Cleansing Techniques in yoga

Nasal Cleansing - Neti

Jala Neti - Neti with Water

Jala Neti is one of the simplest yet most effective techniques. It works wonders for the body, particularly on patients suffering from chronic sinusitis, bronchitis and asthma. It has a profound effect on upper respiratory tract conditions, particularly hay fever. The regular practice of Neti also helps relieve headaches and facilitate prolonged youthfulness.

Technique

1. A special "Neti Pot" is first filled with lukewarm, slightly salted water. Its spout is then inserted into one nostril.

2. Place the cone into your nostril, sealing it inside with a few gentle twists.

The position of your head is adjusted, slightly tilted, to allow the water to flow out your other nostril.

3. Breathe gently through your mouth, trying not to sniff or swallow while the water is flowing through.

The technique is not half as hard as it appears. In fact, once mastered, which should take a day or two at most. you will be surprised at both, the technique and its results.

Drying The Nose

Drying your nose properly is a very important part of the practice. Never neglect to do this part properly.

It is called Vyutkrama, which is nothing but Kapalbhati, explained in detail in stage 5 of this section. A couple of rapid forceful expulsions and all the residual water will be ejected from your nose

Dugdha Neti - Neti with Milk

Another version of Netis is using diluted milk, pre-warmed to body temperature, in place of water. It is particularly beneficial to those suffering from chronic nose bleeding or for those who find salt water irritating.

Sutra Neti - Nasal Cleansing Using a Rubber Catheter

This is a very effective way of opening up the nasal passages to their fullest capacity.

Technique

1. Pass a rubber catheter of about 1mm dimension into your nose through one nostril.

2. Slowly keep pushing it in until you feel it in your throat.

3. Now gently draw it out your mouth.

4. Then gently tug the catheter to and fro a couple of times.

5. With practice, it can even be passed from one nostril through the other. But this requires a certain level of proficiency and is also not very necessary. The effect, however, is still the same.

6. Before and after usage it is advisable to rinse the catheter in warm water or medicated oil.

7. Repeat the exercise with the other nostril

Remember, under no circumstances should you experience pain in the practice. If you feel any pain, it either means you are inserting the catheter too fast, or that it entered the wrong way and is stalled against the nasal wall, unless there is otherwise some other genetic obstruction. In which case, stop immediately, withdraw and reinsert the catheter carefully in another direction until you find a clear unimpeded passage.

Take your time, gently inserting the catheter and always keep breathing normally. It is normal to feel tickled and have bouts of sneezing in the beginning. You may also discharge a lot of mucous, so make sure to keep handkerchiefs or a box of tissues ready. Over time, as the mucous membranes, nerves and tissues get accustomed to the practice, the reaction will automatically reduce.

Benefits

Both Jala and Sutra Neti help extract all the impurity and bacteria filled mucus from the nasal and sinus cavities. This in turn, will help to restore the body’s mechanisms to natural and increase its immunity to nasal allergies like hay fever, sinusitis and other respiratory conditions like sore throats, chronic coughs and colds, post nasal drips, adenoids and tonsillitis. By cleansing the nasal passages it frees them of mucus and automatically reduces the tendency breathe orally. Neti is also of great benefit for eye and ear related disorders. By flushing the tear ducts, it facilitates clearer vision. Further, it has subtle effects on the pineal and pituitary glands that govern the hormonal system, resulting in harmonized emotional behaviour.

Both these practices should, ideally, be done regularly and integrated into one’s daily routine like bathing or brushing you teeth.

Sutra Neti can be of great benefit, and is highly recommended, for those who find one nostril more blocked than the other. There appears to be some kind of fleshy obstruction like the cartilage obstructing the nasal passages. Short of a surgical treatment, Sutra Neti is the best alternative for removing such obstructions.

Cleansing of the digestive tract - Dhauti

Dhauti is a cleansing kriya specifically meant to cleanse the stomach.

One of the main organs in the human body, one’s health is largely dependent on its condition. It is imperative, therefore, to clean your stomach thoroughly from time to time. Dhauti is ideal for this.

Dhauti is of three types:

• Vaman Dhauti or Kunjal Kriya

• Vastra Dhauti

• Danda Dhauti

Vaman Dhauti or Kunjal Kriya

This kriya is best performed on an empty stomach in the morning, either in the toilet or in one’s garden or near on open drain.

Technique

1. To one liter of lukewarm water, add one tablespoonful of salt.

2. Drink all of it, as quickly as possible, until you feel you can’t take any more. It is imperative to drink fast rather than sip the water.

3. When your stomach is full, the urge to vomit seems automatic, an almost involuntary gesture.

4. Now, lean forward, keep your body as horizontal as possible and insert the middle and index fingers of your right hand as far back into your throat as possible, till the uvula.

5. This will induce instantaneous vomiting.

6.Keep restimulating your uvula and vomiting until all the water is got out of your stomach.

If this does not happen it either means you haven’t drunk enough water or the tips of your fingers weren’t inserted far enough down the throat. The more you learn to relax, the easier the practice becomes.

