Already after the first Chemo in May I had played with the idea to spend some time in an Ayurvedic Center before returning to Europe after the Chemo would be over. Devotees had told me about the I-AIM Ayurvedic Healthcare Center, and I had spoken to HH Bhakti Rasamrta Maharaja on the phone who had been there twice, and he highly recommended me this clinic. One morning I went to have a look at it, since it is only 30 minutes' drive from Anadi Jagannath Prabhu's home, where I was staying at the time. I immediately liked the mood, atmosphere and set-up - simple and clean, not commercially orientated, and connected to a University. I also met with Dr Vivekanand, the senior doctor of the clinic. He seemed a very experienced, trustworthy and thoughtful person, and I immediately connected well with him. So I settled for the idea to come out here for a two-week Panchakarma treatment, one week after my last Chemo. We fixed the dates and I booked the best room - on the top floor at the end of the corridor, with two large windows giving a beautiful view onto the gardens behind the house and the neigboring forests and nature reserves.
Now, on the 25th of July the day had come for me to embark on this healing adventure. The location of the clinic is most suitable for such experience - very peaceful, away from all the hustle and bustle of Bangalore city. The surrounding eucalyptus forests and dark red soil reminded me of Australia. The clinic is situated on a large property, and behind the building are gardens with medicinal trees and shrubs, greenhouses with medicinal ferns and orchids, and a little bamboo forest. There are walkways to explore the surroundings, and everything is kept rather natural and not so artificially cultivated. The neigboring eucalyptus forest is a wild peacock reserve, and every morning and evening I could hear them calling. Many wildflowers, butterflies and birds are thriving here, feeling undisturbed in this natural sanctuary. It reminded me of Vrindavan.....
I had come with several little boxes of prasadam - almond cookies, to distribute to the staff. As usual it was well received. Since I still had a little cold, we waited for two more days before starting the actual treatment. I took some medicines, had a private yoga session every day and tuned into my new environment. Then the treatment began with Snehapana - drinking medicated ghee, starting with 30ml and increasing by 15ml every day. I had to take it at 6:30 in the morning and wait until around 1pm, when it would be fully digested. Only then I could eat a simple porridge made from broken wheat, and in the evening I received a liquid millet kitchari eithout vegetables. Dr Vivekanand spent time with me every day, answering all my questions and explaining the treatment in detail to me. He has a very deep approach to Ayurveda and speaks with strong conviction, experience and realization, always refering to the shastra. The ghee is meant to go through the entire body and eventually reach every cell in order to loosen the toxins and bring them to the stomach. He instructed me: "Meditate on the ghee saturating your body - reaching every cell. You will see - after some days you can feel your skin changing, and some ghee coming out of the pores of your skin. Your eyes will change - the ghee will reach every single corner of your body and will lubricate all the joints." It was medicated ghee - for each condition a special ghee. Mine was very tasty - like liquid gold, with a slight greenish color. It was hard work for the body to digest so much ghee - 90 ml on the fifth day - in fact I was amazed that the body could deal with it at all. As a result some little weakness was there, but compared to doing Chemo it was like child's play.
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I developed my daily routine of going out to the garden every early morning when the sun came up and the peacocks were calling. I found my favorite spots for chanting japa, and afterwards I was picking wildflowers to decorate my little altar with pictures - every day a different color combination. In the evenings I would go out again, when the sun would gradually set. Sometimes there were amazing cloud formations in the sky, with wonderful lighting and colors.
After five days of taking ghee and having a daily yoga session I could indeed perceive my skin changing and becoming a little oily. Dr Vivekanand was very satisfied with the outcome of the treatment. He explained: "It very much depends on the patient's attitude and surrender to the treatment and the doctor. With some patients their body shuts down, and they cannot assimilate the ghee - they block off completely. But you are tuning in well. The patient has to surrender to the doctor, otherwise we cannot do anything." It was time to move on to the next part of the cleansing process: Abhyanga & Sweda-Bashpa: a full body massage in medicated oil, followed by a 15-minutes' steam bath. The massage was given by two young ladies working on my body simultaneously - one on each side. And the entire body was swimming in oil. Again, the oil was meant to soak into the skin and tissues and loosen the toxins, which would come out by sweating during the steam bath. This procedure was done on two days, while the diet was still extremely simple: broken wheat porridge, watery soups and liquid millet kitchari without vegetables. The diet was meant to barely maintain life, while all energy was going towards detoxification.
Next was a one-day procedure: Virechana - purgation. I had to take a paste in the early morning, similar to Chyawanaprash, and after one hour I had to run to the toilet - for the following four hours. Intense cleansing of the intestines! It felt good to get rid of all kinds of toxines and unwanted substances.
These eight days were the main purifying elements of the entire treatment. After this cleansing procedure the body needed one day rest, in order to then gradually build up again to its full strength.
