Have you ever burped up ghee? It’s bad enough drinking a cup of it every morning let alone having it repeat on you for the next 24 hours. Not that we’ve got anyone to blame but ourselves. We chose this. To put ourselves through an eight-day ayurvedic treatment recommended to us by several people here in Mysore.
“It’s an authentic Indian experience,” said one.
“You won’t be able to get it back home, and at the price they’re offering,” said another.
I’m not going to go into length about what Ayurvedic medicine is. Suffice to say it takes a holistic approach to health. The consultation we had with the doctor before we committed to a treatment was held to determine what our dominant dosha is and whether it/they are out of whack.
Dirty doshas
It's believed the ayurvedic concept of doshas is influenced by Ancient Greek humoral medicine, which is based on balance and equilibrium in the body. In ayurvedic medicine there are three doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Each person will be more dominant in one than they will be in the others. Turns out I’m predominantly Kapha with Pitta not too far behind. When you’re doshas are balanced there are many benefits. Kaphas are renowned for their strength, immunity, affection, generosity and stability of mind. Pittas, when on song, have strong digestion, a sharp intellect, good complexion, and are content.
But, according to the doctor, mine were a bit off kilter. His diagnosis, to be honest, wasn’t entirely inaccurate. For as long as I can remember I’ve been prone to putting on weight, suffered from constipation, bloating, diarrhoea and other stomach related issues, to the point where I had bowel cancer in 2007. I also went grey early, have psoriasis, can be irritable, and have excessive body heat. These are all signs I’m out of balance in my Kapha and Pitta doshas.
What does that mean and what can I do about it?
It could simply require a change in diet, the ingestion of some specific herbs or regular exercise to realign my doshas. But the doctor recommended we undergo a panchakarma treatment.
Panchakarma and the treatment
Panchakarma literally means five treatments. Rebekah and I are doing the Virechana, which is a therapeutic purging. You can do others that involve enemas or vomiting. After our consultation he suggested we do the Virechana. Thank god for that.
Virechana involves four days of drinking between half a cup and a full cup of ghee (clarified butter). We drink the ghee, which a junior doctor sings/prays over before handing it to us, at the ayurveda clinic. Our diet consists of eating plain food such as rice porridge or bland soups, fruits like papaya and oranges, and drinking warm water. This regime is not so strict you can’t flavour the soup with spices such as turmeric and cumin or add a little salt. But chilli is off the menu, which is hard when it’s in almost everything here in India. From the fifth to eight days we’ll receive a warm oil massage. On these days we’ll also only be eating two meals. On the eighth and final day, after the massage, we’ll be given a laxative paste and spend the day in the clinic clearing our bowels. Fun times ahead.
Early results
We’ve just finished the third day and I’m feeling pretty good. My skin is glowing, probably due to the chucking back of so much ghee, my mind is clear and I feel alert.
This wasn’t the case the first day. The sudden change in my predominantly spicy, oily, sweet and bitter (chai) diet to an extremely bland one had an almost immediate affect on my body. Despite recommendations not to, due to fatigue, I ended up taking a long nap in the afternoon. I had headaches. I became constipated and irritable. Not much of a change, some might say. I barely made it through the ordeal of eating rice porridge, papaya and tasteless soup. By the evening, all I wanted to do was go to bed so I could tick off the first day.
On the second day I wasn’t hungry, which isn’t unusual for me – it’s rare that I actually feel hunger – but I did miss the taste of things. My lethargy wasn’t as great, but I did feel like napping in the afternoon, which most people do, right? What I noticed was the no flavour rice porridge not only filled me up but was actually enjoyable second time round. The same again today.
Innate scepticism
I don’t know what long term – or for that matter, short term – effects this treatment is going to have on my body and mind. I’m a little skeptical, but I think that’s just my default setting; I sometimes have trouble believing in the benefits of alternative medicine/health options, despite all evidence to the contrary. Meditation has worked. Yoga has worked. Energy healing, when I was sick with cancer, worked. Why not this ayurvedic treatment?
I guess I’ll find out more in the next few days.