Naturopathy is preventive, curative and corrective therapy and also has no side-effects, of course when rules are fully adhered to. All the methods have patient compliance, are cost-effective and easy to perform. Whenever Naturopathy is tried, first of all, bowels should be cleared by purging out faecal matter from the intestines.
Taking An Enema
Take a vessel, filled with 1 to 1½ litres of lukewarm water. Before taking to enema, properly check the nozzle and vessel. Disinfect both the vessel and nozzle and allow some water to flow out of the nozzle so that no air packet disturbs water flow, as trapped air can also penetrate in the intestines alongwith enema water. Only hard surface should be used while lying down on the floor but ensure that buttocks remain 2-4 inches higher than the floor level. By doing so, you can be rest assured that water will enter through rectum without any obstruction. The vessel should be hung at a height of one metre or so above your body level. Now insert the nozzle in the rectum and raise up your knees a bit so as to facilitate entry of water.
Water in the intestines should be retained till urgency to visit the toilet arises. Do not exert any pressure while defacating. It takes some time for the water to act on the impacted faecal matter. It would be still better if cold water is used, instead of lukewarm water. When your bowels have been cleared, you may feel another urgency to empty your stomach.
It is so, because adherant and tough faeces take more time to soften and come out. If you repeat this practice of having an enema daily, your system will automatically and slowly get back to normalcy when your system acclimatises with the new situations.
It may be noted that most of the maladies emanate from chronic constipation which is removed effectively by enema water. Once your stools are normal, there won’t be any indigestion, flatulence, colic, acidity, eructations, burning sensation. In addition, there are less chances of breeding of worms because worms breed in dirt and filth only.
Kunjal Kriya
Kunjar means elephant who first drinks plenty of water in one go and expels (vomits out) the same later on. This kriya is a part of Nature Cure and Yoga. Those, who always have their chest filled with sputum, cannot respirate comfortably, suffer from asthma, and/or other respiratory and digestive problems, should practise it.
Boil about 2-3 litres of water in a utensil and let it get down to lukewarm position. Now add some salt to it. Sit on your toes on empty stomach or you can do it even after attending to the call of nature. Drink the lukewarm water until it reaches your throat or when you develop a feeling of vomit. Now vomit out entire water from your mouth, inserting your fingers in the throat so that entire ingested quantity of water gets out. When the water comes out, it would be either bitter or acidic or both. Sometimes it is acidic and pungent so that throat remains bitter/acidic for some time. If you feel an urgency to defecate, you should not delay because intestinal filth will be ejected through passage of stools.
After body has been fully emptied, do not eat or drink anything; except having an apple. Lunch should be had with khichri and 10-12 gms of ghee. At about 4 p.m., you should have only coffee, and bland and light diet at dinner time. Care should be taken that no cold drink and food is taken, at least for 24 hours.
The whole process, as detailed above, can be repeated as when the said disorders are felt. Let there be no exposure of your abdominal portion which should be kept fully wrapped, avoiding fan or/and cold in any form. Frequent repetition of this process (Kunjal Kriya) is not advised.
hip bath
Hip bath is recommended for purging out toxins through urine. Urine is a waste product of the body and, in no condition, should the desire to pass it be suppressed or urination delayed beyond retentive capacity of your bladder. Hip bath is not only beneficial in urine, kidney and other related problems but is also imparts soothing and salutary effect on entire abdominal urea, urinary passage, kidneys etc. It will ensure free and uninterrupted flow of urine, remove burning sensation, hesitancy, strangury, pain etc.
Take a tub which has one end raised up. You should sit in the tub in such a way that your head rests on the raised portion of tub and your feet are placed on a stool which should be stationed near, but outside the tub—this way your will he sitting in a semi-reclined position. Before you sit in the tub, make sure that water in the tub is sufficient to touch your navel. Rub your abdomen, with a rough towel, from right to left, while you are sitting in the tub, but do not rub so harsh or apply hard pressure that your skin starts aching. There is no hard-and-fast rule as to duration of hip-bath which should be any where between 10-20 minutes, depending on ailment, basic structure of a person and his capacity to sit in one position. Body should be rubbed for 4-7 minutes or more if you can or need be.
Initially hip-bath can be taken for a short time, say 2-4 minutes, gradually increasing the duration. If is it winter, reduce the duration and rub your body vigorously to warm up the body, before taking your normal bath which can be had 2-3 hours after hip-bath.
sun-bath
More detailed discussion and details would be mentioned, on this aspect, while dealing with solar therapy (Surya Chikitsa). It is the sun which regulates seasonal changes. But for the sun, there would have been no vegetation on earth nor there would have been even semblance of animate and inanimate species. To say the least, sun is the motivator and promoter of life. In zodiac signs, sun is the lord of all other planets. It is a common knowledge that all other planets and stars derive their energy from sun, including moon.
Bathing is not merely a ritual, it is our hygienic necessity also. In the western world, sun-bath has primarly a cosmetic value, though they do not deny its therapeutic utility. In India bathing has been attached with religious rituals also, as it is not only a means to body-hygiene, but also it is an exercise itself.
As far as sun-bath is concerned, it can be divided into following methods:
q Taking off clothes or keeping minimum number or say only bare minimum clothes on the body, whereafter body is exposed to sun-rays.
q Keeping a bucketful of water and exposing the same to sun-rays and take bath only after the water has warmed up.
q Taking bath in the open with hot water under the sun.
q Massaging whole body with mustard oil under the sun and thereafter taking bath with water which has been warmed under exposure to sun-rays.
All the four said facets can be summed up and joined together to derive maximum advantage from sun-bath. While you expose your body to sun-rays, you should vigorously massage your whole body with mustard oil. After massage, your body will get exposed to sun-rays for at least 30-40 minutes. But before you start to massage your body under the sun, keep a bucketful of water exposed to direct sun-rays so that, when you have finished your oil-massage, water (to be used for taking bath) is ready in good time, or at least ready upto the time you have massaged up your body.
Enjoy sun-bath is the open but, when cold winds are blowing and sun-rays are also not so hot as to charge your body with heat, it is better to first wrap your body and then sit in the sun. Exposure to cold must be ruled out under any circumstance. Sun-bath opens the clogged pores of your skin, by means of sweat which is indicative of activity of sweat glands. If your body fails to sweat it out, you will do well to sip hot water to induce sweating. Even putting on wollen clothes and sitting in the sun would suffice to induce proper sweating. By nature, certain people habitually sweat more than others but, in such a case, sweat need not be wiped, rather it may be allowed to have its own course or, if there is more sweat due to impact of oil-massage or excessive heat of sun, sweat should be absorbed into the body alongwith oil. Never take bath with cold water after sun-bath, but always use hot or lukewarm water. Sun-bath would yield better and quicker results if taken between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. Health status must be taken into active consideration while deciding to have sun-bath, as wrong choice or decision is likely to cause more harm than good.
