My connection to Panchakarma

Posted on

by Hari Das

I’m no longer a novice to Panchakarma.


Here is my condensed blog on my experiences with Panchakarma.


I’ll start with some history.

I have been practising and teaching Hatha yoga for over 25 years, teaching kundalini yoga for the past 16 years.
My partner and I backpacked throughout India in the year 2000. We moved around this amazing country for 6 months. India opened our hearts and minds to this organised chaotic realm of existence. We also spent time in Nepal where the energy was more peaceful being closer to the Himalayas perhaps.


It took 11 years before I returned to India, on my own and a little nervous. I travelled to Rishikesh for the 11/11 (November 11, 2011) Kundalini yoga festival. Three of my yoga students shared the experience with me.
It was amazing. So much divine healing, since then I have been travelling yearly to India.
Ayurvedic lifestyle gained a lot of curiosity (note lifestyle) within me when I started my Kundalini yoga experience. Information became more and more available through the Kundalini yoga modality.


Whilst in India, I would have Ayurvedic treatments as they were available practically everywhere that I would visit. The treatments always agreed with me, and I always looked forward to more.
I would always start small, call it caution if you want.
Everything in life is gradual, too much at once can throw us off course, so I can safely say I’ve been training for these Panchakarma treatments for years.


I started reading about Panchakarma with a different mindset. I didn’t feel ready to commit to a full-on detox, (when I would detox at home, I would get pretty sick) however I kept being drawn to the word. Probably the ‘karma’ part of the word (funny about that!) so I started looking for Ayurvedic Panchakarma centres. I became more confused, so many to choose from.


Well, the Divine guided me into a Health food store at my local shopping centre. I was at the right place at the right moment to connect to an Indian woman who was in the store doing her shopping and we began talking. The conversation shifted very quickly about India and Ayurvedic medicine.


It was an amazing conversation, we had heaps in common and she gave me information on Poolmully.
This for me was a sign of an invitation that I had to trust, so I phoned the doctor at the centre the same day. I spoke with Dr Aparna and the rest is history.


What draws me to Ayurvedic practices is that it works more on getting the body to heal itself. The treatments are about gathering or sweeping the toxins from all around the body, towards the gut so that the gut moves the toxins through the bowel for elimination.. The body will release what it’s ready to release to allow the body to heal. Toxins are pulled from the four elements within.
I know that what the mind has forgotten, the body remembers as we store ALL traumas in the body. Our body represents our mental frame since when only the Divine knows that, but that’s a whole bigger story.


As it happens, western medicine treats the condition, Ayurveda treats the body, and this is why I choose Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Panchakarma.

Published by

Hari Das

Hari Das also known as Mary-Anne teaches both Kundalini and Hatha Yoga in Baulkham Hills (Norwest, Sydney), NSW, Australia. Hari Das is Mary-Anne's spiritual name. Hari Das facilitats Yoga Classes, Workshops, Retreats and is a qualified Reiki Master who practices Sat Nam Rasayan, a Kundalini Healing modality. Kundalini Yoga, the Yoga of Awareness, was brought to the west by Yogi Bhajan in 1968. Yogi Bhajan taught that, through the practice of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation, your glandular and nervous systems are stimulated, and your capacity for creative potential is heightened. Hatha Yoga is traditional Yoga which improves flexibilty, increases strength, heightens awareness and brings clarity. Alignment and Breathing are strong parts of the teaching style. Variations of postures are offered for all levels of practise.