I had been regularly working on my writing projects with my computer, which one is actually not meant to do during panchakarma. Dr Vivekanand explained how formerly such treatments were undergone: in complete seclusion, in a dark room - almost like a bhajan kutir, simply going within and concentrating on increasing one's self-healing powers.
One morning he spoke very strongly to me, almost delivering an entire lecture: "You are initiated - you know how to connect on deeper levels. Your life is usually very busy. This is a very rare chance for you to withdraw from everything and go within. Let go of all your distractions and duties. After 4:30pm I don't want you to do anything on your computer. I am not saying to close it entirely all day, but no more work after 4:30pm. You have to strenghten your own healing powers from within. This is the main thing in the whole treatment. We are not doing some external, mechanical cleansing here - it is all about internal work. A person's own healing power is doing so much more than what we doctors can ever do. Simply talk to your system, talk to your body - rest with closed eyes on your bed and listen to some meditation music, spend time in nature.....!" He spoke with such urgency, almost appealing to me - I was caught by surprise and couldn't help but submit to his instructions. I did close down the computer after 4:30pm and spent more time in nature chanting japa, and resting on my bed while listening to kirtan.
One morning Dr Vivekanand stated: "The main problem for a doctor starts, when he thinks he is a doctor, and he has to heal the patient. When he thinks like this, he can't do anything. Actually, we doctors are simply a little instrument in the Lord's plans, and we have to tune in to the higher healing energies. Only then we can become a useful instrument. And depending on how a patient connects and surrenders, we can give inspiration in the right direction. This is why I don't even wear a white coat - I don't want to think that I am a doctor...."
I was amazed to hear such words coming from a doctor's mouth - from somebody who is not even practicing Krishna consciousness.......
Your servant, Devaki dd
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
After five days of taking ghee and having a daily yoga session I could indeed perceive my skin changing and becoming a little oily. Dr Vivekanand was very satisfied with the outcome of the treatment. He explained: "It very much depends on the patient's attitude and surrender to the treatment and the doctor. With some patients their body shuts down, and they cannot assimilate the ghee - they block off completely. But you are tuning in well. The patient has to surrender to the doctor, otherwise we cannot do anything." It was time to move on to the next part of the cleansing process: Abhyanga & Sweda-Bashpa: a full body massage in medicated oil, followed by a 15-minutes' steam bath. The massage was given by two young ladies working on my body simultaneously - one on each side. And the entire body was swimming in oil. Again, the oil was meant to soak into the skin and tissues and loosen the toxins, which would come out by sweating during the steam bath. This procedure was done on two days, while the diet was still extremely simple: broken wheat porridge, watery soups and liquid millet kitchari without vegetables. The diet was meant to barely maintain life, while all energy was going towards detoxification.
Next was a one-day procedure: Virechana - purgation. I had to take a paste in the early morning, similar to Chyawanaprash, and after one hour I had to run to the toilet - for the following four hours. Intense cleansing of the intestines! It felt good to get rid of all kinds of toxines and unwanted substances.
These eight days were the main purifying elements of the entire treatment. After this cleansing procedure the body needed one day rest, in order to then gradually build up again to its full strength.
I had been regularly working on my writing projects with my computer, which one is actually not meant to do during panchakarma. Dr Vivekanand explained how formerly such treatments were undergone: in complete seclusion, in a dark room - almost like a bhajan kutir, simply going within and concentrating on increasing one's self-healing powers.
One morning he spoke very strongly to me, almost delivering an entire lecture: "You are initiated - you know how to connect on deeper levels. Your life is usually very busy. This is a very rare chance for you to withdraw from everything and go within. Let go of all your distractions and duties. After 4:30pm I don't want you to do anything on your computer. I am not saying to close it entirely all day, but no more work after 4:30pm. You have to strenghten your own healing powers from within. This is the main thing in the whole treatment. We are not doing some external, mechanical cleansing here - it is all about internal work. A person's own healing power is doing so much more than what we doctors can ever do. Simply talk to your system, talk to your body - rest with closed eyes on your bed and listen to some meditation music, spend time in nature.....!" He spoke with such urgency, almost appealing to me - I was caught by surprise and couldn't help but submit to his instructions. I did close down the computer after 4:30pm and spent more time in nature chanting japa, and resting on my bed while listening to kirtan.
One morning Dr Vivekanand stated: "The main problem for a doctor starts, when he thinks he is a doctor, and he has to heal the patient. When he thinks like this, he can't do anything. Actually, we doctors are simply a little instrument in the Lord's plans, and we have to tune in to the higher healing energies. Only then we can become a useful instrument. And depending on how a patient connects and surrenders, we can give inspiration in the right direction. This is why I don't even wear a white coat - I don't want to think that I am a doctor...."
I was amazed to hear such words coming from a doctor's mouth - from somebody who is not even practicing Krishna consciousness.......
Your servant, Devaki dd
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
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