Pancha Karma Therapy

Recommended for a minimum of 5 days up to 30 days. We will work with you to create arrangements for local accommodations. You will receive personalized attention 4 to 5 hours each day.

• Ayurvedic consultation
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Swedana – Steam cabinet with essential oils
• Ayurvedic Vegetarian Lunch
• Tea for your body type
• Chakra Anointment – Balance chakras– Centering and expansion
• 2 Colon cleanses
• Skin brushing
• Shirodhara

In this Pancha Karma, we teach you how to eat for your body type using the principles of Ayurvedic Medicine. This gives the body a jumpstart to begin assimilating to what you are eating. During this time, we concentrate on the organs of elimination, particularly the liver, gall bladder, kidneys, and intestines. The liver is the biggest factory in the body producing bile and helping us detox from chemicals and burn fat. When the body is cleansed it is able to assimilate the nutrients that we eat and breakdown food. The goal of this program is to get us to the perfect weight. Most people lose between 7 to 12 pounds during the treatment.

Recommended for a minimum of 5 days up to 30 days. We will work with you to create arrangements for local accommodations. We also have humble accommodations at the Center.

You will receive personalized attention 6 to 7 hours each day.
The cost of the Perfect Weight Pancha Karma is $450.00 per day

• Ayurvedic Consultation
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Swedana – Steam cabinet with essential oils
• Ayurvedic Vegetarian Lunch
• Perfect Weight Tea
• Chakra Anointment – Balance chakras – Centering and expansion
• 3 Colon cleanses
• Tandam (4 hands) Massage
• Tarpana – Relationship healing, emotional release
• Personalized diet plan to achieve your perfect weight
• Lepa – Herbal body mask
• Gall Bladder Cleanse
• Body Wraps

Delux Pancha Karma

• Ayurvedic Consultation
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Swedana – Steam cabinet with essential oils
• Ayurvedic Vegetarian Lunch
• Your body type tea
• Chakra Anointment – Balance chakras – Centering and expansion
• 3 Colon cleanses
• Tandam (4 hands) Message
• Tarpana – Relationship healing, emotional release
• Personalized diet plan to achieve your perfect weight
• Lepa – Herbal body mask
• Gall Bladder Cleanse

Below are further explanations of the services available during a Pancha Karma cleanse.

This purifying action is accomplished with cleansing herbs for the small intestines and reduces excess fire. Purgation is only done for two days as more would lower the digestive fire and deplete the vital forces. Essential oils play no internal part in purgation, however, licensed massage therapists perform abdominal massages using an appropriate essential oil blend created for your body type.

Swedhana uses the natural forces of heat and steam to open the outer channels and aid the body’s natural eliminative processes. Essential oils added to the steam stimulates, energizes, and cleanses the skin and the life force. Steam cabinets allow the head to be outside the cabinet so the head remains cool.

Traditional western enemas using plain water are drying and depleting to the colon. Ayurveda recommends herbal teas, medicated vegetable oils, milk, and yogurt to cleanse, build, and nourish the sensitive and important eliminative tract. When Light trained at the Nature Cure Hospital at the Ghandi Center in India, she saw basti equipment very similar to the Colema Board.

This purifying action is used to clear impurities from the head and sinus, reduce pain, and promote relaxation. The stimulation of the limbic system (primitive brain) via the olfactory nerve can have profound effects on our mood, emotions, desires, appetites, and memories. Powders, oils, teas, and smoke are various mediums for directly affecting the Prana Vata. Application of medicated oils to the ears is often included.

Therapeutic vomiting is especially useful in Kapha imbalance and results in excess mucous that has collected in the stomach (usually from lung and sinus drainage) to be ejected from the body. This will allow more efficient digestion and absorption of nutrients. Not to be practiced by the lay person, Emesis must be done under the supervision of a trained Ayurvedic Practitioner.

A practice since ancient times, the letting of blood as a remedy to illness continued into the 1800s. Physicians were once called “leeches” due to their usage of this creature to draw blood. Incredibly, leeches are still used by some medical doctors in conditions of hemorrhage and fluid retention just beneath the skin. Medicine has nothing else that works as well. Three results can be encouraged by modern bloodletting (via donation of blood): someone else’s life can be saved by your donation; toxins which your body has not eliminated will be directly removed; and your circulatory and immune system will be stimulated to produce new fresh blood by the slight but sudden loss of fluid. Very optional and not often performed.

This is the technique of administering a stream of warm oil onto the third eye area of the forehead. Traditionally, sesame oil is used, but oils appropriate to the doshic imbalance blended with appropriate essential oils will be more effective. Shirodhara is deeply stimulating to the nervous system, releasing neuro-hormones and creating ecstatic feelings of relaxation and pleasure.

While it is true that foods, herbs, oils, and lifestyles are important healing modalities to be embraced, we should also acknowledge that our thoughts and feelings may be the most powerful factor in our well being. The Tarpana ceremony is a way to become free from the power of negative, judgmental, or limiting thoughts and provides the possibility of making great strides within our lives. Being released from any negative past relationship patterns, we are free to experience a greater connection to all of life. It can be a life changing experience.

