The Wellness Sense

by Om Swami

  Fasting is a powerful method of detoxification and it is not the same as starving. There is something quite subtle you should know about fasting. When you skip your meals for a whole day out of stress or due to a hectic routine, your digestive system and hormones behave in a different manner compared to when you do this as a planned fast. Therefore, skipping meals is not the same as fasting. I’ll be happy if any scientist verifies this. The amount of endocrinal secretions in planned fasting is much more regulated by the brain.

  Fasting, when done correctly, pacifies the three doshas, subdues inflammation and nourishes the seven dhatus. It is better to have regular and short periods of fasting. For example, let’s say you go on a fast where you only consume fruit juices. Rather than fasting for one straight week on a juice-only diet, it is better to fast one day every week for the next six weeks. Prolonged fasting causes damage to the body tissues.

  Fasting increases your willpower and gives your digestive system a much-needed break. Ideally, you should not fast more than one day a week. You can also choose to fast once every two weeks or once every month. You need to see what suits you based on your own constitution, your physical and mental health and your routine. Don’t push yourself to fast, though – especially if you get irritated when you are hungry. There are four ways to fast.

  TYPES OF FASTING

  I will elaborate on the types of fasting. But first, a word of caution: please consult your physician before fasting, and specifically, patients with diabetes should not fast.

  Light Fasting

  In light fasting you eat a light meal only once every twenty- four hours. Remember khichri? That’s a light meal. It is important to consume only one meal in twenty-four hours and nothing in between other than water. If you consume anything else in addition to this one meal, it confuses your brain and messes with the insulin regulation and hormonal balance in your body. During light fasting, it is important to either choose a savoury meal or a sweet meal. Don’t go for both of these tastes. It is not prudent to have dessert after your light meal, for example, because your body then treats it as a normal meal and expects the next meal in your normal routine.

  You may want to consume just the salty khichri and nothing sweet before, during or after your meal, for instance. Or you may choose to have sweet rice pudding. Not both. In light fasting, many people have their only meal before sunrise and fast for the next twenty-four hours. Some prefer to stay hungry the whole day and have their meal in the evening. Either way is fine.

  Light fasting can be done once a week or once every two weeks. There are no set rules as such. Feel free to do what suits you best. During my days of intense meditation, I practised light fasting by taking only one meal every twenty-four hours for a stretch of seven months. In the first month, I ate my meal at midday, but later I started taking it before sunrise. During the day, if I needed it, I would drink upto two glasses of water. There were some days when I ate nothing but snow. This was in the Himalayas, and all my time was spent in meditation.

  There was plenty of snow around then. I used to take some from the roof of my hut and eat it. It took about a week in the beginning for my body to adjust, but I felt extremely fit. My meal was conducive to my intense meditation regime. I used to put a tablespoonful of clarified butter (ghee) made from cow milk in my meal. I might add that I did mauna vrata (observing silence) and ekanta vrata (solitude) as well for one hundred days in that seven-month stretch. These have a pacifying effect on your appetite. I didn’t lose any body weight compared to when I ate thrice a day. On the contrary, meditation, silence and a frugal diet gave remarkable strength to my body and mind.

  Fruits-and-veggies Fasting

  The primary difference between light fasting and this fast is that in fruits-and-veggies fasting, you stay off all beans and grains. Basically, you do not consume foods with gluten of any nature. A yogic diet also prohibits peas and corn. Dairy foods are permitted in fruits-and-veggies fasting, especially ghee. Ghee is a highly sattvic food and it pacifies the three doshas. It stays in the digestive tract for some time without causing indigestion and pacifies pangs of hunger that are sometimes experienced by fasters.

  Ghee made from cow milk is considered better than ghee made from buffalo milk. In India, most of the ghee sold in the market is made from buffalo milk, which is richer in fat and harder to digest. In fact, in Ayurvedic preparations, when needed, only ghee from cow milk is used.

  During fruits-and-veggies fasting, you are allowed to eat two portions in twenty-four hours. I once went on this fast for a stretch of thirty days. Rather than two portions, I used to eat only once in twenty-four hours, just before sunset in the evening. My diet was one glass of cow milk and one apple or one banana. It was a little hard in the beginning, but my body adjusted in a matter of a few days.

  During the whole thirty days, I did not feel tired or fatigued. Nor did I feel any pangs of hunger. Although it was not my goal to lose weight, because I was already at the correct weight, I did end up losing six pounds due to the reduced intake of food. I chose this diet because I was doing a special practice of meditation that prescribed only one meal a day, with no salt, beans or grains. It may sound paradoxical, but fasting infuses the body with an inexplicable type of strength and energy.

  Liquid Fasting

  In liquid fasting, you do not consume any solid foods of any kind. No fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, or milk products. Some people drink milk during liquid fasting but it is not a good idea. Milk is heavy on digestion regardless of whether it is no-fat, low-fat or full-cream. A milk-only diet vitiates vata and causes gastrointestinal disorders, including constipation. If you want to go on a liquid fast, it is best to simply consume fruit and vegetable juices. Drinking just vegetable juices vitiates pitta and vata, so the consumption of fruit juice is a good idea.

