The Big Cleanse
Four days of preparation behind us, and we get to the business end of this detox process, the cleanse. This in itself takes four days. For the first three days, the morning begins with a glass of medicated ghee at 8.15am. Thereafter its rice porridge for lunch and a loose kitchari for dinner. Treatments continue morning and afternoon. On the eve of the fourth day, we’re given an Ayurvedic laxative powder (which looks harmless - like something you’d find in your spice cupboard) which is taken at 7am the following morning and completes the process the ghee has begun.
Weirdly, I feel relieved to have reached the cleanse stage, a sense of “let’s get on with this” and glad to have four days of panchakarma experience under my (now on a tighter notch) belt. We do yoga and take our daily walk to the nearby river first thing before arriving at the hospital for our ghee. Everyone’s glasses are pre-prepared with their specific prescription and dose. I’m pleased that morning to find my own glass has a relatively modest amount of ghee in it. It’s warm and smells a little toasted and whilst the flavour is not altogether unpleasant, my stomach lurches as I knock back my first dose. Several glasses of water later, it feels a bit more settled although I have a queasy feeling all morning and definitely couldn’t stomach an actual breakfast even if it were on offer.
My treatments also change, and the highlight of my day becomes my afternoon Shirodhara, perhaps the most iconic of Ayurvedic therapies. After a head massage and a warm oil body massage, warm oil is poured in a continual stream over the forehead. Its purported benefits include helping with sleep, stress and anxierty, and pacifying vata energy. I find it really blissful and calming and leave after each treatment feeling restored.
On the afternoon of the first day of the cleanse, I begin to notice that my emotional state has shifted too and my mind feels alive and creative. I feel some of my usual optimism surging. I begin to understand the difficult emotional journey during the prepatory phase of panchakarma as body toxicity being drawn out by the treatments and total dietary detox. For the first time, I start to think that maybe this will all be worth it after all. I’ve lost weight too, we all have, and there’s an odd sense of having let go of more than surplus pounds, of a shedding in a deeper sense.
I also notice the diminution of my appetite. I feel surprisingly sustained and energetic on the very restricted diet and only once do I feel any hunger. My tastebuds seem to have adjusted their expectations as well, and the food, whilst definitely monotonous, doesn’t offend me.
By day three of the ghee diet, I feel like a pro at this new regime and on something of an emotional high. My final ghee dose is enormous though and initially I don’t think I can finish it. I wretch a few times between mouthfuls but manage it in the end. I can feel its agitating effect straight away. I spend a lot of the afternoon running to the loo. Dr A is delighted - “your body is all prepared for the final cleanse” she tells me. Frankly, by 8pm I feel pretty well cleansed already.
I don’t sleep well that night, I’m awake at 2am anxious about the virechanam (laxative) on a tummy that’s only just settled from its exertions the previous day. The night passes with Netflix and a bit of journalling (I don’t seem able to settle to any of the books I downloaded onto the new kindle I’d purchased expressly for this trip) and I’m relieved when the on site wake up music begins to play at 5am.
The laxative is taken at 7am. At 6.45am, the kitchen team deliver hot water (along with lemon, salt and sugar “just in case”), and I add water to the powder to make it into a thick paste. It tastes quite strongly of cinnamon and there’s definitely some pepper in there too. It’s not delicious but it’s manageable (and I’d take it over the ghee any day!). We’re advised to drink a glass of warm pathimukham (herbal water) every 20 minutes to ease things along. You probably don’t want me to go into too much detail about my bowel movements so I’ll summarise as quick and efficient! By about midday the process was complete.
The doctor visits at 10am and takes my blood pressure, hears about my experience and confirms plans for the rest of the day. Breakfast (more delicious rice gruel, but I’m hungry so grateful for it) arrives at 11am. I’m to stay in my room until my afternoon treatment (Siro Vasti, another treatment involving oil and the head which I’m looking forward to). I know I should be resting but the lure of the lap top and admin overcomes me. And then at 1pm, the biggest treat - a glass of coconut water, which tastes heavenly.
So here I am, a little weary and weathered but way more cheerful than the Emma of a few days ago, a lot more trusting of this strange and ancient process and, remarkably, feeling already a sense of rejuvenation.
