I’m into the fourth week as an internee at Hassan, SMD Ayurvedic hospital in India. Last week I spent the mornings in the panchakarmic clinic where they do the ayurvedic curative therapies for chronic illnesses. Patients need to spend from a week to a month in the hospital for this procedure which is generally divided into three steps.

1. Going through a process where to remove toxins that have been accumulated in the the bodies tissues to bringing them back into the Gastro-Intestinal-Tract. This is done through taking specially prepared medicines each day before breakfast which are absorbed into the tissues with there specific herbs to begin the process. Other treatments go along with this such as massages to loosen the toxins and help the move.

2. A one day treatment where the patient drinks some special herbs or a decoction which begins a gentle purging process eliminating the toxins which have previously been brought back into the Gastro-Intestinal-Tract

3. Lastly the patient goes on a special diet following the treatment to slowly build up the bodies metabolism again for two or three days.

Step two is of various types depending on the illness we have. Sometimes following this step there would be a series of enemas given to further clear our toxins related to the Vata dosha.

This is a very simplistic explanation but gives you a bit of an idea.

I have seen how effective these treatments are in cases of chronic psoriases, joint pains including arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, mental disorders of all kinds, obesity, stroke and diabetes to name a few.

This week I am spending fewer hours in the panchakarma clinic and focusing more in eye, nose, ears and generally problems of the head. Here ayurveda has a large set of procedure to help people with many complaints from vision impairment, conjunctivitis, dry eyes or tired eyes (especially for all the IT people), retinal detachment, polyps or growths in the nose, skin problems such as pimples, lose of hair, greyness and so on. It is early days yet but so much to learn. I have also begun to sit in on the clinics run twice a week with Dr Ashwini, one of the experts in this area, quite a specialist field of study. Amazing looking at the arteries in someones eyes which are so small that their walls are so thin you can actually clearly see if there is cholesterol coated on them. A good sign for the rest of the body which they confirm with a blood test. There are some really good herbs for treating eye conditions through a series of procedures performed over a period of one or two weeks which give positive results.

For the last week I have also been fortunate to spend time with Dr Suhas Kumar Shetty whose speciality is mental disorders. We have so far discussed in some detail depression, alzheimers, dementia and schizophrenia and tomorrow we are looking at parkinsons disease. All these were mentioned in the Ayurvedic classics which students today study. Texts which are around 3,000 years old. Not much has changed with respect to these disorders over that time. Depression for example is something most of us suffer at one time or another but can become chronic if not watched out for. Dementia is also something that often comes with old age, yet if we choose we can take a simply herbal formula which can prevent the onset.

I do have my struggles here. I am staying in the boy’s hostel which is part of the Ayurveda College here and the food takes a bit of getting used to. Rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the first week I had a bit of the runs so skipped the odd meal but now I have got used to it and am feeling a little constipated because of all the rice. However the meals over the last week seem to have been better. I can always hop into town to a local vegetarian restaurant for a good meal. Had one there last Saturday which cost about NZ$2.60. However if I do this I need to make sure I get back in by 9pm as the boys and girls hostels (they are separate) are firmly locked by this time.

Mosquitoes are also a bit of a challenge. I was okay for the first couple of weeks but it is raining every day at the moment which is bring the mozies out at night. Nothing like having one buzzing around your ears to drive you mad. My room mate left this morning and left me his mosquito net so I will hopefully sleep in relative peace for the rest of my stay. Thanks Peter.

I look forward to seeing what the rest of the week holds.