There are number of methods to cleanse the body in the spring, refresh the mind and gain new strength and energy. Ayurveda offers a simple home therapy called "shamana", which is suitable for most of regularly working people exposed to common level of daily tension and stress. In this article, you will find a simple guide to a home detoxification treatment, which everyone can adapt to their daily regime and needs, along with a recommendation of suitable Ayurvedic herbs and supplements.
The shamana's active home care is focused on harmonizing physical and mental functions, cleansing the body and strengthening immunity. It is based on 4 main principles of healthy functioning of the body:
- restores the balance of the three biological energies (dosha) and thus diminish the symptoms and eliminates the causes of the disease in their initial stages
- supports the healthy functioning and nutrition of the seven bodily tissues (dhatus), ie plasma, blood, muscles, fat, bones and joints, nerves and reproductive tissue
- ensures regular excretion of toxic toxic substances (ama)
- restores harmonic metabolism or healthy digestive fire (agni)
Toxins - Where They Come From and What They Cause
The aim of shamana is primarily to rid the body of toxins from the so-called accumulated ama (waste products), which accumulate and stagnate due to insufficient strength of the digestive fire (agni) as undigested food residues in the intestines, burden the liver and digestion, get into the blood and through the blood circulation into the whole body. They can also cause food or pollen allergies and problems with eczema and rashes. Due to contamination of the large intestine, nutrients are also poorly absorbed, which can also affect bones and joints.
At the psychological level, accumulated stress and a hectic lifestyle lead to the formation of psychic toxins that settle in the liver and gallbladder and cause negative emotions in the form of nervousness, anger, rage, hostility, fear, anxiety and insecurity. Due to the accumulated toxins and insufficient flow of life energy, we can feel tired and lifeless.
Symptoms of excessive toxins in the body:
- lack of energy, feeling of heaviness, lethargy, fatigue, weakness, laziness
- depression, headache, restlessness, irritability, inattention
- indigestion, stomach and intestinal problems, flatulence, constipation, increased salivation, coating on the tongue, bad taste in the mouth, decreased appetite
- skin and fungal diseases, allergies, impaired liver function, fever
- high blood sugar, overweight, swelling, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, urinary and gallstones
7 Cleansing Ayurvedic Methods that You Can Try at Home and in Nature
Here are 7 simple therapies that can be performed on a daily basis and during workload. You don't have to incorporate them all at once, start with what you can do. We recommend following them for the period of 1 month.
-
Dipana - Kindle your Digestive Fire
By using right herbs and spices, you can stimulate the digestive fire that simply burns the toxins in the digestive tract. These are black, long and cayenne pepper, dried ginger, mustard seed, cardamom, cumin, coriander, basil or fennel. Simply add them to your meal or take natural supplements that support digestion.
Tip: Drink hot drinks and avoid cold fluids that weaken the digestive fire. During meal drink only small amounts of warm liquids.
Our tip: Chyawanprash, Annaprash, Guduchi, hot drink Amla natural or with ginger
-
Pacana - Cleansing and Detoxification
In addition to fasting (see below), detoxification can take place effectively with the use of appropriate natural supplements and also a consciously adjusted diet - whatever we eat, acts on the body as a medicine or vice versa. Ayurveda distinguishes three psychosomatic constitutions (vata, pitta, kapha), whose original ratio in each human body determines how we should adjust our diet.
Sweet, salty or sour taste increases the production of toxins, pungent and bitter reduce it. Adjust your diet and eat a vegetarian diet rich in fresh vegetables. You can temporarily try raw food and vegetable juices (eg from spinach, parsley, celery). Alfalfa sprouts, sunflower seeds, buckwheat, wheat, rice and barley contain special enzymes that digest the ama. Avoid heavy greasy foods, white flour pastries, white sugar and the dairy products that cause excessive amount of mucus in the body. Alternatively, add a pinch of ginger or cardamom. Avoid chilled beverages that promote toxin production, and preferably drink hot herbal teas and clean spring water.
Tip: Cook Kichadi - a harmonizing dish of basmati rice, red lentils and the right spices
Effective detoxification, which takes place mainly at the level of the large and small intestine, stomach, liver, lymph and blood, is best supported by proven herbal supplements, which according to Ayurveda are traditionally divided into several groups: herbal decoctions (kvatha) and elixirs (avaleha), ground herbs in: water (churna), tinctures and syrups (asava & aristata), tablets (guti-vati), oils (taila), balms (guggul) and ointments (lepa).
