Neti Washing: Free Your Breath, Free Your Mind

by Guest Author: Charlotte Bell

In yoga classes, we talk a whole lot about the importance of the breath. We exhort our students to breathe deeply as they move into, hold and move out of asanas. Some types of yoga, such as Ashtanga and other forms of vinyasa, instruct practitioners how and when to move with each inhalation and exhalation. It’s arguable that this coordination of breath and movement is one of the most important factors that sets asana apart from other physical practices. The yoga poses many of us practice are not intended to be gymnastic feats to perform. They were developed as vehicles for expanding the breath and therefore, calming the nervous system

In the Eight Limbs of Yoga, the framework for practicing the whole system of Yoga, pranayama—expansion of the breath—lies between the physical and mental/spiritual practices. The breath is the gateway between the body and mind. That is why traditional Hatha Yoga emphasizes breathing more than accomplishing poses. It is the slowing and steadying of the breath that allows the body and mind to settle.

We breathe an average of 20,000 times a day. It happens all day long without our having to give it a single thought. But, unlike any other automatic physiological process, we can also control the breath. We can extend it or shorten it or speed it up or slow it down, all of which affect the nervous system in many ways.

But sometimes we don’t have a lot of control over how we breathe. Allergies, sinus infections and environmental pollutants can sometimes cause our breathing passes to be blocked, making it impossible to take in a full inhalation. When this happens, we can feel less energetic and sometimes even suffer a bit of brain fog.

Neti Washing to the Rescue

Of course, eating healthy foods and exercising regularly can help ward off these symptoms, but sometimes our environment gets the best of us. That’s when neti washing can save the day.

Neti washing is a form of nasal irrigation that employs a small pot and a solution of warm salt water. The warm water soothes nasal passages as it gently clears excess mucus so that the cilia inside your nostrils can more efficiently trap bacteria and other toxins.

You can buy a pot at most pharmacies and many larger grocery stores. You must use specially formulated neti salt—non-iodized—for the solution. We offer two choices for getting started: Eco Neti Pot Starter Kit that includes a lightweight, unbreakable pot (great for travel!), neti salt, a zinc and herbal solution, and instructions on how to get started. We also carry the Essential Neti Pot, a lead-free ceramic pot minus the salt and herbal solutions.

Get Started

There’s lots of good info online about how to use your pot, but here are a few tips:

1. Use boiled, distilled or filtered water. Even though neti washing has been practiced safely for centuries, there have been a few recently recorded cases of life-threatening infections from using straight tap water.

1. Add 1/4 teaspoon of neti salt to your pot and pour water over the salt. Stir to distribute the salt.

1. Test the temperature of your water before you irrigate. It should be warm, but not hot. Hot water will burn delicate nasal passages. Cold water isn’t as effective and doesn’t feel all that great either. When the water is running through your nostrils it should feel slightly warm.

1. Position yourself over a sink and have some tissues handy.

1. You may need to experiment with the tilt of your head. It took me a few tries to find the tilt that would allow free flow between my nostrils. It’s a good idea to start neti washing at a time when your sinuses aren’t blocked, just to get the hang of it when your passages are relatively open.

1. Gradually pour one full pot of salt water through each nostril, blowing your nose at the end of each washing.

1. Wash your pot thoroughly and let it air dry completely.

I was hesitant to try neti washing for years. It just seemed too weird—running water through one nostril and having it flow out the other one. But about five years ago, in the throes of a sinus infection, I decided to try it. I’ve been doing it almost daily ever since. Even if my sinuses are pretty clear, it just feels good for my sinuses and nasal passages to feel so open and expansive. And this is purely anecdotal, but after my morning neti washing, my brain feels a lot more clear too.

4 Questions About Food Cleanses Answered

It seems that everywhere I look, online, magazines, blogs, people are talking about detoxes and cleanses. I am even offering one, Wake Up From Winter, for my students to do together. With so many questions, let's find some answers.

Would a cleanse be right for you? For someone who is living in a polluted environment, eating processed foods, drinking alcohol, fluoridated and chlorinated water, smoking, taking medication, and anything else that puts toxins into your body, you would benefit from doing a cleanse. If you have any health concerns, please check with your health care practitioner before starting a cleanse.  Also, please do not stop taking prescribed medications unless directed by your doctor to do so.

