Often called thazhuthama or the hogweed, punarnava is one of the most sought-after Ayurveda herbs. Punar refers to purify and nava refers to new; hence punarnava is primarily used for its restoring properties on the body and mind. Almost every part of this plant has medicinal value, from its roots to its flowers. I too find a lot of benefits from this impressive plant when I plan treatments for my patients at my Ayurveda clinic in Chennai. Let’s find out more about this brilliant plant and its multiple applications in Ayurveda.

Punarnava – the characteristics of the plant

This creeper is found all across India, growing wild as a weed, especially after the rains. Its flowers are beautiful and are found in bunches, commonly seen in two colors – purple and white – while its leaves are broad and thick. The roots of punarnava have the most potent medicinal benefits. However, all parts of the plant are effective in managing common medical conditions and in rejuvenation treatment. It is critical in case of imbalances in pitta and kapha rogas.  From its ama-pacifying effect on the digestive tract, anti-inflammatory effect, and detoxifying benefits to its diurectic and multiple other benefits, punarnava owes many of its medicinal effects to one of its alkaloidal ingredients.

Punarnava – benefits

This plant is effective across all the major organ systems of the body. Punarnva’s diuretic properties makes it useful in managing kidney disorders and kidney stones. It is also valuable as a digestive, increasing appetite and curing constipation. For the respiratory system, this plant helps in providing relief in case of asthma. In case of providing relief in case of orthopedic conditions such as joint inflammation. It is also effective in treating anemia and menstrual disorders. It detoxifies the liver and is valuable in case of jaundice and other liver conditions. It also helps with weight loss and correcting skin conditions.

Let’s look at some of its important benefits.

Anti-diuretic effect:  Punarnava helps in increasing the secretion of urine; hence, it is beneficial in case of urinary infections. It also removes water retention from tissues and body cavities.

Liver condition: Punarnava stimulates bile secretion, which is critical for maintenance of a healthy liver.

Asthma treatment: Punarnava causes thinning of the phlegm and its easy removal from the respiratory system. This helps in removal of blocks from the mucous membrane and in improving the functioning of the lungs.

Digestive tract: This plant removes the ama from the digestive tract, strengthening the stomach muscles and intestine.

Anti-obesity effect: Its anti-diuretic effect helps in removing additional water retention in the body and retaining the electrolyte balance, thus leading to weight loss.

Orthopedic benefits:  Punarnava is seen to have incredible benefits in case of arthritis, providing relief from pain, especially in case of inflammatory muscles and joints.

With many more such benefits, Punarnava is really the miracle plant of Ayurveda. To find out more about how you can prepare medications from punarnava and how it can relieve your specific conditions, please do connect with me at http://www.miayurveda.org/ or call me at +91-9444615161.

I’ve already introduced the concept of Rasayana Chikitsa to you and its growing popularity as the wonder treatment protocol for nourishing the body, maintaining the physical and mental health, strengthening the body against diseases, building immunity, rejuvenating the body. With such a wide range of benefits, rasayana chikitsa is indeed one of the most popular treatment modalities in Ayurveda. This treatment is especially relevant in today’s haphazard lifestyle. The excessive mental and physical stress, unhealthy food habits, sedentary routines, poor postures, and disturbed sleep cycles have all taken its toll on the vata-pitta-kapha balance, leading to accumulation of toxins. The result is early aging, poor immunity, stress-related disorders, and new lifestyle-related conditions. Your body needs the rejuvenation of powerful anti-oxidants, nerve tonics, circulation stimulators, muscle and bone strengtheners, and all related benefits.

But rasayana chikitsa is not a simple 30-minute procedure. It requires your time, focus, and dedication and the support of an expert Ayurveda doctor. Rasayana chikitsa is one of the most popular treatment modalities at my Ayurveda clinic in Chennai. Its power in nourishing the tissues, preventing recurrence of a disease, and strengthening the body’s immunity is one of the primary reasons why patients seek the support of this treatment. So let’s look at the options you have in this treatment.

How does rasayana chikitsa work?

This treatment modality works primarily by improving circulation at the tissue level, strengthening the tissues and removing the ama from the body. The nutritional correction that this procedure delivers improves the digestive ability or the agni of the body. Hence herbal formulations such as pippali, thulasi, and guggulu help overcome the catabolic or the breakdown effect of age, improving the body’s immunity.

What are the steps involved?

Even a simple chyavanaprash delivers basic rejuvenation effects by improving the body’s metabolic rate and enhances immunity when consumed on a regular basis. Hence you can imagine the incredible effect this treatment can have when you dedicate your time and attention to a full-scale rasayana chikitsa. The process of the chikitsa is termed rasakriya. There are two types of kriyas, one that is customized for today’s busy life and the other that retains all the essential ingredients of a traditional chikitsa.