The most famous Ayurvedic preparation for detoxification of the intestinal tract is triphala - a legendary mixture of three herbs amla (or amalaki), haritaki and bibhitaki available in tablets, powder or Ayurvedic tea. The bitter taste promotes liver detoxification along with Ayurvedic herb kalamegha. Hyperacidity in stomach is cleanses by guduchi herb so-called "nectar of immortality" and nimba is strong Ayurvedic's proven blood purifier.
Tip: Start each morning with a glass of warm water with lemon and clean the coating of your tongueTip: During detoxification, eat only vegetable soups and salads.
Tip: Give your body a bitter taste that promotes digestion and cleanses the liver.
Tip: Drink warm water or herbal teas so that toxic substances can be flushed out of the body faster.
Tip: Support the detoxification of the gastrointestinal tract by drinking suitable herbal teas.
Tip: Do not eat after 6 pm and take cleansing products in the morning on an empty stomach and in the evening 2 hours after a meal.
Our tip: kvatha - tea: Triphala, Kalamegha, Nagara, churna: hot drink Amla turmeric or Amla young barley, avaleha - elixir: Purishaprash, Rasaprash, Raktaprash
-
Kshut - Fasting
One way to completely detoxify the body is short-term fasting (not long-term starvation), which cleanses the digestive system, relaxes the airways, brightens the mind and raises mental consciousness. The minimum duration of Ayurvedic fasting is considered to be 5 days, during which the first body tissue (plasma) is purifyied. However, everyone must mind his or her appropriate physical and mental constitution. For example, 3-5 days are enough for people of Vata type, and in some cases fasting is not recommended at all. For Pitta people, 5-7 are ideal and Kapha people can tolerate up to 7-10 days.
Tip: If several days of fasting is too difficult for you, all-day Sunday fasting once a week for 1-3 months is also effective, when the only suitable drink is pure water warmed up to body temperature.
-
Trit - Regulation of Fluids
This is especially true when the body is prone to obesity, swelling and water retention. It is absolutely essential for the proper functioning of the human body to be able to maintain a certain stability of the water volume, osmotic pressure and the balance of the acidic or alkaline environment in the body. The amount of water in adults is 55-60% of body weight. Women have a lower proportion of water in the body than men, because they have a higher proportion of fat in the body, and the same is true for overweight or obese people. Young children and pregnant women also have an increased proportion of water content. In old age, the share of water in the body weight decreases and the body tissues gradually dry out.
-
Vyayama - Physical Activity, Exercise and Yoga
Sports activities help to stimulate blood circulation, start metabolism and thus the detoxification process, when waste products are removed from the body through sweat. Also, our mind gets rid of excess thoughts, worries and tensions. Keeping the body in shape is an essential part of mental and physical health.
Tip: Do sports and run in the morning or in the evening.
-
Atapa - Heat Therapy and Sunbathing
Sunlight is healing, especially after a long period of winter with a short time of daylight. The sun's rays help to produce vitamin D in contact with human skin, which is essential for maintaining calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood, as well as for muscle function, bone formation, brain activity and the immune system.
Tip: Look at the morning sun for 5 minutes, it improves your eyesight.
-
Marut - Fresh Air Refreshment and Breathing Exercises
Every breath brings life energy or prana to the body. Inhale deeply into the center of your chest and exhale slowly. Feel that a river of clean energy is flowing through you and you are exhaling everything you don't need in your system. Conscious breathing is an important tool for calming and harmonizing the body and mind. It is best practiced in yoga and relaxation and meditation techniques. With a calm mind, more harmony and satisfaction comes into the body.
Tip: Practice conscious breathing and conscious exhalation every day for 5 minutes.
Regular detoxification of the body is one of the main Ayurvedic methods of maintaining good health and living a happy life. It is not for nothing that Ayurveda is the "science of life" and longevity. In addition to cleansing therapies, see also our revitalizing and rejuvenating, regenerating and relaxing treatments.
In the end, all that remains is to give a nice quote and remind that body care is self-serving, but in the words of the proverb "a healthy spirit in a healthy body", it concerns mainly the "spirit".
