PANCHA - FIVE, KARMA - DEEDS
Pronounced as punch-uh-kur-muh, it is the most powerful therapy in the clinical practice of Ayurveda. It is an Ayurvedic practice that is the focus of my Wellness Travel Consultancy.
Panchakarma is a powerful Ayurvedic tradition of cleansing and healing the body through the digestive tract, coupled with other physical therapies.The entire process is approximately 15 - 28 days, and can be quite challenging or relaxing depending on your own needs and desires.
I choose Panchakarma as the focus of my retreats because I know of no other process that so directly contributes to happy, healthy, whole individuals, ready to be the effective leaders and humans that they are meant to be. Cleansing your body and cleansing your emotions are not separate. Panchakarma will streamline and embolden your body and mind, and enable you to be even more high-functioning and capable than you could possibly have imagined.
Panchakarma is classified as a Sodhana Chikitsa or a purgative/ evacuative therapy to balance the bio-energies, tissues, physiological systems and functions of the body.
Sodhana Chikitsa cleansing herbs and therapies heal by loosening, binding, extracting, and flushing out endogenous toxins called Ama. The build-up of residual toxins from poor digestion, circulation, and elimination manifests disease in the body tissues. The term Panchakarma applies to all procedures that heal by purifying toxic residue left behind due to inefficient digestion and waste elimination.
The residual waste called Ama, an ayurvedic term for endogenous toxins that translates as ‘not-me’ and also as ‘undigested’, is the primary cause of dis-ease based on Ayurveda’s perspective on health and healing. Ama collects over time as tissues degenerate, the passage of waste materials is blocked, and the body’s regulatory functions grow weak causing a host of symptoms to affect the body and mind.
The goal of an efficient Panchakarma is to restore health by purifying and cleansing all the major systems of the body. Once harmony is achieved between the body’s basic energies Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, the body’s seven types of tissues, the three main waste elimination processes, the sense organs, and the mind, vibrant health is a natural outcome.
To Ayurveda vibrant health is synonymous with radiant beauty.