Ayurvedic Enemas and Panchakarma:
The Weirdest Health Experience of My Life
When I signed up for Panchakarma treatments in Rishikesh I wasn’t looking for a spa day. I had joint pain and felt like my system was off after weeks of intense practice. A local Ayurvedic doctor took my pulse, looked at my tongue and told me my Vata was sky high. His solution: 30 days of detox, oil, kitchari, fruit, massage… and enemas. A nice lady who worked there brought me kitchari everyday that she made at home and it was amazing.
What Panchakarma Actually Involves
The treatments started simple. Every day, I walked to the clinic, stripped down and got a full-body oil massage. I was constantly covered with oil for a month. Then came whatever was on the schedule, steam box, medicated ghee, nasal oil, and eventually, oil enemas.
Yes, an actual enema. Many of them, in fact.
Some days it was oil. Some days it was medicated water. Either way, I’d leave the clinic feeling like I needed to go straight home and sit still for a while.
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At one point, the doctor gave me a laxative that he said would “clean everything out.” I took it at night and… nothing happened. He was shocked. Gave me another one. Still nothing. According to him, I’m one of six people he’s treated in his whole career that it didn’t work on. Lucky me.
The Low-Tech Reality
This wasn’t some high-end wellness center with robes and cucumber water. It was pretty basic. One day I walked into the “steam room” and it was literally a wooden box with a hole for my head, like a medieval guillotine. Another time, during treatment, an electrical fire broke out and my flip flops caught on fire. I left with a loaner pair and bought new ones on the way home.
Does It Work?
Hard to say with certainty but yes, I think it helped.
Before the treatments, my joints were inflamed, I was dragging through practice and my energy was shot. After a couple weeks, I started walking uphill with ease again. My knee pain improved. My digestion got better. I felt lighter and more clear.
Not every treatment felt magical, but the overall effect was noticeable.
The Diet Discipline
During Panchakarma, I followed a restricted diet: fruit, kitchari and herbal ghee. I cheated one night and ate samosas, and the next morning my joints lit up like a Christmas tree. That was the final sign I needed. I cut wheat and dairy completely and started feeling way better.
Honestly, diet might’ve been the most important part of the whole process.
Panchakarma made me realize how different the health approach is here. There’s no separation between food, medicine and energy. Everything is connected and it made me pay closer attention to what I was putting in my body.
There were also plenty of laughs. I joked with my uncle about FaceTiming him during the enema. I threw away a whole set of clothes because they were permanently soaked in oil. I even ended up with a “Panchakarma outfit” I wore every day, just to keep from ruining anything else.
This wasn’t a trendy detox. It was gritty, weird and very Indian. But it helped me feel better and in a place like Rishikesh, where the environment is chaotic and the body takes a beating, it gave me just enough of a reset to keep going.
Would I recommend it? Maybe. But only if you’re ready for the full experience… enemas, fire hazards, oily shorts and all.
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