Vastra Dhauti

Vastra Dhauti is another cleansing kriya specifically meant to cleanse the stomach. It is pretty much like Vaman Dhauti, except that here a muslin cloth is used in place of water. This should also be done on an empty stomach first thing in the morning.

Technique

1. A strip of fine muslin cloth, about three inches wide and twenty feet long, washed and disinfected, is used. It is gently swallowed, little by little.

2. The cloth should be of finely woven cotton which is clean and new. Synthetic material should be avoided at all costs. The cloth should also be trimmed neatly so that there are no fraying edges.

3. Also, the cloth should not be wider than your tongue because it may fold as it passes down your throat.

4.

On the first day, only one-foot length of cloth should be swallowed, kept there for a few seconds, and then slowly drawn out.

5. On the next day, a little more is swallowed and left a little longer.

6. More and more of it is swallowed daily until the entire length of the cloth goes in.

7. If it sticks in your throat and refuses to pass down, take a sip of warm water, but do not drink a large quantity – your stomach is to be filled with the cloth, not with water.

8. The cloth normally tends to get caught at the lowest point of the throat, so keep swallowing and resist the urge to vomit

9. Stop gulping when only six inches of the cloth are left outside the mouth.

10. Churn your abdomen by Nauli with the cloth inside the stomach. Now withdraw the strip slowly.

Ensure not to swallow the whole cloth, under any circumstances. This is why there should be no disturbance during the practice. You need not practice this every day – once a week is enough. And even though you may feel a vomiting sensation at the first attempt, it will disappear if you keep up the practice. As soon as the kriya is completed, make sure to wash the cloth. Always keep it clean.

Danda Dhauti

This is a way of cleansing the esophagus, the food pipe, from the throat to the stomach, by inserting a special rubber tube down the throat into the stomach. It should be about three feet in length and about 1 cm wide. Make sure to clean and disinfect it thoroughly before and after use.

Technique

1. Start with the process of Vaman Dhauti, i.e drink a lot of water.

2. But here, instead of your fingers, you insert a rubber tube, into the throat.

3. Swallow it slowly and gently until the end of the tube reaches the stomach.

4. Bend forward and a siphoning action will automatically eject the water from your stomach.

5. When all the water is removed, gently draw out the rubber tube.

Some people find it difficult to insert the tube without vomiting because the throat is sensitive to the touch stimuli. For them it is advisable to go in for the vamana-dhauti since it is the simpler of the two. The advantage of danda-dhauti is that there are no stomach spasms and the water is ejected very smoothly. Danda-dhauti effectively cleanses the esophagus of mucus, phlegm, acidity and other impurities.

Shankha Prakshalana

There is another type of dhauti for cleansing the digestive tract. And, even if not so popular, it is just as effective. Known as Varisara Dhauti it is also called Shankha Prakshalana. Shankha means conchshell, Prakshalana means to wash. Just like washing a conch shell where you would pour water into the mouth and drain it out the opposite end of the shell, so also with the intestinal tract.

Technique

1. Start by drinking ten to fifteen glasses of lukewarm, saline water.

2. Then do some rapid warm up exercises like spot jogging, forward and backward bends, alternate hand to leg bends followed by a series of six asanas: Padangushtasana, Parivritta Trikonasana, Paschimottanasana, Parivritta Trikonasana, Paschimottanasana, Ardha Matsyendrasna all done rapidly and in quick succession.

3. After this you will automatically feel the urge to go to the toilet.

4. The urge is repeated over the next hour or so during which you will have to visit the toilet 6 to 10 times.

5. Once clear water starts flowing out, you will know that your stomach and intestines are cleansed.

It is advisable to have a cup of cold, diluted milk or a plate of khichdi, cooked rice and pulses, afterwards. Avoid full, solid meals until lunch. It is also advisable to rest for the rest of the day. And even though not mandatory it is recommended that Shankha Prakshalana be done immediately after Jala Neti and Kunjal Kriya, for optimum benefits.

Benefits of the Dhauti series

The combination of all Dhauti practices cleanses the entire digestive and respiratory tracts. They get rid of excess and bile, mucus and toxins, and restore the of the body's natural balance and chemical composition, thus helping cure the body of ailments caused by such imbalances. Not only that, they also lead to an increase in the production of gastric enzymes. Research has proven that even chronic coughs and colds, asthma, diseases of the spleen, and a variety of other afflictions resulting from excess mucus, bile and other toxins are eliminated by Dhautis.

They are particularly beneficial in cases of constipation, gastritis, dyspepsia, indispositions of the stomach and spleen, phlegm and bile disorders. They increase digestive fire, improve kidney functioning and invigorate the liver by extricating parasites from within the system. People suffering from obesity and those of a flabby and phlegmatic constitution will find these kriyas especially beneficial.

Contraindications

However, there are certain conditions for which Dhautis must not be practiced. These are: stomach or intestinal ulcers, hernia, heart problems, and high blood pressure.

However Dhautis should not be done daily or made a regular habit. Once every three months should achieve the desired results.