Panchakarma
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What is Panchakarma?
Literally, Panchakarma means the Five Therapies (Panch – Five, Karma – Therapy). It is a unique form of treatment that Ayurved offers. It works to clean up the body of accumulated toxins and imbalanced aggravated doshas.
How is Panchakarma different from other medicinal treatments?
There are basically two forms of treatment in Ayurved:
- Shodhan – This form of treatment removes the disease-causing agents from the body once and for all, by prescribing specific therapies. It is the best form of treatment as it leaves no scope for recurrence.
- Shaman – This form of treatment balances the imbalanced doshas and nullifies them by burning out the stored toxins by medicines and restores health. This is highly effective too.
Panchakarma is a form of shodhan treatment.
Which are the Panchakarma?
It includes five treatments aimed to act on a specific dosh and specific sites in the body.
- Vaman – This is the procedure to induce vomiting and remove the toxins, mainly from the upper half of the body. It is the treatment for kaf dosh.
- Virechan – This is the procedure to induce purgation or loose motions. It removes toxins from the middle portion of the GIT and from the blood too. This is the main treatment for the pitt dosh.
- Basti – This refers to the administration of medicinal enemas. This works on the colon and vaat dosh predominantly.
- Raktmokshan – This is therapeutic blood removal or bloodletting by which a fixed quantity of impure blood is removed from the body. It is the main treatment for addressing blood disorders and skin problems.
- Nasya – This treatment refers to the administration of medicinal oils or ghee, milk, etc., as nasal drops. This is a special form of treatment for brain and ENT disorders.
Who should undergo Panchakarma?
It can be done for healthy as well as diseased individuals. However, this can only be decided by a well-trained ayurvedic doctor. The selection of a patient for panchakarma and selection of appropriate karma are both extremely crucial decisions and should be made with care.
Generally, a patient should be strong enough to undergo these procedures. Thus, children, pregnant women, old-aged patients, weak debilitated individuals cannot undergo panchakarma and are suitable for shaman treatment.
What are the benefits of Panchakarma?
Done well, Panchakarma is a holistic treatment:
- It cures diseases and restores health
- Improves immunity
- Delays ageing
- Done seasonally, it is the best preventive health practice.
What is Preventive Panchakarma?
It is the use of panchakarma by a healthy person for health maintenance. The stress of daily living, the decrease in quality of food material, pollution, and the change of seasons, all naturally affect the body and cause its wear and tear.
At the junction of each season or during the season, a specific dosh naturally aggravates, and this is the ideal time for a specific panchakarma to rid the body of that particular dosh. When this is done, any chance of disease is removed, and health is preserved.
Following is the Preventive Panchakarma yearly schedule:
- February, March – Vaman
- July, August – Basti
- October – Virechan, Raktmokshan
Special karmas for Women's Health >
There are special therapies planned, keeping in mind the special structure and function of the female reproductive system.
Apart from the usual Panchakarma, these are additional therapies suitable for women. These therapies give Ayurved an upper hand in treatment for women’s health.
- Uttar basti
This is the procedure of instilling medicine into the uterus and fallopian tubes via the vagina.
It is an extremely effective treatment for the blockage of fallopian tubes, endometrial dysfunction, fibroids, etc.
Unlike surgeries, its main benefit is that it is non-invasive or minimally invasive and yet helps us reach the deeper structures and heal them without causing harm to nearby delicate structures.
Various therapeutic benefits can be achieved by this method, depending on the selection of the medicine.
- Yoni Dhavan
This therapy involves washing of the vaginal tract with medicated water. This is a sure shot treatment for recurrent vaginal infections, abnormal discharges, white discharge, itching or irritation of the tract. It is useful in infertility cases and well.
- Yoni Dhupan
This is the cleansing of the vaginal area and even the interiors of uterus and tubes through medicated steam. Done very gently, and with necessary precautions, it helps to get accumulated toxins out easily. It is a non-invasive, simple, yet highly effective form of treatment.
- Yoni Pichu
Pichu is the word used for a small cotton ball. Soaked with medicated oil or ghee this ball is placed high up in the vagina, close to the mouth of the uterus. Used for infertility, dysmenorrhea, vaginismus, or narrow vagina leading to difficult sexual intercourse, for preparation of normal labour, etc. A lot of variable actions are possible, depending on the choice of medicine.
Ayurvedic Panchakarma treatments are not only an effective form of treatment for various diseases, complains and ailments, it is also a gateway to preventive care and good health. While Panchakarma treatments are suitable for most people in the age group of 15 to 65, these should not be seen as a form of cosmetic treatment.
To undergo Panchakarma in Navi Mumbai or to know more about Panchakarma treatments in Mumbai, contact us.