As I mentioned in the last post, part of the daily routine (dinacharya) is personal care. A shower or bath every day in the morning is not part of my habits right now. I tend to get up and work and then bathe or shower whenever, usually late afternoon or night. And I have been languishing in a hot bath for years. Now I find out that Pittas should quickly shower. Use of too much hot water and laying around in a bath is counterproductive for Pittas. I do like to nap after my baths, so for now, I am going to switch to morning showers. Along with the shower, I do usually brush my teeth first thing. Now I am adding a couple more routines.
According to Ayurveda, your body produces Agni (fire) and Ama (very roughly translated as dis-ease not disease!).
Agni is the heat energy from digestion. According to The Book of Ayurveda by Judith Morrison, balanced agni is vital for health. "Ayurveda regards disturbances to agni as one of the chief causes of disease".
Ama is what you are purging in panchakarma (yoiks) but you also purge daily ama through personal care routines. One example is the tongue scraping. Excessive Ama is built up on your tongue and when as a daily habit you scrape your tongue- gently- and then gargle. I am not doing the gargling yet. The books call for sesame oil, but I am just using plain old crest mouthwash after I brush my teeth and scrape my tongue. I bought a tongue scraper from Walmart for $3. It's not fancy, but it is working, although I am working on my gag reflex. So far, I can tell my tongue is getting pinker and prettier every day. I hope this also means that I am decreasing my ama.
The next step in personal care is nasal rinsing. This is a big deal for me because I have horrible allergies. This year especially because everything is blooming at the same time. I have been using a saline solution squeeze bottle periodically for years, but I bought a Sinus Rinse by Neilmed from my local pharmacy. It was $6. It's a big squeeze bottle with a huge cap that you lean over and squeeze the rinse into your nostrils one at a time. There is a ph balanced saline mixture that you mix with water, distilled preferably and slightly warm.
I thought about a Neti pot and priced some out. There's a great store in town- Sheepish- that has a few different options, but I ended up going with the squeeze bottle. honestly it was because I don't have to move my head and get in an awkward position to use it. And it was cheaper. And the Neti pot had some bad press recently - a man died from a brain eating amoeba. It was conjectured it came from his neti pot usage. The amoeba was found in his tap water. So- USE DISTILLED WATER and you won't have this problem. It wasn't the Neti pot that caused the damage but the incorrect use of it. http://www.king5.com/health/Brain-infection-from-water-amoeba-kills-3-one-from-neti-pot-128037093.html
After using the sinus rinse, I massage a little sesame oil into my nose. It's only been a couple of days, and my allergies haven't abated, but I feel better. And the next personal care step is Abhyanga- oil massage. I don't like the idea of getting oily, but I love massage in any form. And remember that part of my goal is the reconnection with my body. Next post- what the first oil massage was like.
Also, I mentioned that I don't usually shower first thing in the morning. I am working on my morning routine to figure out where the best place/time is for the shower. Daily rhythm. I would sometimes go days without a shower- especially if I wasn't involved in strenuous activity, but that is changing. I didn't see others as I work from home. My hair doesn't need to be washed every day. I wasn't very active- thus the weight gain. Now, though, I am more active during the day and the weather certainly precludes going without a shower. As my routine gets more... routine, I'll let you know what I think.
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