In Maya Tiwari’s book ‘Ayurveda: Secrets of Healing’, she talks about how sadhanas are “reverent and harmonious practices given to us by nature” and that the sadhanas of Panchakarma therapy are the core of Ayurveda’s healing therapies. The term Panchakarma refers to the 5 therapies used to cleanse the body for both preventative and curative purposes: emesis (vomiting therapies), purgation (laxative therapy), enema, bloodletting and nasal insufflation (medication via nasal passages). Your constitution and your health conditions will determine which therapies are applicable. (bloodletting is now very rarely offered)
Before starting any panchakarma program, there are 2 types of therapies that prepare the body for deep cleaning. One type called ‘snehana’ is translated as “ayurvedic love therapy”. Not surprisingly, this involves treatments that are about oiling, anointing, lubricating and caressing the body. Tiwari calls these the most loving of sadhanas and in my first 10 days of treatment, I have mainly be receiving this rather pleasant “love therapy” with 5 days of ‘Kizhi’ and so far, 5 days of ‘Thakra Dhara’. (In total, I will do 3 weeks of Ayurvedic treatments so a cleansing treatment will finish off the program.)
Every morning, I wear a “sexy” traditional G-string loincloth (literally a string and a strip of cotton cloth) and receive approximately 40 minutes of treatment which is followed by a hot water “bucket bath”. We don’t use soap or shampoo because it strips the skin so I am given a special mung bean paste that gently absorbs the treatment oil from my hair and body. At first, it felt strange not using soap after all that oil treatment, but my skin does appreciate the “lubrication”.
Kizhi treatment involves the application of warm oil on the body, followed by an invigorating “pounding” with herbal bundles by 2 practitioners on either side of my body. (A third practitioner keeps heating up the bundles on a skillet.) Kizhi means “bundles” and the herbs inside will differ per person, depending on your constitution and health needs. This therapy is supposed to “open up sweat pores, improve vascularity, work on the skeletal and muscular systems and speed up metabolism.”
In the Thakra Dhara treatments, two practitioners pour amalaki-infused buttermilk on my forehead while another gives me a massage with warm oil. (Thakra = buttermilk and Dhara = pouring) This treatment is supposed to “regulate the actions of hypothalamus, pituitary glands and the function of all sense organs”. I particularly enjoy this treatment as it is very soothing; I close my eyes and release myself to the care of these 3 women, melting into the gentle sounds of the cool buttermilk drizzling down on my forehead…
My Typical Schedule at Sreedhari:
6am medicine (gentle laxative) in kashayam form = liquid herbal preparation
8:30am Whole body treatment (e.g. Kizhi and Thakra Dhara)
9:30am Breakfast (usually some form of rice with coconut chutney and chai)
11:30am Eye wash with “triphala” liquid (3 major ingredients in the Ayurvedic arsenal)
12:45pm medicine (digestive formula) in arishstam form = fermented liquid
1pm Lunch (usually fluffy rice with two vegetarian dishes, coconut chutney, raw cucumber salad, papadam)
3:30pm tea + cooked banana
5:30pm medicine (cleansing for skin) in kashayam form
6:30pm Dinner (usually chapati with curried vegetables, fresh pineapple)
8pm medicine in leham form = edible paste
10:30pm bedtime
Ayurvedic medicines can come in a variety of forms:
– Pills or tablets
– powders
– oils
– medicated ghee
– liquid herbal preparation
– fermented liquid
– paste
