That moment of puking in the lawn of the yoga school

Outside my room there is a beautiful field where I see dogs running around playing with one another, goats and cows early in the morning. It was this very same field where I found myself early one morning for class vomiting. Not from being sick or any alcohol related activities, It’s just Shatkarma. We learned about Shatkarma, a method of cleansing the body though different techniques. This yogic practice purifies the body of toxins and although can be very physically and emotionally draining the whole day, can release and clean a ton of mucus from the body.

I began with one method of Shatkarma which is jala neti. Jala neti involves pouring salt water from a nozzle of a small pot into one end of the nostril. While tilting the head water starts streaming down from the other nostril along with a ton of mucus from the body. Once my nasal passages felt amazing and clear I attempted rubber neti. For rubber neti I took a rubber string slowly up my nostril until I was able to reach for the other end of the string from my throat. The first attempt of rubber neti was fairly painful as my body just sneezes, cough and my eyes tear. Once I was able to grab the string and floss my passages for a minute I pulled the string out and repeated the same with the other nostril.

The last Shatkarma we did Kunja Dhauti cleans the stomach. It involves drinking several cups of salt water quickly within a certain amount of time. After I drank the recommended 5 glasses I went to my puking area of the field along with several other students as we vomited the water right back up. The salt water cleaning the body felt amazing and learned that it is a great way to clean the digestive system.

After doing all of this within our 2 hour class my body felt cleaner although exhausted for the rest of the day. Shatkarma may not be for everyone or may seem like a crazy way to purify the body, but I think everyone should at least give it a try. So far this week I have gone though three skatkarmas and I can say it gets better and better!