Cleanses and Panchakarma

For years, the hip thing to has been a cleanse. Many celebrities and popular people try the juice cleanses. In January, every magazine I picked up had a review or article about someone trying cleanses to get the new year started "right". On Groupon in May 2012, there was a juice cleanse Groupon. Cleanse recipes are in every fitness and spiritual magazine. The Hollywood 48 hour Celebrity Diet sold at drugstores and online is basically a two day juice cleanse. I have done the 48 hour thing and I can definitely say it doesn't lead to lasting weight loss as it claims, but I always felt ... purer afterwards. I felt lighter. I mentioned in my last blog that I did try the 3 day reset cleanse from Whole Living magazine. Three days three meals - the same each day- with little snacks thrown in. It was vegetarian and pretty yummy. I wasn't hungry and the food was delicious. I felt lighter and happier when I finished my first three days. I lost 6 pounds. Whole Living has a one month cleanse as well, but I didn't like the menus as much as the three day reset. Plus, a month isn't a cleanse, it's a way of living.

So when I discovered that Panchakarma is an Ayurevedic seasonal cleanse, I realized that there may be something to this cleanse thing. I researched Panchakarma online and found a number of practitioners/clinics that offer Panchakarma. At $750 - $800 a pop. Huh? What is this? After more research, I found that usually these are daily treatments and meals in an outpatient setting. Yoga, meditation, simple vegetarian meals with the Panchakarma treatments. Sounds good so far. Like a week long meditative vacation really. Those treatments consist of Neti Pot nasal eliminations, Chakra massages, Sweat treatments, Shirodhara- an oil is dripped or poured onto your forehead to relax you - AND laxative and medicated ENEMA treatments. Wait, What? Maybe Panchakarma isn't the right place to start!

I read some more and in some treatment programs, you also have ritualized vomiting. Is this a ritualized bulimia treatment? You add in some colonics and all of the sudden I am skeptical of the purpose of the Panchakarma.

My bachelor's degree is in Psychology, but my focus was physiological psych- now called neuro-biology- with a focus on eating disorders. So I know that bulimics become addicted to the endorphins released after self-induced vomiting. That awesome feeling after you've puked from too many cocktails? It's not just in your mind- your brain is very happily experiencing an endorphin rush. It is possible that something physiological happens when you purge through laxatives or enemas as well. Maybe this ritual cleansing is twofold- to "reset" your appetite boundaries like the cleanses allege and to give you a happy start to your seasonal experiences. At any rate, the cost of residential Panchakarma treatments is beyond my reach and I am afraid of an introduction by fire to Ayurveda by starting with Panchakarma. Although it's the time of year for Panchakarma, I decide to learn more about the overall system of Ayurveda before taking the plunge. And I really want to understand the medicinal purposes of Panchakarma before experiencing them. The great thing about Ayurveda is that it is not a religion- these seasonal cleanses are not about worship- it is a medical system. On to the next step and the public library...