What Sattvic Food Actually Means
Not bland, not raw, and not a diet. A short guide to the principle behind the food served at an ashram kitchen.
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Panchakarma, Explained Plainly
It is not a spa week and it is not a detox in the magazine sense. What Panchakarma actually involves, and who it suits.
Panchakarma means five actions. It is the classical Ayurvedic programme of preparation, elimination and rebuilding, and it is a medical procedure rather than a treat. Most of its reputation in the West comes from the massage, which is the part that photographs well and the part that matters least.
Three phases, not one
- Purvakarma: preparation. Internal and external oleation and sweating, to loosen what the main procedures will remove. Usually the longest phase.
- Pradhanakarma: the main actions themselves, selected for the individual. Nobody receives all five.
- Paschatkarma: rebuilding. A staged return to normal food and activity. Skipping this undoes much of the rest.
The treatments are the visible part of Panchakarma. The diet, the rest and the staged return afterwards are where most of the result comes from.
Why it takes weeks
Each phase has to be allowed to finish. A two-week programme is the shortest that permits a genuine sequence; three and four week programmes exist because some constitutions and some complaints need the preparation to run longer before anything else begins.
Who it does not suit
Panchakarma is not appropriate during pregnancy, during acute illness, or alongside certain medications. A consultation before booking is not a formality, it decides whether the programme goes ahead at all, and in what form.
Expect to be tired in the middle of it. That is the programme working, not failing.
