Sharon T. asked: 1. When does it get “too hot, as in too much summer” to continue the spring detox program? What weather is the earliest to start spring detox? Dear Sharon: in North America, when temperatures become stabilized around and above 65 degrees Fahrenheit, then it is good to initiate detox. On the other hand, when temperatures rise and go beyond 85, then it is time to conclude any detox protocol to rehydrate and nourish instead. Please note that the body’s physical and vibrational channels start to dilate with temperature of 65 degrees and above for most people. As we know through Ayurveda, every individual is different, based on body build, but also on personal dietary and routine trends. If you maintain a clogging diet and stressful routine, your channels may respond more slowly to a warmer climate and take longer to respond to it. Best is to watch your body’s own signals and signs closely. Usually the dilation of channels can be accompanied by: possible nasal discharge; or an overall feeling of lightness; even shedding a couple of pounds is possible. Make sure to stop detox when temperatures go up to 85 degrees and beyond. At that point, your physiology will need more rehydration. Continuing with detox at high temperatures may result in different deep tissue imbalances with chronic side-‐effects. Ajay S. asked: 2. Male 49 years. Feel sluggish upon waking up and slower than usual during the day. Dear Ajay: it is important that you try to isolate the “hetu” or etiological/cause factor for your symptoms. For example: o are you eating dinner late? Lunch should be around 12:30-‐ 1:00pm and dinner should be approximately 6-‐7 hours after that, with a good snack in-‐between, around 3-‐4 o’clock.
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Anything after 7pm is considered late. Also as the sun sets, or as it’s effect on our physiologies diminishes as it is about to set in the warmer seasons, we have less environmental agni available to us and our digestion tends to be slower and weaker, and unless you are adding proper spices to compensate for the agni, whatever you eat late can only be semi-‐digested and cause sluggishness and fatigue. Or are you having a timely but heavy dinner? Then you need to enhance the absorption and digestion through proper spicing or make your dinners lighter. Are you consuming too much wheat or starch in your diet? Unless you have a good exercise or physical activity pattern, these are heavier and will also result in fatigue and sluggishness. Too much sugar? Or cold heavy foods – such as fats, ice-‐ cream, avocado-‐es, fried foods? If you are craving these then you may need to balance your Vata and Pitta dosha-‐s than can give you such cravings. Are you going to bed late – after 9:30pm? How many hours of sleep do you get?
Figure out the “hetu” of your condition first, understand what it is you may be inadvertently doing that is resulting in those symptoms, then correct that, avoid the pattern, or the food items. Eat an early lighter dinner – include more greens and light protein such as chicken or dahl if you are vegetarian, prefer gluten free grains such as quinoa or millet in bread, rather than wheat. Consume your meals with a balanced masala such as Mum’s Masala and good salt such as Soma Salt that will help you not hold back ama or toxins. You may also try using the SVA “Shroto Shudhi” tea into your diet. Hope this helps.
Kelli G.M. asked: 3. Importance and recommendation on flushing the liver and gallblader? […] As far as women’s natural cycles, is there an optimal time of the month/cycle to do a detox? Thank you – namaste. Dear Kelli: in the SVA tradition, we do not recommend flushing the liver and gall bladder at all in any way, except under the strict supervision of an ayurvedic expert that is using specific tailored protocols. Any organ and organ system is part of a larger whole and it is not possible to detox one without disrupting the balance of the entire whole without having some type of repercussion. Even if there are a lot of toxins sitting in any given organ or organ system, the body always creates balance, or homeostasis, and adjusts its functioning to keep on running. Detoxing one or two organs through flushes are considered very imbalancing in the SVA tradition. Detox should always be done slowly and safely, and with an eye to the whole system. Otherwise there may result severe detox crises either immediately or down the line. As for you second question: any detox program should be concluded (and not just stopped) 5 days before the menstrual cycle starts. Similarly, it can be 5 days after the cycle is completed. This is important because detox protocols may interfere with the body’s natural hormonal rhythm. In addition, the monthly menstrual cycle is also a deep tissue monthly detox, so it is important not to interfere with it. You would also not want to do a double detox. In detox more is actually less! The more you try to detox in faster or bigger ways, the less benefit you will get, and more side-‐effects you may incur. With detox, the safest best path is slow but steady. There are of course always exceptions based on individual make-‐up and trends. For example, if a lady is experiencing constipation or hast he tendency for hard bowel movements, it is mandatory to clean correct the bowel condition before she starts to menstruate.
Lucia R. asked: 4. Namaste Vaidya Mishra and team! First of all thank you for your freely distributed wisdom of Ayurveda. I am very grateful for it, trying to follow, what I can so far. I am interested to get the detailed info-‐s if it is in this way possible. My specific question is, if one can transdermally in this connection use some therapeutic essential oils, which and how and can a sudden bigger spine/joint stiffness in this time of the year be avoided and how? Heart-‐full greetings and thanks from Vienna! Lucia R. Dear Lucia: essential oils alone are not enough for transdermal detox. Along with essential oils, there have to be some detox herbs or ingredients. For example: Magnesium combined with essential oils such as coriander help flush out toxins; peppermint opens detox pathways when used with Boswelia, to reduce inflammation, etc. Essential oils are in general considered vehicles or “yog-‐vahi”-‐s, they are carriers for herbal and lipid molecules. They have the marut intelligence to carry and deliver herbal molecules into the deep-‐ er tissues. If you use them alone, depending on what you are using, you may experience some relief, due to their channel-‐opening effects, but it will not go beyond that, they will not supply deeper cleansing or relief unless you combine them with detox herbs. As to what concerns stiffness in the joints or the spine during the spring, this is an indication of deeper toxins being getting released due to the normal warming of the climate and the natural opening of the detox pathways. Feeling stiff means the toxins are stuck, unable to be evacuated by your body, and they are disturbing the flow of prana
probably in your muscle tissue. This will also interfere with the flow of physical nutrients. Essential oils may give you some relief by opening the channels as I said, but you may need to use actual herbal formulations targeting their proper evacuating, for example I have formulated a transdermal cream called Mahakanchenar. This is great to use in conjunction with the Anushudhi (both available at www.chandika.com). You can apply these on yourself or take them along to a massage therapist and ask them to apply on your stiff areas. They can apply the Mahakanchenar first and massage it in, and then apply the Anushudhi on top and massage it in. These creams can be used daily, morning and evening. In addition, it is always important to maintain a light-‐er diet when experiencing stiffness or trying to do a gentle detox, so try to avoid avoid wheat or gluten; eat several meals a day instead of one large meal, and eat them on time, without delays; stay away from starch and refined flours and sugar; eat fresh light proteins – chicken and fish, or the smaller lentils (red lentils, French lentils, mung dahl and mung beans), avoid garbanzo, adzuki, fava, lima, etc. Maintain the SVA protocol in general in terms of diet and recommendations. Insert some light exercise or yoga into your daily routine. Make sure you sleep no later than 9:30-‐9:45 pm. Hope this helps.