General points regarding Ayurveda & Panchakarma

 Panchakarma

Panchakarma presents a unique approach of Ayurveda
with specially designed five procedures of internal purification of the body
through the nearest possible route.

Therapy

In medical field, therapy
means treatment or to help in cures a mental or physical illness, with or without drugs.

Panchakarma
procedures:-

It is divided in three parts. Purvakarma, Pradhana
Karma and Paschata Karma.

How
many panchakarma therapies are there?

Pancha means five and Karma means procedures or
therapies. So basically there are only five panchakarma procedures. Accoding to
the types and subtypes of these panchakarma, there are numbers of panchakrma
procedures.

According to the
Shadvidha Upkarma

Shadvidha
Upkarma                                     Panchakarma

1.                                   Langhana                       Vaman,
Virechana, Lekhana Basti etc.

2.                                   Brimhana                       Brihmana Basti, Brihmana
nasya etc

3.                                   Rukshana                       Ruksha
sweda, Rukshana Basti etc

4.                                   Stambhana                    Grahi
basti, Stambhana Basti etc

5.                                  Snehana                         Snehana, Anuvasana
Basti, Snehana Nasya etc.

6.                                  Swedana
                        Svedana

Benefits
of Panchakarma Therapy:-

Panchakarma plays vital role in the preservative,
maintenance and conservation of health & promotion of longevity.

a)     Charak
told the benefits of shodhana therapy as:-

एवं विशुद्धकोष्ठस्य कायाग्निरभिवर्धते|
व्याधयश्चोपशाम्यन्ति प्रकृतिश्चानुवर्तते||१७||
इन्द्रियाणि मनोबुद्धिर्वर्णश्चास्य प्रसीदति|
बलं पुष्टिरपत्यं च वृषता चास्य जायते||१८||
जरां कृच्छ्रेण लभते चिरं जीवत्यनामयः|
तस्मात् संशोधनं काले युक्तियुक्तं पिबेन्नरः||१९||

Doshas are eliminated, power of digestion and metabolism is enhanced, diseases
are cured, normal health is restored, sense organ, mind, intelligence and
complexion become clear; gain of strength, plumpness, offspring and virility
occurs; person is not affected by old age and lives without any disease.

The unique feature of the panchakama
therapy is to destroy the diseas from the root level, which is quoted by Charak
as follows:-

दोषाणां च द्रुमाणां च मूलेऽनुपहते सति|
रोगाणां प्रसवानां च गतानामागतिर्ध्रुवा||२१||

c)     Weak
digestive power is the cause for all disease. For the correction of digestive
fire (agni), Panchakarma is the best treatment.

d)    A
chronic disease can not be managed without the combined and judicious use of
Panchakarma therapy and rejuvenation therapy.

Oils
used for panchakarma and its importance:-

Different kinds of oils and there indications

Precautions
during panchakarma procedures:-

a.     Bath
with warm water 

b.     Do
not bath immediately following a treatment or after eating a meal

c.      Do
not sleep during day time (unless feeling weak or unable to sleep at night)

d.      Do not control natural urges like sneezing,
coughing, urination or bowel movement

e.      Do
not talk loudly

f.       Do
not use a very high pillow for sleeping

g.     Avoid
emotional upsets like anger, frustration, irritation, etc.

h.     Keep
calm and avoid mental stress

i.       Avoid
physical exertion and sexual activity

j.       Try
to meditate

k.     Avoid
arrogance, impatience or mental agitation

l.       Avoid
over rationalizing, or overindulging in intellectual activity

m.  Maintain
peace of mind and calmly govern the senses

How
to avoid incident during procedures:-

Always follow general
guidelines and standard operating procedure (SOP) of that particular procedure.

Do’s
and don’ts during procedures:-

–     Usage of warm water is indicated for all
purposes of bathing and washing.

–     Follow bramhacharya and meditation.

–     One should sleep only during nights.

–     Avoid sleep during day time

–     One should not suppress the natural urges for
urine, sneezing thirst, hunger etc.

–     Avoid dynamic exercises

–     One should resort to speaking in a very low tone

–     Smoking is prohibited.

–     One should not indulge in worry, anger, tension
and depression.

–     One should not expose to extremes of cold and
hot weather and very cool breeze and dust.

–     Avoid curds, banana and incompatible foods.

–     One should always rest on bed at the time of
panchakarma and obey the physician and follow all the above rules to obtain
good results.

Maintaining
hygiene at panchakarma table and around the room:-

–        
Always clean the table before and after
the treatment.

–        
Use sodium hypochloride solution for
cleaning.

–        
Disposable sheets should be used and
discarded after each patient.

–        
Any waste material which is generated in
Panchakarma room should be disposed as per BMW policy.

–        
Ask the patient to wash or sanitize hand
before entering the panchakarma room.

–        
All the materials related to therapy and
clothes of the patient should be properly arranged in the room.