The decision of course depends on your comfort level and your expert Ayurveda doctor’s opinion. The doctor decides the package that forms the kriya, including herbal medications, exercise, massage, diet, and other details. Every session has a purvakarma of cleansing and panchakarma and a paschatkarma of relaxation.

Kayakalpam for the stringent approach

Kayakalpa procedure is used for those who follow a strict chikitsa approach. You will have to stay in a specially prepared room for the entire duration of the therapy and therapists will monitor you strictly for diet, procedures, exercise, and other instructions. This approach is extensive and can extend even up to 4 months. Adults up to the age of about 65 to 70 years can take up this approach.

Generic approach for today’s busy life

This is a slightly altered approach where you don’t have to cut yourselves away from society for that long. It involves consuming Ayurvedic herbal formulations as per your doctor’s instructions and a set of massages and related procedures on different days. This can extend from a month to about two months. It includes sarvanga abhyangam, padabhyangam, administering enemas, and even udwartana. The process includes swedana and relaxing exercises, with recovery period in between. Of course, diet and lifestyle recommendations also form part of the treatment.

Hence, ensure that you first consult with me about the specific benefits you can gain from this chikitsa before proceeding blindly with individual sessions. Contact me for any questions you have about rasayana chikitsa. You can connect with me at http://www.miayurveda.org/ or call me at +91-9444615161.

Many Ayurveda procedures use steam as an effective vehicle, given its power to open up the skin’s pores and allow all the herbal formulations to be thoroughly absorbed. With the heat stimulating blood circulation and causing perspiration, every procedure that involves steam will definitely lead to detoxification. Avaghaswedam or avagha swedam is a unique combination of sudation or a sweat-inducing procedure and immersion or avagha. This procedure involves preparing a relaxing, deep, warm, medicated bath filled with herbal medications and essential oils. The person sits or even sometimes lies down in this preparation for a stipulated period, resulting in complete relaxation and detoxification. Warm water and even milk are used as vehicles to carry the herbal medication. This treatment is fast becoming popular, given its potential to cleanse your body and relax your mind. Since I am receiving a lot of inquiries in my Ayurveda hospital in Chennai about this interesting procedure, I thought I could provide you a little more information about Avaghaswedam.

What are the benefits of Avaghaswedam?

Avaghawedam is perfect for complete relaxation of not just your body but also your mind. The benefits of this procedure in calming your mind and relieving you from conditions such as stress, anxiety, and insomnia are reasons why this procedure is increasing in popularity. This treatment also focuses on removing muscle- and joint-related pain, and is especially beneficial in the case of a backache, and conditions such as arthritis, hip pain, and sciatica. The procedure also has benefits in case of urinary and menstrual disorders and with allergic conditions. Its intense detoxification and rejuvenation benefits help with giving your skin a healthy glow and weight loss.

How is this procedure beneficial?

The procedure involves the use of a bath where your body is submerged entirely or at least up to the hip region. The bath is prepared from herbal and medicated extracts that your Ayurveda doctor will recommend based on your health condition. In addition, the bath is heated up. All these effects, in addition to the extended period of time, you will have to relax in the bath, will lead to a well-stimulated circulation, relaxation, rejuvenation, and deep cleansing. All the heat produces sweat that seeps out through the skin. The skin is indeed a powerful excretory option your body has. Hence all the toxins that your body releases lead to purification. The specific benefits of the essential oils or medicated extracts are definitely an added benefit. In addition, all the happy chemicals (scientifically termed endorphins) released by the body brings about immense calmness.

In some instances, an oil massage precedes the procedure. Hence when you soak in the warm, medicated bath the penetration of all the goodness of the herbal wonders will be magical. Sometimes a damp cloth supports the back of the neck or even the forehead to tone down the effect of the steam. Some therapies also include serving relaxing tea that prevents your body from overheating. The standard recommended period of this procedure is anywhere between 30 and 60 min.

I highly recommend that you add avaghaswedam to your routine practice of giving your body and mind a well-deserved treat. But ensure that you consult with an experienced Ayurveda expert who can recommend the perfect combination of herbal extracts and vehicle. Contact me for any questions you have about avaghaswedam. You can connect with me at http://www.miayurveda.org/ or call me at +91-9444615161.

The word “karna” refers to the ears; hence karnapooranam is a complete Ayurveda procedure that helps you overcome some of the most common to chronic and rare ear complications. This simple procedure also helps you clean your ears and maintain them in an ever-healthy mode. Ears are one of the most critical players in our body. Without them you are really lost, yet most of us do not treat our ears properly. Especially in today’s earphone-obsessed lifestyle, your ears struggle to maintain their hearing capability. I am hence seeing a steady increase in conditions such as tinnitus when patients come to consult with me at my Ayurveda clinic in Chennai. How can a simple treatment such as karnapooranam help in such conditions? Let’s find out.

