A Seasonal Basti for Fall: Clearing Excess Vata

• At the junction between summer and fall, a panchakarma treatment will help remove excess vata from the system. (See chapter 4.) If you can’t go to an Ayurvedic clinic, try the home purification treatment outlined in chapter 4. A crucial component of this treatment should be the basti or medicated enema, as follows: 1. Boil 2 tablespoons of dashamoola powder in 1 pint of water for 5 minutes.

Strain out the herbs, and to the liquid add ½ cup warm sesame oil. When this mixture has cooled to a comfortable temperature, use it for the enema. Try to retain it for 30 minutes. After half an hour or after a good bowel movement, add another ½ cup warm sesame oil to the rectum.

Try to retain this oil for at least 10 minutes. • This procedure will lubricate the colon, calm vata, and remove stress from the lower back and neck areas. You can do this basti once a week during the autumn season to keep vata in check. • During this season, take particular care to avoid loud noise, loud music (such as rock), fast driving, and too much sexual activity.

Avoid cold drafts and cold winds. These all aggravate vata. • Excellent herbs for pacifying vata dosha in the autumn are dashamoola (actually a formula consisting of ten herbs), ashwagandha, bala, and vidari. GUIDELINES FOR WINTER In winter, the sky is cloudy, the weather is cold, damp, and heavy, and life in the cities moves slowly; it is generally a season of kapha.

A kapha-pacifying regimen should be adopted, especially by kapha individuals. However, certain vata-provoking qualities, such as dry, cold, windy, and clear, are sometimes prominent on winter days, so vata individuals need to keep this in mind. • In winter there is no need to get up early. The 5:00 rising time suggested for summer and autumn is not necessary now.