Everyone is a candidate for Pancha Karma – these yogic therapies have been used since ancient time to cleanse the body and for the prevention of disease.

Chakra anointing has been performed by priests and holy men for thousands of years to bring tranquility and expansion. The anointment can bring one into an altered state. You do not have to be in a pancha karma or receive a massage to receive chakra anointment.

The Chakras are our energy anatomy. At the end of the day of healing, chakras are anointed to bring balance, bliss, and harmony to the ethereal, physical, and emotional body. Give yourself 3, 5, or 7 days of rejuvenation, better health, stress reduction, energy, vitality, and peace.

Ayurveda is recreated for every age. Dr. Robert Svoboda writes that, “practice has always been a balance between orthodoxy and innovation . . . with every doctor carving out his unique niche in the world of therapeutics . . . and each doctor . . . is expected to tailor a different treatment for each sufferer. Such detailed individualized care does not often happen today and may never have been common, but the intent (in the writings) is clear.” This could be the ultimate Ayurveda: evolving therapies adapted to each patient’s needs.

Innovation can even emerge from diminishing choices. Our teacher, Dr. Chotai, related a difficult case of skin cancer, where traditional medical and Ayurvedic approaches had been exhausted. Pulse diagnosis revealed a dry, irregular predominant vàta. Seeking the greatest application of earth element, he intuited that earth burial could be the ultimate delivery mechanism. The patient was buried vertically in the sand of Santa Cruz Beach, Mumbai, with an umbrella to protect her head from the sun and only fresh coconut water (water element) for consumption. He sat with her for ten days, drifting from light conversation to deep meditation to silent observation of the horizon and sleep. When the patient emerged from the sand, the lesions were resolved and her pulse had achieved balance.

We are both re-born ayurvedic practitioners. We have done this before. It is too easy, too familiar to us not to have been practitioners in a previous life. We have appreciated the traditional methodologies, yet never felt an obligation to stick to them. Our abhyanga massage may have components of cross-fiber, lymph drainage, trigger points, and chiropractics in addition to traditional marma and abhyanga strokes. We use whatever is needed. For example, I like my sirodhàra, heated, temperature regulated, directed, and controlled with gentle chanting in the background.

The following are some ways that we have customized our patients’ pancha karma (PK) treatments. We hope there is something here for practitioners in the field.

Abhyanga oil can be created from a small collection of essential oils and vegetable base oils. Essential oils are lighter and more concentrated than traditional medicated oils, which can take months to prepare. With knowledge and intent, the practitioner can instantly blend for a specific dosha reduction or to support any associated conditions or symptoms.

For example, in a patient with excess pita and skin inflammation, a base of coconut oil could be added essential oils (EO) of blue chamomile, yarrow, sandalwood, and lavender for a cooling, calming abhyaïga blend. In addition to promoting localized skin healing, these oils would be absorbed into circulation, calming the nervous system, quieting the mind, and even balancing the endocrine system. There is nothing that would preclude the use of traditional medicated oils in your blends.

Sirodhàra oil can be similarly made patient specific, although its direct absorption is reduced since only the top of the head is contacted by the oil. However, smell receptors in the nasal palate directly stimulate the limbic system and can release a stream of withheld memories, emotions, and desires. The combination of appropriate EOs with Sirodhàra’s lucid dreaming potential could be well worth exploring.

Steam treatment can also be enhanced with essential oils of eucalyptus, rosemary, juniper, ravensara, and cypress, with little regard to doshic influence as the vapors contacting the skin have a local, fleeting, rather than systemic effect. Adding 20-30 drops of a single oil or mixture to the Steamy Wonder or steam cabinet adds herbal energetics to the cleansing power of steam. Patients love to receive a simultaneous head massage with bràhmi oil during steam treatment.

Traditional vasti treatments, for some PK patients, can trigger negative emotional memories from childhood toilet training, early constipation experiences, or negative associations with natural body functions. This can add unwanted tension to a treatment that requires relaxation. The patient can experience anxiety when arising from the floor upon reaching their holding limit, while contemplating the potential for an accident when mobilizing to the restroom.

We circumvent much of this by use of colema board for vasti therapy. This method was brought to the west by Dr. Bernard Jensen, N.D., who rediscovered it on a visit to Nisargopchar Ashram Nature Cure Centre (Uruli) near Pune, India.

Coincidentally, this center was founded by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Chotai, and others to reestablish Natural Treatments post-Independence. Designed for home use, the colema board allows the patient to recline supine, draped for privacy, have their abdomen massaged, and not have to get up. A four gallon tank can deliver gravity-fed triphalà tea or any vasti mixture you desire. For instance, we add Pau d’Arco, neem, or black walnut hull to the tea, if we suspect candidiasis or parasites.

