Day 13-15: PanchaKarma Cleanse

The past several days have been lovely. I have an overall relaxed feeling (which right before a wedding is unusual I'm sure). I've been letting myself sleep when I'm tired and when I've been awake I have felt rested. My PanchaKarma experience has been a delightful one and I strongly suggest to anyone who can take the time and invest the money to do this for themselves. I would love to think that I've created a new tradition for brides-to-be as the timing was perfect - no Bridezilla here! On top of having a calm presence for my wedding I also will have clear skin and best yet - no dark circles under my eyes!!!

This week I will interview Vijaya and hopefully answer any questions one may have before choosing to partake in the PanchaKarma. It is an interesting process and ritual - one I wasn't fully convinced of before I started but I feel so great now that I'll be an Ayurvedic fan for life. So stay tuned for more clips...

Day 12: PanchaKarma - Ayurvedic Cleanse

I feel too good.

No seriously, feeling this good first thing in the morning... it's unheard of. I don't have any cravings. No desperate 'give me my morning caffeine before someone gets killed' feelings and no 5pm 'where's my smart cocktail?' cravings. All day today I simply felt content.

This evening I went out 'drinking' with some friends and happily drank soda water the whole time. I felt so energetic and young - not the usual 'I'm too old to be out this late' feeling I usually get around 10pm. I didn't crave any of the drinks and therefor I never felt like I was missing anything. Usually if I choose not to drink at a restaurant or bar - I'll sit there longing to the entire time. For the first time in a long time I feel free from my addictions.

I'm off the ghee first-thing-in-the-morning and am just eating simple macrobiotic style foods that balance my dosha. Tonight though I had some spicy/hot food which is thought of as unbalancing for Pitta's and indeed it was a little too much for my stomach post mono diet etc.

I miss meeting up with Vijaya. I keep coming back to what she said the first day about the word Rasa and building a rapport with one another. I didn't know what she was talking about really when she first said this - but I do now.

It's so rare that we stop and allow anyone to cherish us, to honor us, to speak to our divine selves, to call to our true being. What a gift to have had the opportunity to create such a safe and beautiful rapport with Vijaya and exist in a room with such a gifted healer/spiritual guide as she transformed me.

Think for a second... have you recently been honored, worshiped, blessed as if you were an expression of the divine? Maybe it's about time?

It's funny... we get so attached to the agenda of our egos we often lose sight of the reality of our true being. We'll adamantly defend our ego's story about how we're not good enough or not worthy enough and we'll convince others of it too - teaching them how to treat us like doormats and making sure we don't get what we want out of life. It's such a strange human tick to be so self-sabotaging and insecure. While we do it - we feel like we're doing it to be nice or not-imposing or something but really it's about the ego being selfish... doing anything it can to remain relevant. Cause the truth is that we are all divine. When we're acting like we're not that's when everyone suffers.

Day 10: PanchaKarma - Ayurvedic Cleanse

Today was supposed to be my last massage but I had to figure out a way to stretch it out just a bit longer... When Vijaya explained to me that the full-length PanchaKarma works to clean out every system in the body and each day of massage represents a different system - I had to make sure I stuck around long enough for the Nervous System.

I am generally an easily agitated person. Not that I get upset a lot but it doesn't take much to make my nerves bounce. Any night that I know I have somewhere to be in the morning - I find myself unable to fall asleep. Loud noises make me jump and anything emotional makes me jittery. Driving winds me up, travel makes me tense, I grind my teeth... you get the picture. So of all the days not to be missed, for me it was very important to complete with the nervous system

So today I went to Dr. Silvanna to get my bones adjusted - since today would have been the skeletal system if I was doing the 7 day PanchKarma. Turned out I really needed it too. My neck was definitely on crooked.

For lunch I had to make sure to eat some yogurt with lemon juice in it - this is to prepare me for Virechana or Purgation. I can see why one might want to use the Indian word in this case - because Purgation sounds downright scary. (Amazingly enough the drinking of the Castor oil part was not too bad... Squeezed a couple lemons into some hot water+Castor oil and it was actually kind of yummy.)

To seal in my back adjustment I lathered myself in some sesame oil (as instructed) and gave myself a massage followed by a hot bath. Something about the heat and the oil pushes the toxins into the lower intestine. The rest of my night was spent watching Galactica (AWESOME-IST SHOW!!!) and then finally I drank my oil concoction and down 2 laxatives. Should be an interesting morning...

Day 9: PanchaKarma - Ayurvedic Cleanse

Today I get to experience the full treatment, the official PanchaKarma tandem massage

Vijaya and Areille move like dancers. From my perspective it does not feel like two people at all but one person with four arms.







My fourth massage and I am still struggling with my thoughts and my lack of ability to let go. But something starts to shift - I'm experiencing a deeper connection. When my mind does slow down - it is empty. It is brief but it is there.

I have trouble lifting my body up to move positions - I'm melting into the bed. The amazing sensation of people praying over you and treating you with such love is precious. I feel very blessed to be experiencing this.

Once I've steamed to a nice tenderness I get to experience something else new - they pour warm oil on my third eye for twenty minutes. This was really interesting. At first there is a moment of Chinese water torture - but that quickly fades as does your busy mind. Thoughts jump in, they jump out and then something extraordinary happens... your brain is silent. You are somewhere else. You've locked into a different brain wave pattern. You feel like the low note of a chant. It is very blissful. You stay in this place till well after the treatment has ended - I remember feeling incapable of shifting from this space. Then all of a sudden like when a jar loses it's seal you pop out of it and come back into your body. Intense and great!