  With almost no fat in your diet during this fast, and your food packed with vitamins and other nutrients that are only found in fruits and vegetables, this fast is a brilliant way of detoxifying your body. If you are diabetic or on medication that requires a certain food intake, please check with your physician before undertaking this fast. Tea, coffee and alcoholic drinks are strictly prohibited with liquid fasts.

  Complete Fasting

  As the name suggests, you practice complete abstinence from any type of food – solid or liquid. For twenty-four hours, you feed your stomach with only your breath. Water is permitted, though. I know many people who abstain from water as well. There is a fast in India that is called nirjala vrata. It means fasting without water. It is often observed on ekadashi (the eleventh day of the lunar calendar).

  People on medication should only attempt complete fasting after speaking to their physician. It is not uncommon to experience headaches or pangs of hunger. This fasting gives a complete break to your digestive and metabolic systems. According to Ayurveda, it pacifies kapha and vata in the body.

  PANCHA-KARMA

  Pancha-karma is the ultimate – and the most complete – detoxifying set of therapies in Ayurveda. Pancha means five and karma means therapy in this case. It pacifies the three doshas and has an amazingly calming effect on the body and mind. After pancha-karma, you feel like you are floating on air – light, rejuvenated and fresh like never before. If you have never experienced pancha-karma, I highly recommend you give it a try. It must be done by a bona fide practitioner of Ayurveda. It’s not something you can do on your own.

  Pancha-karma involves five treatments. In addition, two pre-purification treatments (purva karma) are done to prepare the body. Five treatments form the main treatments (pradhana karma). A proper pancha-karma takes approximately five days. The two preparatory treatments usually need to be carried out for three days. And the actual pancha-karma can be done in one day or it can be spread over two days. Many people, pressed for time or other resources, pick just one or two components of pancha-karma. Even that is better than not doing it at all. Ideally, pancha
-karma should be done once every quarter at the change of a season. If you want to do it twice in a year, it’s best to do it during the peaks of summer and winter. If you want to do it only once in a year, spring is the best season for this.

  Preparatory Treatments

  The preparatory treatments or the pre-purification therapies are divided into two parts. The first part is called snehana, or lubrication and anointing. In this treatment, you go on a specific diet – generally devoid of fat, oil and spices – for three days. Every morning, however, you are required to take a small dosage of ghee from cow milk. This is very effective in bringing all the toxins to – and lubricating – the gastrointestinal system. During the day, you take the prescribed diet. Then you are given an oil massage (abhyangama). It is a specific type of massage to soften the tissues of your body and to further move the toxins in your body to your gastrointestinal system. This is the anointing part of snehana.

  It is followed by a second purificatory rite called svedana, which is sweat therapy, quite like sitting in a steam room. The toxins that have been raised to the surface of your body using oil massage are flushed out using sweat therapy. These two treatments are repeated for three days to fully prepare your body for the healing and detoxification from the pancha-karma treatment.

  The five treatments of pancha-karma completely pacify the three doshas. The healing and detoxification effects stay with you for many weeks after the treatment. The five classical components of pancha-karma are as follows.

  Emission Therapy

  This is called vamana. It means regurgitation. After the three-day purificatory rites, you are ready to completely flush the toxins out of your system. Vamana is emission therapy, which is a form of induced vomiting. You may be given salted water or a herbal concoction depending on your constitution and condition, and then made to vomit. It is quite similar to kunjala (oesophageal cleansing) which I explained in the previous chapter, the key difference being that vamana is assisted. It is done after the pre-purification rites and, therefore, more effective.

  Vamana cleanses your lungs and gets rid of mucus depositions. Ayurveda believes that suppressed emotions vitiate kapha, causing bronchitis, asthma and phlegm. The purpose of the two preparatory rites is to dislodge the mucus in your system so that it accumulates in your stomach. It is then ejected out of your system with emission therapy. Vamana is not recommended for pregnant women or old people who are in a frail condition.

  Purgation Therapy

  It is called virechana in Ayurveda, which means purgation. This is a medicated purgation therapy where herbs are used as laxatives. The therapy thoroughly cleanses the gastrointestinal tract. The cleansing is far more effective than normal purgation due to the use of a medicated laxative and preparatory treatments. Virechana pacifies the three doshas and is an excellent detoxifying treatment. A herbal decoction mixed in warm water is administered on an empty stomach. After the treatment, you have to be on a light diet for the following seventy-two hours.

  Enema

  It is called vasti or basti. This is the final step in the complete cleansing of the colon. It can be done with lukewarm salted water or a herbal preparation. In a variation, it is also done with medicated oil. Once you go through the emission, purgation and enema, your stomach is almost like an infant’s. It is as clean as possible. This has a noticeably positive effect on the major disorders of the body.

  Nasal Therapy

  Called nasyama, in this procedure, medicated nasal drops made from oil or herbal combinations are administered. You also inhale smoke of incensing medicated herbs through your nose. Nasyama opens the nasal passages and sinuses; you experience a sudden clearing or dilation in your nose and sinuses. The snorting of smoke also brings tears to your eyes, immediately clearing the tear ducts.