Additionally, a custom barbed “Y” fitting can be added to the terminal delivery tubing, allowing body temperature sesame oil (one to three ounces) to be injected with a catheter-tip syringe, directly into the emptied colon to prevent post-treatment dryness. This form of vasti takes 30 to 60 minutes. Patients who have experienced both traditional and colema vasti often express preference for the latter. In cases of extremely dry or inactive colons, we still use a traditional retention vasti with four to six ounces of lukewarm sesame oil, with good results.

Vamana (therapeutic vomiting), virecana (purgation), and gall bladder flush are treatments that can be challenging, emotional, and time consuming. They are often not included in PK for these reasons, yet they may be the very thing that the patient needs.

We find that one in ten PK patients need vamana, one in four need virecana, and one in five need a gall bladder flush. Pulse detection, with the classic associated symptomatology is diagnostic.

These delicate therapies should be learned from a master, practiced under supervision, and applied only where indicated. The ancient apprenticeship method of teaching, gurukula, which means “becoming family to the teacher,” was once the only way to master these treatments and may well still be the best way.

Article by DR. Bryan Miller in Light On Ayurveda Journal

The diet should be simple and restful to the digestive tract. Tradition holds to the hot water/tea and khichri approach. We have found many easy to-digest additions to add to the basics. Individualized herbal teas are easy to design. The Yoga of Herbs by Drs. Lad and Frawley offers commonly available Western herbs with Ayurvedic doshic classifications for each. Light believes that local herbs have special healing power for the native people. We still use Indian herbs of great importance that have no Western correlation. We take it a step further and design an herb tea for each day of PK to target and support a different body system (digestive, liver, nervous, respiratory, circulatory, immune, reproductive, etc.). Each blend has specific rasàyana (rejuvenating) herbs for the target system, with good tasting, complementary herbs (mint, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, licorice, anise or fennel) added to improve the taste, where appropriate. This mix of therapeutic and good tasting herbs, exemplifies the art of blending. If it doesn’t taste good, the patient probably won’t drink it.

We give each PK patient four cups of vegetable/fruit/herb juice each day and a shot glass of wheatgrass juice. These practices also come from our teacher Dr. Chotai and his Aruli nature-cure practice. He is credited by Dr. Anne Wigmore with teaching her much about wheatgrass. He was especially fond of giving his patients fresh extracted tulsã (basil) juice and still dispenses wheatgrass (at 126 years old). Carrot, celery, beet, cucumber, fennel bulb, apple, pineapple, cilantro, ginger, parsley, and mint are a few of the common ingredients to choose from when designing a juice for a specific dosha or condition. I prefer to serve the wheatgrass separately as it can overshadow any juice blend. These fresh juices are full of pràna, enzymes, and nutrients. They can be tasteful, easy to absorb, satisfying, and assist with removal of the àma (toxins) stirred up by PK. The chlorophyll found in all greens, and especially in cilantro and wheatgrass, has a chelating effect (grabs and escorts out) on heavy metals like mercury.

We have researched and found what we believe to be the best water in the United States. It rises through a 3000-foot limestone deposit, over a 3000-year period of time, and so will be pure for the next 2900 years.* It is bottled at the source and delivered in five-gallon (and other sizes) glass bottles— no plastic residues for our PK patients. A complete analysis of mineral content and absence of toxins is posted on their website. My research points toward good spring water as preferable to other sources or purification methodologies.

I encountered one PK patient who had been hospitalized with seizures and took a year to recover after cleansing (not PK) with distilled water. Between the herb teas, juices, food and spring water, I have never seen drops in the electrolyte levels of our PK clients.

* Based on the calculations of when modern pollution may show up in the spring’s aquifer.

In the PK food department, we go light for the first three days with fresh organic fruit salads (morning) and a nourishing, blended vegetable/herb/seaweed soup (immune soup) we serve with ghee (lunch and dinner). For the last four days, our kitchen goes full on, serving gourmet vegetarian with everything from quinoa khichri and spinach curry sauce to cashew-herb stuffed butternut squash. After seven days, patients leave, excited about new healthy cuisine possibilities and with Light’s new 500+ page cookbook** in hand. If patients take their newly learned diet and daily regimens home with them, they will stay healthy. Their friends and family will be asking them about their obvious good changes in looks and behavior. Mountain Valley Spring Water.

A final area of PK, where new approaches can be introduced, is the area of emotional release, relationship reappraisal, and the rewriting of one’s life story. This can all be covered in a therapy called tarpana. *** This healing ceremony was originally directed towards ancestral patterns, which we carry forward consciously or unconsciously.

Swamini Mother Mayatitananda writes,
Without realizing it, we often carry the ancestors on our backs. Because their memory patterns are deeply embedded within our vital tissues and cells, we continually reenact patterns that originate in the history and memory of our family lines. When we do not recognize ancestral traumas, we are likely to ferry them into every aspect of our lives. But we can resolve our karmic history through honoring ancestors; we can trade hurt and grief and illness for celestial guidance.
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** Soon to be released by Lotus Press.
*** This link references an article by Dr. Robert Svoboda for a detailed description of the traditional ceremonial tarpana: www.hinduism.co.za/tarpana.htm