Ayurveda is gaining popularity all over the world, and in connection with this, there has also been more talk about the Ayurvedic “miracle therapy” panchakarma. Panchakarma is a deep cleansing, renewing and rejuvenating procedure, a complex approach to health support and restoration.

The Sanskrit word panchakarma means five actions or actions that balance the natural forces within the body and create conditions for physical and mental healing. With soft and gentle body procedures, a fixed daily schedule and diet, it is possible to heal from chronic health problems and change inappropriate thought and behavior patterns.

According to Ayurveda, health means a state where the natural forces within the body are in balance, the metabolism works properly, the body is healthy and the mind is calm. Good health depends on our ability to process and digest the various aspects of life. It is important to acquire what feeds us emotionally and physically and expel the rest. If we are unable to fully digest our food, experiences and emotions, residues begin to accumulate in our body, which become poison and cause disease when “wasted”. Panchakarma is an elegant complex of therapies that expels accumulated poisons and restores the body’s innate ability to heal or alleviate the course of a chronic disease.

Panchakarma consists of three stages: preparation, purification procedures, and stabilization, or exiting the process.

In the preparatory stage, internal and external tissues are softened with ghee (clarified butter or butter oil) and oil massage. Ghee, taken in the morning on an empty stomach, softens the layer of poison deposited on the walls of the digestive tract and also reaches the deeper tissues of the body, preparing the body for the excretion of poisons. Externally, the process is supported by a special oil massage. The toxins are then expelled from the digestive tract by means of diarrhoea-causing plants and from the soft tissues by sweating.

In the second stage, special clinical techniques are used to expel the excessive, out-of-balance natural forces within the body: Vata, Pitta and Kapha, which cause disease states.

In the third stage, the body is stabilized and the digestive fire is restored, where nutrition, yoga, meditation and a regular daily schedule and lifestyle play an important role.

Panchakarma, done correctly, is a powerful healing procedure. Certain rules of procedure are very important and if they are not followed panchakarma can bring harm instead of benefit. Therefore, panchakarma is performed in a special clinic for three to four weeks in a controlled and maintained environment. The level of panchakarma clinics in India and other parts of Asia varies widely. Therefore, before reserving a place, I definitely recommend doing background research and distinguishing between a wellness and a clinically oriented facility. When done holistically, panchakarma always includes therapeutic nutrition, meditation and yoga.

I have completed month-long panchakarma in India for three consecutive years. The first time I wanted to increase my immunity. I had just finished a two-year study program as an Ayurvedic practitioner and had been practicing all the “techniques” in India. The results amazed me as a psychologist. The soft body treatments were mostly pleasant but deep. I perceived the entire panchakarma process as intense psychotherapy. Stuck emotions, thought and relationship patterns were released. I experienced firsthand that with the healing of the body, the past and relationships are healed and you naturally and calmly experience essential spirituality. A person’s own body is his greatest teacher and also his spiritual guide.

The second and third time I went to do panchakarma with my child who was diagnosed with a degenerative nerve disease. With two panchakarmas, I managed to reverse the course of the disease and change negative thoughts to bright ones.

When doing panchakarma in India, it is useful to be able to ask as precisely as possible what you want. Therefore, some prior knowledge of panchakarma can be important. For example, I wanted to undergo eye rejuvenation or renewal therapy outside the program, the positive effect of which I still feel.

Panchakarma should be taken as an exciting journey within yourself and not as one attraction on a tourist trip. If you want to plan local sightseeing on the same trip, it would be better to do it before panchakarma. On the days of taking ghee and more intensive procedures, it is generally not allowed to leave the clinic, but during the stabilization phase, you can go out if you stick to mealtimes.

Panchakarma – like Ayurveda in general – works extremely gently, almost imperceptibly. The right result is when you notice at one point that wow, I don’t have this problem anymore, but it’s impossible to say when exactly the change happened. The change will remain. It is most correct to evaluate the first effect of panchakarma after three to four months, when you have again adapted to your normal environment and you have run out of the supply of herbal preparations brought from the clinic.

Many may not have the opportunity to travel to India for a month because it is expensive and time-consuming. However, you would like to gently and lovingly heal and nourish the body