What’s Karnapooranam and what are its benefits?

Karnapooranam is a therapeutic procedure focusing on the ears. It takes just a few minutes, where the therapist introduces medicated Ayurveda oils, from the simple sesame oil to complex herbal formulations, into your ears and places the formulations there for about 10 minutes. This procedure cleans your ear, removing wax and other dirt particles. It also helps in healing ear-related disorders.

Ear pain and reduced hearing are common indicators of inherent complications with the ear. In such conditions this procedure is useful in enabling a cure. The procedure results in lubricating the entire ear canal and also reaches the smallest and narrowest portions to remove all collected dirt and wax. This simple solution itself helps in improving hearing in many cases and in curing dry and itchy ears, as well as ear infections.

This treatment is also a critical process that helps in overcoming tinnitus or karnanada, a vata roga–based condition that is now becoming increasingly common, thanks to today’s lifestyle options such as excessive mobile phones, exposure to extended periods of loud noise, blood pressure, stress, etc. This procedure helps in delivering relief in this condition too.

In addition karnapooranam helps in strengthening the delicate bones in the inner ear and in strengthening the nerve endings in the ear. All these help relieve stress, control ear pain, manage vertigo and also deliver related support in managing stiffness of the neck and painful jaws.

What does the process involve?

This procedure, although simple, requires some poorvakarma before the therapist starts the procedure.  The Ayurveda doctor first examines your ear-related condition and determines the specific herbal oil formulation that the therapist will use. The therapist then helps you lie face upward on a firm wooden table. You will then undergo a relaxing massage – to the head, ear, and neck. This will relax the muscles and improve circulation to the ears. As a result, the medicinal oil will effectively percolate through the skin and circulate through the bloodstream. The therapist then cleans your ears with cotton. Now your ears are ready for the pradhanakarma.

The therapist now shifts your position and carefully fills your ears with the warm medicated Ayurveda oil. The therapist adds oil drop-wise until the oil entirely fills the ear canal.  You will need to hold the oil in the ears for about 10 minutes in the appropriate position. This ensures that the body entirely absorbs the medicinal effect of the oil into the bloodstream.  After the prescribed time, the therapist cleans your ear to remove the excess oil and repeats the procedure in the other ear too. In some cases, Ayurveda doctors recommend medicated smoke instead of medicated oil.  Follow the procedure for about 10 days or as prescribed by your Ayurveda doctor. You will definitely observe a sharp improvement in your hearing abilities and you ear-related condition.

Contact me for any questions you have about karnapooranam. You can connect with me at http://www.miayurveda.org/ or call me at +91-9444615161.

.Shamana Chikitsa refers to all the Ayurveda procedures and protocols that reduce, suppress, and eliminate disease symptoms. This form of palliative care pacifies the body by balancing the three rogas – vata, pitta, and kapha. These treatments are much simpler and less severe than shodhana chikitsa. They are intended to make the patient recover and feel healthier by suppressing the disease symptoms. Hence, while the inherent disease might still be present the patient undergoing Shamana chikitsa can control the symptoms.  Hence, this approach primarily has symptom care as its focus.

These treatments are popular options when strong and exhaustive procedures such as panchakarma cannot be used because the patient does not have the physical or mental strength to bear the intensity of such treatments. Hence, Ayurveda doctors often prescribe this form of treatment when patients do not have the health and stamina to withstand the severity of strong medications, forceful movements of abhyangam, or the physical and mental strain of vamana, virechana, nasya, and other such procedures. Hence, this mode of treatment primarily focuses on  Ayurveda medications and recipes that deliver just the right combination of nutrients and medicinal effects that your body needs based on your medical condition.

Applications of Shamana Ckikitsa

Shamana Chikitsa often finds use when the body needs care and improvement but is too weak to handle strong treatments. The treatment also helps in alleviating symptoms after an intense session of Shodhana Chikitsa, where the effects of the Shamana Chikitsa will remove even any residual rogas that are present in the body. These medications help to correct imbalances of rogas, agni, and dhatu through simple oral and external applications, as well as in delicate detoxification. Hence this chikitsa is useful for simple or less severe diseases and disorders that do not have a severe and deep-rooted cause. It is also useful when the intention is to first improve the patient’s strength and then plan treatment.

Therapists use this chikitsa in children younger than about 10 years and in geriatric patients or during pregnancy, where severe procedure might cause harm and for acute health conditions that can easily be annihilated. In chronic conditions, it can only act as a support form of treatment.

