What is Panchakarma and How it Helps -

Detoxifying your body and mind has long been a process practiced in Ayurveda. It’s as ancient as Ayurveda itself and is almost 5000 years old.

Among the other detoxification processes listed in Ayurveda, Panchakarma is one of the major ones. Panchakarma aims at maintaining the body’s equilibrium through performing 5 techniques one by one.

As more and more people opt for a holistic healing approach, detoxification processes such as Panchakarma is gaining prominence in society. But what exactly is Panchakarma?

Before you opt for ayurvedic Panchakarma in Sydney, you should know what you are walking into. Keeping that in mind, here we have discussed Panchakarma and how it can help your body. So, read on.

Table of Contents

What is Panchakarma?

The term Panchakarma comes from two Sanskrit words ‘pancha’ meaning five and ‘karma’ meaning actions. Thus Panchakarma is a culmination of five processes that are done one by one to cleanse and detoxify your body.

Over time, your body accumulates a lot of toxins which may be due to poor health choices, diseases, and pollution. Panchakarma aims at detoxifying your body from all and every toxin so that our body’s natural healing capacities are restored and even improved.

Our body has the natural ability to remove toxins from the system and Panchakarma is a way of doing that. Over time, this natural ability to heal and purify itself wears down due to several factors. It can be due to poor lifestyle choices, alcohol consumption, smoking, or simply due to environmental pollution.

Panchakarma, which is based on five detoxification techniques aims at removing the toxins from your body and restoring its ability to heal itself.

The Steps of Panchakarma

In Panchakarma treatment, the entire body is divided into parts, and special treatment procedures are implemented to remove toxins from those parts. The main areas targeted are the head and the lower and upper gastrointestinal tracts.

Poova Karma

Poova karma is the culmination of some processes that are to be done before the five main treatment techniques. The main aim of these poova processes is to soften the tissues so that lipid-soluble toxins in our tissues become easily soluble. Softening of the tissues is done so that the toxins in your body can be easily excreted through the digestive system.

The poova karma prepares a patient for the main Panchakarma treatment. The procedures of poova karma include:

Pachan Karma

This process involves fasting and consumption of some herbs to help a patient digest liquefied butter or ghee. This helps to dissolve fat-soluble toxins.

Snehan karma

This involves treating the patient with an increasing amount of medicated ghee. This helps in the liquefaction of fat-soluble toxins rooted deeply in the tissues.

Swedam karma

This involves deep massages and a steam bath so the body channels are opened and digestive tract movement isimproved.

Pradhan Karma

Once the body becomes ready through the poova karma, it is now time to undergo the main 5 elements of Panchakarma. It is advised to undertake an ayurvedic Panchakarma in Sydney under the supervision of specialists who customizes the treatment keeping in mind the age, digestive health, or the curative needs of the patient.

The five main elements of Panchakarma treatment involves:

Vamanam

This is the process of vomiting which is therapeutically induced. This is done to clear parts of the respiratory tract and the upper gastrointestinal tract.

Virechanam

This is the process involving purgation to clear the lower gastric tract that runs from tract from the stomach to the excretory system.

Basti or Anuvasana

This is the process of herbal oil enemas to clear the rectal area.

Nasya

This is done to cleanse the respiratory tract and paranasal sinuses.

Raktamokshana

This process involves the letting out of impure blood.

After these processes, the body gets fully cleared of any type of toxin that might have accumulated. The Panchakarma process is usually followed by a post-therapy diet to restore the digestive tract.

So, these are the steps of the Panchakarma process and you must keep these in mind before going for an ayurvedic Panchakarma in Sydney.

While opting for a Panchakarma treatment, make sure that they offer customization on their treatment procedure. This is to ensure that you get the best treatment according to your age, health, and other factors.