Spring Detox, the Maharishi AyurVedic Way

You know how you often don’t feel well after eating out? Maharishi AyurVed advises to eat light for a meal or two, while sipping hot water every 20 minutes, to burn away excess Ama (undigested food) with our digestive fire (Agni).

Sipping hot water throughout the day is perhaps the most powerful adjunct to any diet and a wonderfully easy way to detox. Some like it hot, but warm works well. This practice literally scrapes the insides of your blood vessels clean. This works whether you’ve eaten something that doesn’t technically qualify as food, or if you want to give some um-papa to your spring detox.

Wise souls are drawn to the cornfields of Iowa—from far distant lands—and not just to sip hot water. Students and their professors are often found sipping from them. Thermosi abound here at Maharishi International University (MUM). Peer inside one of them, and you might find more than just hot water. Often, an entire meal—both complete and dosha-balancing–- will have been cooked there–dahl, rice and veggies–delicious essentials of life on the go–hot and ready to eat!

My favorite MUM online course, Naturally Trim, offers non-fad gems of dietary and lifestyle wisdom. As many of us struggle with weight management, I wanted to offer a few AyurVedic tips that promote weight loss in connection with a super-charged spring detox.

We naturally want to throw off Ama, accumulated toxins in the spring, as tis the season to be detoxing….fa la la. Start sipping hot water so those pounds will melt away. Just like the ice is melting, so is excess kapha dosha, accumulated during the winter season, easily shed.

Let’s facilitate this process!  Here are some gems from the MUM online course, Naturally Trim:

• Eat at the same time everyday, so that your body will be ready with digestive enzymes, and a digestive fire (Agni) that is at it’s peak. Your body will be able to do the best possible to break down the food into absorb-able nutrients. Be regular with intervals of eating.
• Never overeat!! It weakens Agni (digestive fire) and creates more Ama!  All three doshas get  imbalanced just by eating too much.
• Wait until each meal is digested before eating another meal (2-6 hours). You will know your stomach is empty (you get powerful hungry).
• Eat not on the run; only when settled and happy. Harmonious circumstances/influences/people are your best friends.
• Include all 6 tastes in every meal; you will be satisfied & find that you are not hungry again after you eat (ensuring you get all the vitamin & minerals you need.)
• Stop eating when about 3/4 full.  Don’t eat for about 2-6 hours after your last meal. Tea and a small snack is ok–satisfyingly British.
• The healthiest foods are those easily digested. Vegetable/fruit-based; not processed or canned foods — they have more Prana (life force); will move more quickly through the digestive process.
• Vegetables and fruits and grains and spices are best when cooked; cooking helps to break it down–allowing us to fully utilize essential nutrients.

The phenomenon of balanced health is seen at MUM in the form of the many slender folks that proliferate here. They often come here to learn TM, and to embark upon the inward journey of self-discovery. But, they must also learn the importance of health in culturing higher states of consciousness. Balance creates health, so learning about the role that the doshas play in how our bodies functions is critical. Greater happiness through expanded self-awareness walks hand-in-hand with improved health. Self-empowerment tools aplenty abound here, but perhaps this is the most practical knowledge to be found here—how to maintain the human body –101.

Happy Spring, Happy Detox!

Lisa Moseley is a contributor to the MUM blogs. Over the past 15 years, Lisa worked a realtor in the DC/MD and Fairfield area. Prior to that, she taught computer software in the government at the DOJ and EPA. She got her BA in English at FIU and has raised five children (and has four grandchildren).