Ever had an urge to just start all over? Like a factory reset for the body so you can start fresh. Imagine your body as your phone. All the stress, anxiety, and lethargy are the junk files in your phone. What if you could delete it? And then organize it mindfully so that your phone functions smoothly and efficiently. This is what Panchakarma therapy does for your body. This Ayurvedic ancient practice is your all-in-one – antivirus, junk file cleaner and spam blocker.
Ayurveda believes our body is our greatest gift and we must take complete care of it. This is the core value of this treatment to care for every aspect of ourselves. It believes in healing holistically rather than temporary fixes.
What is Panchakarma Treatment?
Panchakarma therapy in Ayurveda, are 5 therapeutic processes that help you fight toxins and imbalances in the body. Modern lifestyle has forced us to ignore our basic needs. Sleep, good food, and exercise are essential for long-term health. Junk Food, irregular sleep and inactivity shakes up our body’s well-being and balance. For Long-term stability, it also encourages holistic healing (lifestyle, diet and mindfulness).
Why Panchakarma Therapy?
Panchakarma could be the ideal alternative for those who want a more natural approach. It emphasises holistic healing with minimal side effects. It also benefits your mind and overall well-being.
Panchakarma Therapy Benefits:
Purification of the body
It purifies the body from all the toxins that we may have accumulated from the environment. Panchakarma therapy cleans toxins from junk food, stress and pollution.
Weight reduction
Excess of Kapha dosha can cause weight gain which results in low metabolism and toxins. Panchakarma helps this by burning the excess fat and reducing Kapha dosha.
Helping Metabolism
Panchakarma helps in metabolism by improving digestive functions in the body. It also removes excess metabolic wastes.
Increasing The Digestive fire
Your digestive fire (Agni) is like a car engine. A good engine uses the fuel efficiently and helps the car run smoothly. Similarly, Agni ensures better digestion, metabolism and no acidity problems. Panchakarma therapies improve Agni by improving overall gut health.
Clearing Blocked Channels
In Ayurveda, the channels in which the essential nutrients and oxygen are carried are called Srotas. Srotas can sometimes get blocked due to lifestyle and toxins. Panchakarma clears the pathways which removes blockages, increases energy and digestion.
Tissue Rejuvenation
Panchakarma also renews tissues. Because of ageing, lifestyle and poor diet, our tissue deteriorates over time. Panchakarma detoxifies toxins and encourages new cell generation.
Boosts Immunity
Panchakarma increases the ‘Ojas’ which is the vital energy. All the extensive therapies make sure our immune system is strengthened.
Reduces stress and anxiety
By balancing the Vata dosha, panchakarma ensures mental stability and a calm mind. The overall holistic approach just leaves you feeling better.
What are the dosha’s?
Ayurveda believes the world is made up of 5 basic elements Aakash – space, Prithvi – earth,
Teja – fire, and Vayu – air. The combination of these 3 is the Doshas.
Think of Dosha like a rock band. The bass player is the Vata. The drummer is the Kapha and the lead guitarist is the pitta. You? You are the Frontman. Now to sound good, we need to be in harmony. Without bass, it would sound empty. If the drummer loses the tempo, it becomes catastrophic. If the lead guitarist is out of tune well it would just sound terrible. To give a terrific performance we need each element in balance and at the right time. Just like the band if your body is imbalanced in any one dosha, it completely loses the tempo.
Now each dosha has its characteristics. Your composition of the doshas depends on your personality. Our main goal is to balance them in the ratio which would be ideal for us.
Vata (air and space) – The Bass Player:
Characteristics: The bass player is the cool guy, who’s energetic but gets easily distracted. Vata is like a blowing wind in our body. It manages all the movements in the mind and body. It’s moody and the environment affects it a lot. The strengths are creativity, kindness and, flexibility.
People with more of the Vata dosha are more like the bass player and they mostly struggle with forgetfulness, mental instability and digestive issues.
Ayurveda suggests that people with more of this dosha should:
- Follow a routine.
- Eliminate stress through mindfulness.
- Keep the body warm.
Kapha (earth and water) – The Drummer
Characteristics: Our drummer is the backbone of the band. It’s tough, stable and supportive. The Kapha is responsible for our body’s stability and strength. It is thoughtful and doesn’t get bummed up about things. The strengths are empathy and stability.
People with the kapha dosha go with this personality. Their weakness includes that they may have health issues like unhealthy weight and lack of motivation.
Ayurveda suggests that people with more of this dosha should:
- Perform regular exercise.
- Follow a healthy diet.
- Get a good sleep.
Pitta (fire and water) – the Lead Guitarist:
Characteristics: It’s the most extroverted dosha of all. It’s assertive and does things in its own way. Pitta controls heat, metabolism and transformation in the mind and body. They are born leaders. But sometimes their over-ambition and aggression can face backlash.
Ayurveda suggests that people with more of this dosha should:
- Ensure work-life balance.
- Avoid heat.
One of the key practices in Panchakarma is balancing the doshas. Now we know what Dosha is all about. Let’s see how Panchakarma works to balance the doshas!