Which one is good? As I mentioned in an earlier blog, You are what you eat, whole foods are the best way to go. I don't believe in punishing ourselves and though I have a descent practice and have developed discipline, I am somewhat lacking when it comes to willpower. I need to feel nourished and like I'm doing some thing good for myself.  I really like the cleanse offered by Hale Sofia Schatz in, If Buddha Came to Dinner; it's healthy, safe, and based on a whole food diet. And, like with most things in life, it's better to do with a friend. There are so many books and cleanses available. Read through them. Make sure they are reasonably priced and based on whole foods.

How long should I cleanse? The length of a cleanse depends on you.  I started with a day and built myself up to 21 days.  My goal is to eat from my cleanse diet one day a week.

Are cleanses helpful?
My experience of trying many diets, fasts, detoxes and cleanses is this: I want to change my life not just lose some weight. My friends and family gave me the best feedback about how well the last cleanse I did worked. People told me that my skin glowed. I was filled with energy, lost some unwanted weight, and let go of my coffee addiction (still). Yes there are some withdrawal side effects, but the are worth it.
According to Woodson Merrell, M.D., there are at least 7 reasons we should do a cleanse or detox regularly:

• Reduce toxins in the body quickly
•  Lose weight
• Lowers risk of diabetes
• Makes your body efficient in creating energy
• Reduces the competition in how our body gets rid of toxins
• Helps repair our chronically overloaded digestive tract
• Helps you breathe better

To read more:
Why Starting a Detox Program Should Be a Top Health Priority for 2014 First the bad news: The evidence is now overwhelming that pollution contributes to chronic disease. Almost every system in the body can be disrupted by levels of exposure to toxins commonly found in the majority of Americans. (14) Many toxins target multiple systems and can set off cascades of inflammation that can topple a person's health like a perfect throw straight down the lane at Lucky Strike. And guess what: Your government is NOT protecting you enough from exposures that harm. 

Let me know what cleanses have worked for you. Feel free to ask questions too!
 

Candle Gazing on the Full Moon

The full moon is barely visible yet the pull it has on my heart this Valentine's Day is palpable. I light the candle to prepare for the exciting month ahead. I set the intention to clear any thing that stands in the way of my heart's desire, to guide my students. I say aloud to the universe,

'On this full moon of my lion brother, Leo, please light my way, please guide me and my students down the path of life, of cleansing, of healing.

I focus on the light, the fire of the candle, to burn away any obstacles that stand in the way of our moving towards our goals.
Vishoka va joytishmati. When I focus on the light, I am filled with light. I focus on the light for a long time. Namaste.

Trataka, candle gazing, is a meditative practice where we focus on flame of the candle. According to Shloka 2.32 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, "Trataka eradicates all eye diseases, fatigue and sloth and closes the doorway to these problems."

I do suggest trying new practices with the support of a knowledgeable teacher.
For more information about trataka, an article from Yoga International:

Candlelight Insight: Trataka

BY Natalya Podgorny ON May 7, 2013

This simple technique has a purifying, invigorating effect on the mind and improves concentration.

You ARE what you eat

reachingutopia.com photo credit

I'm not sure when I first heard the quote, 'You are what you eat,' but I have heard if often especially as of late. I'm also not sure that I believed it whole heartedly until recently. Last November I did a whole food cleanse that changed my life. I've done many cleanses and fasts over the last 20 years, and they were always a struggle. While I benefited from most of them in some way, they never changed my habits or me completely.

What made this last time different? Well, me and where I am emotionally was different. I was cleansing with a friend, yet I have done that before. The particular cleanse I was doing, again, I have done that before. So, we'll come back to this question.

Our diets have changed dramatically since our youth. I remember getting milk from the local farmer, my mother making spaghetti sauce, and fast food was a luxury that occurred once a year.

I don't need to describe how it is today--because we all know--it's almost impossible to find unpasteurized milk, homemade spaghetti sauce is a luxury and fast food for some is the norm.

 Our vegetables are be modified, sprayed with pesticides, chemicals are added to many foods to add to their shelf life, color, packaging with added chemicals, and the list goes on. How has this changed us? We have more allergies, addictions, obesity, chronic illness, emotional disorders, medicated children and adults than ever before.

So what can we do? We can change our eating (cook at home, grow your own food, slow down, eat mindfully) and buying habits (buy organic, eat locally grown food that's in season, read ingredients and don't buy anything that has ingredients that you can't pronounce or know what they are) just a couple suggestions. Does it have to be a total overhaul? We can start small and work our way to changing the aspects of our lives we want to be different--one bite at a time.