How does Shamana Chikitsa act?

This chikitsa does not affect the root of the disease; hence it can never result in complete removal of the disease or cure. The approach, however, reverses the damage caused by the disease. It focuses on altering the body’s roga balance through the administration of the right combination of medications. The approach also involves effecting a change in diet and lifestyle. In common diseases such as fever, cold, diarrhea, and other mild conditions, the roga imbalance does not require any stringent approach. Hence here the Shamana Chikitsa acts as the primary mode of care. In case of chronic and deep-rooted conditions such as diabetes, Shamana Chikitsa only plays a supplementary role. In such cases, the approach helps in purification and improves the overall health of the body.

Three main elements contribute to Shamana Chikitsa – herbal medications (oral and external applications), exercises, and food. A  popular example of Shamana Chikitsa is Dashamoolarishtam, which is an effective formulation containing 10 precious herbs. This arishtam is not just a nerve tonic but is also precious in case of anemia and other conditions. Shamana Chikitsa uses extensive, lehyams, kashayams, churnams, arishtams, tailams, lepams, bhasmams, and other formulations.

The decision whether you require a Shamana or Shodhana chikitsa belongs to your Ayurveda doctor. The severity of your condition, your mental and physical strength, your age, and many other factors contribute to this decision. Hence always consult an expert Ayurveda doctor first before proceeding to treatment options.

Contact me for any questions you have about Shamana Chikitsa. You can connect with me at http://www.miayurveda.org/ or call me at +91-9444615161.

Pure ghee has been the royal ingredient of not just Ayurveda but also every important aspect of Indian living. It’s a symbol of love, happiness, celebration, prosperity, and health. In addition to the enviable power it wields in our homes, ghee has a special place in Ayurveda since it is considered to be one of the best fatty nutrients that helps calm a lot of disorders.  Pure ghee has many incredible benefits. Our body undergoes complete detoxification with ghee as its primary medication carrier.

Ghee is the purest form of milk since it is clarified butter. Cow’s milk is considered the best source of ghee for human consumption and is ideal for balancing vata and pitta rogas. Of course, the older the ghee, the better it is – given its innumerable medical influences in Ayurveda. As an Ayurveda doctor ghee is one of my favorite ingredients both in my Ayurvedic formulations and the massages.  Of course, Chennai has always been in love with the ghee! So let’s look at why Ayurveda also loves ghee so much.

Why’s pure ghee so special?

Ghee is sweet, but its cooling effect and light nature help in cooling the body, at the same time increasing its digestive power. No wonder, ghee has been a popular ingredient in Indian cooking since time immemorial. Ancient Ayurveda texts have also praised ghee as an ingredient that delays aging, probably given the percentage of antioxidants it has. Ghee is safe for almost all ages of people and improves the capability of all the sense organs.

Various applications of ghee

1. Ghee plays a constructive role in the body, helping in bone formation, which is useful when the body is healing from a fracture. As an extension, ghee also slows down the aging process
2. It is also of great use in case of gastritis or ulcers – both in the stomach and in the intestinal tract.
3. Pure ghee is also an excellent lubricant, helping in smoothening the connective tissue of the body
4. This magic ingredient is an incredible moisturizer and helps enhance the skin’s complexion.
5. Ghee plays a magical role in healing from burn injuries, skin rashes, and bedsores.
6. Pure ghee enables intelligence and stimulates thinking.
7. Ghee works wonders with our voice boxes, making us sound melodious
8. Complete detoxification with ghee is possible because of its ability to dissolve all the toxins and eliminate them from the body.
9. Ghee is a great replacement for the regular mouthwashes and gargles since they help retain the strength of gums and teeth

Ghee in common procedures

A critical step of panchakarma is detoxification with ghee, which involves preparing the body for the panchakarma treatment by giving patient ghee to consume. This helps in loosening the toxins which the body easily eliminates during panchakarma.

Netra basti is another important procedure where the treatment involves creating a small well around the eye and pouring warm ghee into it. The eyes become soft after this treatment.

Pure ghee is one of the most popular options for abhyanga, especially in the case of the person opting for a self-massage for the head, torso, limbs, and joints.

Conclusion – Detoxification with ghee – warnings

Ghee causes an imbalance of the kapha; hence Ayurveda does not recommend ghee in case of obesity and high cholesterol. Hence, when used in moderation, ghee can have a wide range of positive effects. Its benefits range from calming the mind to reducing the speed of aging. This makes ghee truly the superstar ingredient of Ayurveda.

Contact me at The Madras Institute of Ayurveda for any questions you have about how you can use ghee to deliver overall health benefits or in case of specific health conditions. You can connect with me at http://www.miayurveda.org/ or call me at +91-9444615161.