Panchakarma: Five Actions of Purification
Are you plagued by chronic bad health? Are your energy levels too low or your anxiety levels too high? Do you feel like time is your enemy?
Give us your dedication to these methods of detoxification for 8 days and you will truly feel what peace is.
Give us your dedication to these methods of detoxification for 8 days and you will truly feel what peace is.
Panchakarma at the Houston Ayurveda Center is a series of therapies that remove deep rooted stressors, impurities and toxins from your physiology while also balancing the Doshas – the energies and forces that govern biological functions.
The human body has a natural healing intelligence which is capable of constantly rejuvenating itself. Regardless of our lifestyle, profession, eating habits or geographical locations, toxins are accumulating in our bodies, building up over time and leading to poor health. There is a simple elegance to the approach and effectiveness of Panchakarma as it utilizes the naturally occurring cycles of the body for elimination.
We purify our bodies for vibrant physical health, but also to reach higher states of consciousness. When your body is clean, your mind is clear and your senses are sharp.
The human body has a natural healing intelligence which is capable of constantly rejuvenating itself. Regardless of our lifestyle, profession, eating habits or geographical locations, toxins are accumulating in our bodies, building up over time and leading to poor health. There is a simple elegance to the approach and effectiveness of Panchakarma as it utilizes the naturally occurring cycles of the body for elimination.
We purify our bodies for vibrant physical health, but also to reach higher states of consciousness. When your body is clean, your mind is clear and your senses are sharp.
Our Panchakarma program will vary slightly from person to person but the structure remains the same; this is a typical Panchakarma Program at the Houston Ayurveda Center:
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Day 1 of Panchakarma: Sunita has spoken with you in depth about your goals and needs that you are trying to meet throughout the week. She makes a special Ghee just for you; today she is making Ghee augmented with the Amruta vine. Amruta is a Sanskrit word meaning Potion of Immortality; it strives to enhance what is good within you so that it may live on and be stronger, unhindered by whatever might be misbehaving.
Before taking the Ghee you have a session with your therapist for an Abhyanga (warm oil massage) & Steam, which by itself will increase your circulation and improve your body's ability to eliminate impurities. Today it is combined with a Kati Basti and Karna Pooran (oil in the ears). The Kati Basti concentrates the benefits of warm oil deep into your lower back, relieving an tension, and the Karna Pooran will pull all of the worries and tension right out of your head. Together these balance your Chakras system and restore your inner calm. |
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Day 2 of Panchakarma: Each consecutive day you receive an Abhyanga allows the oils to penetrate deeper into your lymphatic system. The same is true with the medicated Ghee you are taking after your sessions. As your body becomes increasingly relaxed and oleated inside and out, the easier it is for your body to surrender the waste it is struggling to get rid of into the oil so that it can be more easily eliminated by your body's natural processes.
We compliment this process today with the Netra Basti, deeply oleating the eyes, where you will find some of the hardest working muscles in our bodies; even when you're asleep your eyes aren't completely still or fully relaxed. During the Netra Basti we make a warm bed for your eyes to rest in, giving them reprieve from their constant search for information to just be calm. Any tension that might be left in your head after receiving Karna Pooran will be lessened even further as you counter the strain from sunlight and screens, slowing the natural degeneration process of your eyes, nourishing and even regenerating healthier optic nerve tissues. |
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Day 3 of Panchakarma: You will be having another Abhyanga today, but it won't be on a regular massage table, it will be on the Droni: the traditional massage table of Ayurveda. This very special table was made in India from Neem wood. Every part of the Neem Tree is used in Ayurveda for its bitter detoxifying qualities and also its natural antiseptic properties for generations.
Your third consecutive Abhyanga massage is penetrating even deeper into your system by utilizing the firm surface of the Droni; as your therapist applies pressure down, the table mirrors that pressure upwards giving both sides of your body a massage simultaneously. We are really starting to stir things up today so we will ask you to remain on the table after your massage and follow a guided meditation, the Yoga Nidra, to keep your body completely relaxed and open to the changes that are taking place in your inner ecosystem. This will most likely be the last day of taking your medicated ghee. Sunita will check on your progress and possibly add a fourth day if your intestinal tract hasn't become fully coated yet. |
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Day 4 of Panchakarma: This time your Abhyanga will be done by four hands instead of two; a pair of therapists will be working on you in perfect synchronicity. We are trying to work the oil deeper and deeper into your system and today we literally double our efforts.
Instead of following the massage with steam, today the heat will come from Pindas and Hot Stones. Your therapists will massage both of your arms or legs at the same time with warm oil, then hot stones, as well as your back and stomach. The stones hold a more intense heat that is quick to cool. The Pindas are made of rice cooked with milk and the herb Bala, which translates to Strength. We are trying all this week to remove that which is making you weaker, but we also want to nourish you and replace it with that which will make you stronger. The Pindas are warmed in Dashmoola Tea and then pressed, rolled and lightly pounded around the more sensitive areas of your body like along the spine to calm and nourish the millions of nerve endings there. This process is so helpful to releasing deeply seated toxic emotions. |
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Day 5 of Panchakarma: We have stirred up everything unpleasant in you and you might be feeling a little uncomfortable or emotional today, but here is the positive side; we are going to help you release it now.