Ayurvedic Panchakarma Treatments:
Preparation
This is known as Purvakarma – ‘Purva’ means preceding and ‘karma’ is action. In this context, it means preparatory action. During this we prepare the body for 3 to 4 days for the main Panchakarma process. It is an important part of the process to accumulate all the toxins.
In this stage, two things happen: Abhyanga (oil massage) and Swedana (steam therapy). Let’s see what It does for us.
Abhyanga
It begins with a relaxing massage and a gentle cleanse of toxins. Doctors choose the oil based on your dosha. Ex: Vata dosha may need sesame oil and Pitta may need coconut oil.
Swedana
After the nourishing massage, it’s time for a relaxing herbal steam therapy. This helps you lose toxins and sweat out all the impurities so you can get ready for the real detox!
So, during this 3-5 day of Purvakarma, you will be eating food that is good for your body. You will eat warm, easy-to-digest food like the classic ‘khichadi’. During this period, it is recommended to avoid junk food. This keeps the Agni in balance.
So, in preparation, you get a teaser of what’s to come. By this time, we would have started balancing some of the doshas with a gentle detox of the toxins.
After Purvakarma, it comes to the main detoxification process. These are the 5 Therapies we’ve been talking about. These 5 extensive therapies balance the doshas and deeply cleanse the toxins.
This phase of panchakarma therapy is called Pradhanakarma, which is the main detox therapy.
These 5 ayurveda panchakarma therapies are tailored to each one’s doshas.
The Main Detox:
Vamana– This is preferred for those with more Kapha dosha. This step detoxifies the toxins in the body with controlled vomiting. It can help with Kapha imbalances like respiratory, skin and digestive problems.
- Process – The process starts with internal oleation. Doctors give drink medicated oils like ghee or sesame oil. How much someone consumes is based on our doshas. Then one gets more external oleation. You get a therapy which personalises to your needs. Then doctors tell us to drink a medicated drink that makes us vomit all the toxins out. This cleans our gut from the inside for better metabolism and digestion and in turn improves overall health. Every morning, we can perform this process with an empty stomach.
Verechana – Now it’s time to balance our Pitta dosha. An imbalance in Pitta dosha results in liver, skin and digestive issues.
- Process – Patients are given laxatives for controlled purgation. It cleans out the small intestine; removing even more toxins and balancing the Pitta.
Basti – Now it’s time to get our Vata doshas in check. Excess of Vata doshas causes digestion problems and stiffness.
- Process – We use medicated oils or herbs which are inserted directly into the intestine through a tube. Don’t worry it’s gentle, cleans the toxins in the intestine and also treats stiffness.
Nasya – Nasya therapy cleans out the toxins by passing medicated oils through the nostrils. It deals with headaches, excess mucus and areas around the eyes, basically excess kapha.
- Process – We start with a head massage. Then we insert medicinal oils through the nostrils which are tailored to balance the kapha dosha. It cleans out sinuses and nasal passages.
Raktamokshna – Rakhtamoskhna in Sanskrit means ‘freeing the blood’. Doctors will carefully examine your condition and only proceed if it’s safe. We clean out the toxins in the blood to balance our pitta.
- Process: Doctors may use small leeches that suck your blood or they can insert needles to let out some blood. These procedures are held with a lot of caution and supervision. It helps with chronic diseases, infection and skin.
Panchakarma ayurvedic treatment in kerala:
Begin your panchakarma therapy journey in Kerala! The place where Ayurveda was born. What better place to do an ayurvedic panchakarma treatment than its own roots? Not only will it solve your body’s problems but will also provide an escape for the soul. It is the best place in the world to do panchakarma.
At Tharavad Ayurveda Retreat we provide the five panchakarma therapy for everyone. It is the best ayurvedic treatment in Kerala.
Why choose Tharavad Ayurveda Retreat for Panchakarma therapy?
- Kerala – Tharavad Ayurveda retreat is located in quiet and beautiful scenery of Kerala, which may make you want to stay there forever! It will offer a relaxing retreat plus Kerala is known for its world-class ayurvedic treatments.
- Personalised – As above mentioned, everybody has different doshas. Practitioners carefully examine and craft a plan that is personal for you so we get the best results possible.
- Expertise – Tharavad has doctors and practitioners with years of experience and what they provide is the absolute best.
- Flexible – For better experience tharavad provides flexibility to the treatment, so you can work out what is best for you!
- Quality – We believe in excellence and ensure everything we do is aligned with our values which is holistic healing with personal care.
Conclusion
Panchakarma therapy offers a holistic and natural Ayurvedic treatments to our common health problems. For long-term health, we need to stop looking at short-term fixes and focus on long-term healing. This is what Ayurveda does, it’s not just medicine but a way of life. We need to go back to our basics; food, sleep, exercise and mindfulness and live a holistic life.
FAQs
What is Panchakarma therapy?
How many days will it take for the Panchakarma therapy?
Are Panchakarma treatments safe?
Are panchakarma treatments legit?
Are there any side effects in Panchakarma therapy?
