.
Why you should treat it early.
Type -2 Diabetic is the most common diabetic condition comparatively easy to manage; on the other hand, Type – 1 Diabetic is hard to reverse. But improperly treated type 2 diabetes converts into Type – 1 diabetes over time and becomes hard to reverse. So you have to take proper treatment as early as possible.
Are you diabetic
When you have diabetes, your cells are not consuming glucose from the bloodstream, and sugar levels in your blood increase. Naturally, the body tries to wash out excess glucose in the blood through urine. So now, to throw out excess glucose, the body will increase the urine output, for that more body fluid are used and cause dehydration in the body. This gets expressed as excessive thirst and dryness of the mouth.
As we know, glucose gives us energy, and when cells can’t absorb glucose, it makes cells starve, and the person feels fatigued.
In the next blog in this series, we will discuss how modern medicine treats diabetes and its impacts on your body and health. Also please do share your comments and and questions, so that we could address them in the upcoming blogs.
Great article Informative Insights into the root cause and remedy
Congratulations
Very much informative. Thank You
Great…Thank You for Sharing
Thank you for such a valuable information mam…it is very helpful for us …
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!