Your fifth consecutive abhyanga will be accompanied today by an Udar Basti. The goal of your Abhyanga today is to take all of the toxins that we have been loosening and binding to the oils and ghee during the week and move it towards your gut. The Udar Basti is placed on your stomach to help in making everything in your gut slippery so that it may be passed easily. We send you home with all of the supplies you need to complete the cleanse in the comfort of your home, including a bag of turmeric popcorn for you to snack on. The weekend is your time to rest and release, and we will see you on Monday for the final day of Panchakarma! |
Day 6-7 of Panchakarma: The Big Cleanse
You will set your alarm for 5 AM on day 6, but once you take your cleanse herbs you can go right back to bed with the heating pad we gave you in your Panchakarma Bag along with a box of tea to sip on throughout the week, a jar of Ghee to cook with and two bags of Khichadi which you will be needing this weekend as well.
You will be finished eliminating by about lunch time, and your stomach will be completely empty except for the popcorn and raisins you are allowed to snack on. You might be REALLY hungry but you can't just jump back into eating as you normally do. We have spent this past week encouraging your body to reverse it's natural flow which is from stomach to bloodstream so that nutrients can be distributed. Instead, we have been moving everything back to the stomach so that you can easily eliminate it.
You will set your alarm for 5 AM on day 6, but once you take your cleanse herbs you can go right back to bed with the heating pad we gave you in your Panchakarma Bag along with a box of tea to sip on throughout the week, a jar of Ghee to cook with and two bags of Khichadi which you will be needing this weekend as well.
You will be finished eliminating by about lunch time, and your stomach will be completely empty except for the popcorn and raisins you are allowed to snack on. You might be REALLY hungry but you can't just jump back into eating as you normally do. We have spent this past week encouraging your body to reverse it's natural flow which is from stomach to bloodstream so that nutrients can be distributed. Instead, we have been moving everything back to the stomach so that you can easily eliminate it.
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You will start by cooking rice and only eating the starchy water; each time you eat you can retain more of the rice grains until Sunday when you can eat more and more cooked rice and then by dinner you will be able to eat a bowl of Khichadi. This part is so important and does require some discipline; you will slowly be coming back to your regular diet for the following week. You don't have to starve but don't eat until you are full either.
Rest and even nap the day away and it will fly by, hopefully you have planned your time so that you have nowhere else to be until your final treatment on day 8. If you do have to leave the house, plan ahead and take some of your popcorn or rice with you just in case. You have put so much work in, don't give up now!
Rest and even nap the day away and it will fly by, hopefully you have planned your time so that you have nowhere else to be until your final treatment on day 8. If you do have to leave the house, plan ahead and take some of your popcorn or rice with you just in case. You have put so much work in, don't give up now!
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Day 8 of Panchakarma: Today we will draw the curtains of your cleanse; physically, emotionally and spiritually. This past week you may be thinking of things you thought you had put away, you may have felt injuries that you thought had healed, but by allowing us to open you up to yourself, channels may open that you had tried to keep closed.
Over the weekend you eliminated all of the physical toxins we collected and bound together with Ghee and warm oils, but what about the emotional toxicity that we might have brought out of hiding? These things don't go away by forgetting, they manifest themselves in a myriad of ways until we hold them up and acknowledge them and honor ourselves for our progress. But then what? Today we will help you to wash it all away. Shirodhara (shiro:head, dhara:flow) is a treatment that on its own calms and quiets your mind to put you in a state similar to meditation. The warm oil pouring across your third eye creates a precise pressure and vibration that calms anxiety and insecurity that manifests with excess Vata, or the irritability and frustration that manifests with excess Pitta, or the heaviness and dullness of excess Kapha. Shirodhara done at the end of Panchakarma is how we flush all of the channels we worked so hard to open up over the past 8 days and gently close them, hitting your reset button. |
We hope at the end of Panchakarma you see yourself with more clarity; all of your strength, all of your vulnerability, and your peace with the balance that exists between them.
You will have a complimentary follow up meeting with Sunita in two weeks, but in the meantime you will take Rasayana; a tonic to strengthen your system. The literal translation is "entering the system through first tissue called Rasa." It maintains and strengthens all of your body's functions in such a way that whatever your specific weakness may be, it will improve.
** Before doing Panchakarma you must have an Initial Consultation with Sunita, and you must have at least a week in between your consultation and your Panchakarma. You will start taking preparatory herbs 3 days before Day 1.
*** The exact format of Panchkarma may vary depending on individual needs and therapist availability.