Panchakarma

The three stages

A programme is not the procedures alone. The texts describe three stages, and the two either side of the main one take up most of the days.

Purvakarma — the preparation

Internal oleation first: ghee taken in a measured dose that increases each morning across a number of days, on an otherwise light and repetitive diet. Then external application — oil worked over the body — followed by sweating, usually in a steam cabinet with the head outside it.

The preparation is the longest stage and the one most often shortened by people who have read about the programme rather than undertaken it.

Pradhanakarma — the main procedure

One or more of the five, selected and timed according to the written description made at consultation. A single day, in most cases, after a preparation measured in days.

Paschatkarma — the return

A staged diet, called samsarjana krama, beginning with a thin rice gruel and widening by defined steps over several days until an ordinary diet is resumed. The number of steps is set by the procedure that preceded it.

The five procedures

The set is fixed and the names are the classical ones. They are described here as procedures — what is done, and in what order.

Vamana

Induced emesis. Vomiting brought on deliberately, carried out in the morning after the preparation stage is complete, under observation throughout.

Virechana

Purgation. A measured dose is taken in the morning and produces bowel evacuation over the hours that follow. The day is cleared of everything else.

Basti

An enema, either oil-based or decoction-based, given as a defined series rather than singly. The series alternates the two types on a schedule set in advance.

Nasya

Administration through the nostrils, preceded by steam and a short massage of the face and neck. Described in full on the Therapies page.

Raktamokshana

The controlled removal of a small quantity of blood. It belongs to the classical set and is listed here for completeness. It is not among the procedures performed at this clinic.

The shape of a day

Days differ by stage and by procedure. A preparation day, which is the commonest kind, runs roughly like this.

What is performed here

Of the classical five, this clinic performs three: virechana, basti and nasya. Vamana and raktamokshana are described above because the set is described above, not because they are offered.

A programme runs between seven and twenty-one days. It is a commitment of mornings rather than of hours, and it is worth knowing that before asking about it.