What is Panchakarma and Why do it?
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I have some new words in my vocabulary:
Panchakarma
Abhyanga
Svedana
Sneharechana
Shirodhara
Patra Pottali
Janu Basti
These words were meaningless to me a week ago, and now they all come with memory wrapped in strong emotions.
Most of those emotions are good ones — calm, relaxed, happy, joyful, peaceful.
Some of the emotions are less favourable but I know I don’t need to tell you that many things that are good for us in the long term are not always pleasurable in the short term.
Overall though, I left the Panchakarma (an Ayurvedic rejuvenation process) retreat at Sukhavati feeling both incredibly relaxed and bouncing with energy.
Like a child.
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You know how when you were a kid, you were totally stress-free and without angst and worry, and you ran around with boundless energy? And then you get older and you start feeling mentally and physically weighed down by the … ugh…just…the world in general? Well, by Day 4 at the Sukhavati I was like 8-year-old Adell again.
Except still, thankfully, a functioning adult.
An adult, I might add, who is very skeptical of “treatments” that promise “healing”. I’m that person who doesn’t trust Western doctors because they don’t study Eastern medicine and rarely take a holistic view of the human body or health, and is equally distrusting of Eastern doctors because of their penchant for prescribing treatment and not being able to back up WHY they’re doing it other than “this is how it’s always been done.”
I do believe the best way to approach ANYTHING is to study various practices and traditions and then take from each what makes sense to you.
But anyway, back to Sukhavati, which is 100% Ayurveda and where you’re treated like royalty. Go ahead and adopt “HRH” as your title before going there, because that’s how you’ll feel.
Every evening you’re given your schedule for the next day, and they keep you fairly busy. By “busy” I mean, your schedule might look something like this:
6:30 a.m. Rice paddy sunrise walk
7:00 a.m. Morning yoga practice
8:00 a.m. Breakfast at the River Deck
9:30 a.m. Consultation with Ayurvedic Doctor
10:00 a.m. Abhyanga (oil massage given by two—TWO!!!—therapists simultaneously) followed by Shirodhara (warm oil is dripped continuously onto your forehead for 15 minutes and it is extremely relaxing)
12:30 p.m. Lunch at the Pavilion
2:00 p.m. Facial and Foot massage in your villa
4:00 p.m. Bike ride to the beach for sunset
6:15 p.m. Mocktails
6:30 p.m. Dinner at the River Deck
See? Can you imagine being “busy” all day with massages and meals? The activities, by the way, are optional, and the meals, by the way, are delicious, sattvic, and vegetarian.
Sattvic means “light” or “clean” and so there’s obviously no alcohol or meat, nothing processed or uncooked*, no coffee, and reasonable portions where you’re not left hungry but you’re not able to overeat either. *In Ayurveda it is believed foods should be consumed cooked and warm, and drinks should also be room temperature or warm. With the exception of fruit, they cook everything and advise keeping raw foods to a minimum.
Captured from the juice menu at Sukhavati and so true.
Okay, enough of the nice stuff though. What was it that gave me the memories and feelings that I wrinkle my nose in distaste about?
I was given just one treatment of the sort, which was what is, I believe, called Sneharechana. This involves not having any breakfast so that you have a completely empty stomach and then drinking 100ml of castor oil, followed by warm water and ginger tea. I was not allowed to eat or drink anything else then until lunchtime when I was given a big bowl of kitchari.
For me, the kitchari seemed to be the catalyst to prompt the castor oil to do its magic, if you want to call it magic….
Over the course of the next 15 hours or so, I had 9 bowel movements.
Although towards the end I was just pooping water and oil, a good sign, I suppose, that my intestines had been cleaned out entirely. Dinner was just a bowl of quinoa with ghee (surprisingly tasty after a day of just castor oil and kitcheri).
That’s the face of someone who’s just swallowed 100ml of castor oil
I went to the retreat feeling very bloated. I had become indulgent with my mealtimes in London, often eating out at restaurants and enjoying, perhaps, TOO much. Eating is one of life’s biggest pleasures for me, and I would never ever ever ever EVER promote holding back on something like eating good quality food which can be healing, nourishing, fuelling, sociable, and enjoyable for the body and the mind.
BUT like anything, too much of a good thing comes with similar problems as a harmful thing. Too much healthy food is unhealthy. This is something I’m trying to teach myself. Giving the digestive system too much work to do reduces the body’s ability to perform other functions. Giving the digestive system an easy job with regular breaks (much like you yourself) improves the body’s ability to perform other functions.
Anyway, I digress. The point is, the castor oil treatment seemed to do good things for me. I woke up the next morning feeling so light. Not weak and empty like when I’ve fasted for several days. I was energetic, my mind felt alert and focused, I felt like I was able to engage in conversation better and my handstands were ON POINT.
Please please please please please don’t read this and go drink 100ml of castor oil. Please don’t do that. Please remember that you are not me. And castor oil does not equal handstand abilities. You may have a totally different need, a totally different reaction, a totally different experience. And I love you and so I only want the best for you.
Therefore I would advise you to research, speak to a health care professional (ideally one with both eastern and western medical training), and maybe book yourself into Sukhavati and get the full dose of endless massages and cleansing food yourself.
In summary, Sukhavati to me means utter relaxation and pampering, with a side of cleansing in the form of lots of pooping, (but COME ON you know you love pooping — who doesn’t a good poop?!)
If you go to Sukhavati, make sure to book using ADELL20 for a discount! You get 20% off, and I get a little kick-back too. So it’s a win-win! What’s not to love?