For the Love of Ghee: Week 2 of Panchakarma
Fat cleans more than skin deep
Deep breath… you’ll make it through.
Calm the mind, slow down and let it pass over you.
Surrender.
The first week was smooth, the body was getting prepared for panchakarma. I got to enjoy comfortable massages and treatments, easy.
The second week is when things get interesting. The toxins (ama, excess doshas) are swimming around your body, your aura, your mind; now as things have been loosened up. Weird dreams, old memories and random moods.
But it’s all good, as I say “let love and let go. Better out than in” :)
Once the digestion is strong enough, then internal snehapana (oilation) starts.
This concept is completely unique to Ayurveda. Using fats to loosen toxins in the body and bring them into the koshta (alimentary track) to be eliminated.
I will also note do not try this at home without the guidance of an Ayurvedic Practitioner or Doctor. The body needs to be prepared and there is important things to know and consider. This is for educational purposes only.
What is Snehapana?
Snehapana can be internal or external. Externally, its oil massage in various forms. Internal it is taking either oil, ghee or some form of animal fat. It depends on the condition and the person. Sneha literally means love. It is a way to stop degeneration, aging in the body, but also to cleanse and rejuvenate it. In additional, each medicated ghee has its own benefits so it can be used specifically for any health issue (skin disease, obesity, arthritis etc).
I drank medicated ghee for 3 days. That’s all my body needed before proper signs of lubrication were present. It can be given for up to 7 days at increasing doses but I had already had many external treatments and so I didn’t need as much.
The medicated ghee is more powerful than regular ghee as it has been infused with herbs that are working on a particular action for the individual. It also increases its digestibility.
The ghee or fat that is ingested gets digested over a period of time. No food is taken during this time so that it is properly absorbed and can go to the cellular level. When the ghee is at the cellular level it helps to purify the cell; cleaning away any ama (toxin or uncooked material), any dosha that is affecting its function. It helps to bring the cell back to its balanced state so it can function normally.
Healthy cells = health
Ghee works like soap on the cellular level. Incredibly, it doesn’t just work on the physical body, but also the mental and subtle body. It’s a complete holistic form of cleansing.
After the ghee is digested around 4 + hours later, the person can eat a simple rice porridge.
My Experience:
Day 1: 25ml dose. The first day I felt okay in the morning, had lots of energy… maybe a bit too much. I felt floaty and light. Looking back I was restless, doing too much, talking too much, thinking too much. Vata was being freed from my cells and I was on a ride with them. By the evening I felt uncomfortable. Fear, dread, anxiety (all vata type emotions). As the ghee saturated into all the cells of my being and my subtle body - trapped emotions, feelings, memories came dancing to the surface. Luckily, I have a meditation practice and was able to stay focused on the breath… but to be honest it was intense...Ayahuasca ceremonies, Vipassana mediation retreats it was on par. I had some kind of mental emotional storm. The doctor gave me some sedative herbs to help calm the vata and it worked effectively, my nervous system came back to balance and I was able to get some rest and sleep. * I dont write this to scare you, it doesn’t happen to everyone but I also wanted to be authentic and share my experience. Healing is messy… it’s not glamorous but it’s effective.
I would rather be uncomfortable for a couple hours than have to live with the discomfort for the rest of my life.
The morning was still a bit rough, as I was scared of taking ghee again. The fear of dying (completely irrational) was still present in my being as my mind made up stories of how I would come to my demise.
The mind is a trickster, unfortunately we give in to it many times and its stories continue to have too much authority over our lives. Meditation, panchakarma, prayer, yoga are all ways to override the mental tendencies and create a new pathway.
The dose increases each day. So there I went on dose 2, with courage I faced it. The nurse comforted me and told me it’s normal to feel off. I knew it was just mental toxins releasing but it didn’t make it any more appetizing.
The mind plays its drama’s and we get to watch the show.
Day 2: Even still Day 2 was good. A bit weak, but overall fine. I rested, I relaxed and I let the day float away. 50ml dose. Some purging occurred that moved some of the doshas out of my body so I felt much better after that.
Day 3 was more calm. I felt good. The dose was higher at 80ml. Plug the nose and slug it back.
During the 3 days you eat only kitcheri or rice porridge so the body can focus on digesting the ghee and processing toxins.
Day 4: I was given an oil massage and then put into a steam box. This helps to further pull all the toxins into the digestive track so it can be eliminated the next day.
Day 5: The finale for this phase! 6am, I was given medicated castor oil and waited, patiently for fireworks. Purgation helps to release all the doshas, but is most effective for pitta.
After the internal, external oilation with the purgation (virechana) the body is squeeky clean. A bit wrung out and weak as space where there was toxins is now open. There is more vata naturally as a part of this process. Which is why the next phase is crucial. To fill up the space with health, to make the body stronger than it was before. Because now instead of toxins, we strengthen the body will nourishment and love.
Now I am on to the next phase which I will explain next week.
** I also want to say that everyone’s experience with snehapana is different. It depends on how deep the toxins are in the system, which doshas are aggravated, your consitution; there are many factors. You may feel something, you may feel nothing, it really depends. But it will pass, and you will be fine.
I have done ghee many times before at smaller doses and had different effects and feelings. This time was more intense because my body was well prepared and my channels were open. My body was willing and ready to release the excess doshas. I am generally healthy and so the ghee didn’t have to go as deep to pull out the vata, it was right there waiting and perhaps praying to be freed. The intense feelings of fear were from episodes of trauma that I had been through that had gotten stuck in my being (mind, nervous system, body etc). It wasn’t a byproduct of the ghee, rather the trapped emotion being freed as the ghee loosened it.
This may help to imagine:
Think of ghee, it’s light, slippery, warm and it saturates your whole cell. Anything attached to the cell becomes loose; be it a physical material or a metaphysical emotion or memory. Like soap applied to clothes, the dirt seperates. Then when the body is fully saturated, a medicated purgative is given to pull the ‘dirt’ into the digestive track where it is flushed from the body.
Many chemicals like PFA’s, phytoestrogens, pesticides, herbicides bond to fat cells so when we do this process we are able to flush them from the body without harm.
Now your cells are clean and can operate without blemish.
It may sound bizarre drinking ghee, but it’s absolutely effective and it’s science.
Ghee to be in glee
Next week I will share the next phase of my panchakarma. If you are enjoying what I write please subscribe. Feel free to comment, to share with other like minded folks.
Much love and many blessings.
Thalita
Sorry for any typos, my mind is a bit mush right now. Enjoy :)