So, what was different this time? ME!! Where I'm at in my life, my practice, with my family and career, I see things from a clearer perspective and through my November cleanse, my eyes, tastes and body was changed. I was actually able to give up my worst addiction or habit (diet soda--I know I'm embarrassed to admit it) easily.  When I tried to drink some after the cleanse was over, I just couldn't. People from all parts of my life commented on my transformation. I had wished I had taken before and after pics, but I didn't.

I will be leading a group whole food cleanse starting on March 1st, 2014.  If you are interested, check out the flyer on my website, Wake Up From Winter. I will be blogging throughout the cleanse. Please feel free to share any experiences you have had with changing food habits (or any other appropriate ones) below. Bon appetite!

Discipline sets us free

"Some regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly." Julie Andrews
I agree with Julie Andrews wholeheartedly! I have always been a list maker and checker-offer. As I have gotten older, I sometimes lose my lists, yet the list is still a big part of my day. I find my electronic lists harder to lose, but typing items in with my thumbs doesn't provide the same excitement as hand writing them and crossing things off. Lists provide order for me; order and discipline allow me freedom.

I gain freedom to think and be creative because I am not trying to remember all the things I have to do. When I established my morning routine, my life changed for the better. As with many things in my life, it was suggested along time ago to create a morning routine. I have always been one to set out my clothes, make lunches, plan the next day the night before so that I may be present in the morning. With my morning routine written, I follow the steps, even though they have long since been memorized, and begin my day.

Preparation and planning are part of my discipline and routine that help me to be clear, at peace and able to do my life with family, career, friends, and lots of other pleasures. Patanjali tells us in Yoga Sutra 1.14 “It is only when the correct practice is followed for a long time, without interruptions and with a quality of positive attitude and eagerness, that it can succeed.”
sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkara adara asevito drdhabhumih

So not only do we need to do out practice for a long period of time, we need to do it with a positive attitude and eagerness, to succeed and move ahead. If I check off my lists, do my routine, my practice and am not excited about it, I will not reap the benefits that come along with following my correct path.

So what is my morning routine? It is a mixture of ayurveda, yoga and general health practices.

• I wake before my family
• go to the bathroom
• wash my face
• brush my teeth
• scrape my tongue

 Many of these things I have done all of my life, yet they are still on my list. Next, 

• I alternate between oil pulling (swishing oil between your teeth) and 
• using the neti pot and nasya oil. 

Some days I do both, it depends on time, the season and how my body feels.  If my nose is dry, I use the neti pot and nasya. If I took in a bunch of toxins, I oil pull. Sometimes I just rub some sesame oil on my gums. It's soothing and has an anti-bacterial affect.
At this point, my family is up and I head down to the kitchen and 

• make hot water with a slice of lemon and ginger. I drop my guys off at school, take care of the dogs, and make a cup a tea.  I do 
• abhyanga (oil massage) from head to toe.  While the oil makes its way into my body, 
• I do my yoga practice, which includes a short asana practice with pranayama (breathing), chanting and meditation.  
• Finally, I shower, get dressed and head to my kitchen to work.

Now I know that seems like a lot. It is, and it's not. It's taken me a long time to get it down to an hour for everything.  It doesn't always flow like I've written it and it doesn't always happen in its entirety. Sometimes I want a longer yoga practice and do it later in the morning or day. Some days I don't shower and use a dry brush (loofa or wash cloth) to exfoliate my skin instead of oil.

I suggest creating a routine that works for  you.  Start with something you already do like brushing your teeth and add it something new like tongue scraping.  Why? Katja has a clear and simple article, 5 reasons to scrape your tongue every day

 The main thing is to create a routine that is helpful and important to you. Developing discipline is part of creating a new habit. It is much easier to get rid of a habit that doesn't serve us if we can replace it with a new one that has some benefit to us.

You might wonder why I do all of this? Well, it all makes me feel good; I rarely, if ever, get sick; and I am usually pretty balanced, even as my body and family go through changes. Was Patanjali talking about morning routines in YS 1.14? I don't know, but it's a practice that serves me and I reap the benefits of it from doing it regularly, enthusiastically and over a long period of time.  Certainly my yoga practice has benefited me and those around me over a period of time.  That's enough for me.

I would love to hear about how each of you changes habits, what you do for morning routines or other discipline practices that would be helpful to me or my readers.  

The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.
Lee Iacocca

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/discipline_2.html#zr6AQ7djkFpruXIA.99