Using Triphala and a Home Basti to Complete Your Ayurvedic Detox

Along with its many healing and nourishing properties, triphala is a mild but effective laxative. It will provide the benefits of a more potent virechana or purgative treatment, but more gently and over a longer span of time. Triphala is safe and can be effectively used for months at a time. To complete your home panchakarma treatment, on the last three days perform an Ayurvedic medicated enema, or basti, after your hot bath or shower.

Use dashamoola tea for the enema. Boil 1 tablespoon of the herbal compound dashamoola in 1 pint of water for five minutes to make a tea. Cool it, strain it, and use the liquid as an enema. (See instructions for basti in appendix 3.) Retain the liquid as long as you comfortably can.

And don’t worry if little or no liquid comes out. For certain individuals, particularly vata types, the colon may be so dry and dehydrated that the liquid may all be absorbed. This is not harmful in any way. This snchana (oleation both internal and external with ghee and oil), swedana (sweating using a hot shower or hot bath), and virechana (purgation) using triphala, followed by basti using dashamoola tea, constitute an effective panchakarma that you can easily do on your own at home.

During this entire time it is important to get plenty of rest, and to observe a light diet. From day four to day eight, eat only kitchari (equal amounts of basmati rice and mung dal cooked with cumin, mustard seed, and coriander, with about 2 teaspoons of ghee added to it). Kitchari is a wholesome, nourishing, balanced food that is an excellent protein combination. It is easy to digest and good for all three doshas, and it is also cleansing.

Be your own healer. Do this simple home purification, preferably at the junction between seasons. Take responsibility for your own healing. You will start to experience a great change in your thinking and in your feelings, and you will really fall in love with your life!