  There is another variation of nasal therapy called vapour nasyama. In this, you inhale the steam of a boiling herbal mixture. This reaches even further than nasal drops or smoke inhalation. Those administering nasyama to asthma patients should be particularly careful, given that asthmatics tend to be especially sensitive and not all respond well to it. It is generally followed by gargles of herbs to clean your throat, which can cause irritation.

  Shiro-dhara

  Shiro-dhara offers the ultimate calming experience of any treatment in Ayurveda. It has an immediate and profound effect on the central nervous system. Shiroh means head and dhara means flow. No matter how headachy you may be, or how bad your hay fever is, by the time you finish shiro-dhara, your blocked nose will be clear, your headache will be gone, and your whole body will feel light and relaxed.

  In this treatment, you are made to lie down with your eyes closed and covered. Warm medicated oil is then poured on your forehead in an unbroken flow. This is done for about forty-five minutes. It is so relaxing, that many people fall asleep within the first few minutes. In a variation of shiro-dhara, rather than warm oil, cold buttermilk mixed with herbal extracts is poured on your forehead. This is called takra-dhara (where ‘takra’ is buttermilk mixed with a third of water), which feels like a bucket of cold water being poured on you just after a sauna. Both shiro-dhara and takra-dhara offer uniquely different experiences.

  I must point out that many modern-day variations of pancha-karma – for commercial and practical purposes – do not practise vamana (vomiting) and virechana (purgation). Instead, they combine the preparatory rites with the main therapies to make five treatments. If you examine it closely, pancha-karma has similar therapies to the various cleansing exercises outlined in the previous chapter. You can do all those exercises at home. Massage and steam therapies and shiro-dhara are the only additions. If you regularly perform the cleansing exercises at home, you can simply opt for massage, steam therapy and shiro-dhara at any Ayurvedic centre. These can be done on the same day, and you’ll be free within a few hours.

  15

  Mental Detoxification

  Bo was a high-level executive in his mid-forties, working for a large organization. He had a happy family with a loving wife and two kids. For reasons the family did not understand, Bo was often battered by episodes of shooting pain in his right knee and wild mood swings. He was physically fit, he had no neurological disorder either. Nothing could explain his knee ache. As for the mood swings, they happened even when he was on vacation, when there was no stress of work. To make matters worse, he experienced them more in public settings. When he was in such a state, Bo often said things that hurt his wife and damaged their relationship. He would later apologize, but his apologies had little impact. His delivering her a verbal bashing and subsequently apologizing seemed like a bad, recurring pattern of intertwined behaviours.

  Bo and his wife tried many things without success, until they met a brilliant therapist. He advised Bo to recall and narrate the major incidents of his life, especially those where he experienced grief and pain – physical or mental. A few hours later, they had figured out the cause of his sudden bouts of physical pain and mood swings. It turned out that while growing up, Bo was bullied in school. One particular time, a bully gave him a nasty blow on his right knee with a baseball bat. The blow did not break his knee, but the pain was excruciating, causing him to cry out aloud. He was promptly given medical aid. The bully was subsequently expelled from the school and no one ever pestered him thereafter.

  This experience, however, had found a permanent home in Bo’s mind. Whenever he passed through markets or shopping malls, if he saw a baseball bat or any memorabilia linked to baseball, he experienced pain in his knee. It happened in his subconscious mind; he was unaware of the link between this traumatic childhood event and his current pain. His mood swings were triggered at the sighting of anything linked to baseball, especially a bat.

  Awareness of the link between his physical and emotional pain and his past trauma – along with some therapy – allowed Bo to heal himself and regain harmony within and in his marriage.

  Feeli
ng depressed, angry or constrained, or brooding are all merely the symptoms of an emotionally wounded person. They mean you are hurt somewhere within. The pain is still there even if you deny it. That is not going to help beyond a certain point. Fighting the symptoms is equally pointless.

  Physical cleansing and pacifying your doshas bestows sound physical health on you. But sound physical health does not mean you will be happy and stress-free; it does not mean that you will remain eternally healthy. Our negative emotions and thoughts are toxins that cloud our thinking and sense of wellness. Therefore, in order to take your immune system to an entirely new level and to enjoy every moment of your life, so that you may actually enjoy the benefit of fine physical health, it is equally important to have a mind free of toxins.

  Most people carry enormous baggage of negative and suppressed emotions, thoughts, expectations and grudges. This is often in addition to the mental afflictions I elucidated earlier. Together, these change their thinking patterns, which are at the core of automatic responses and habits. Ultimately, everything we do is to make ourselves happy and peaceful. The more purified the mind, the calmer it is going to be. Thoughts arising in a calm mind have a much better chance of manifestation than those emerging in an agitated mind.

  Meditation is one of the finest methods of mental detoxification. It is the art of understanding, stilling and calming your mind. It helps you realize the full potential of your capabilities and puts you in control of your thoughts and emotions. It is not always about sitting down and building your concentration. Being conscious of your thoughts, words and actions is also meditation. For sound mental, physical and emotional health, I am sharing a few exercises with you.

  VISUALIZATION FOR PHYSICAL HEALTH