Ayurvedicadventure

While having my treatments today I started to think about going back to work. I have been on vacation for a month this coming Friday and I have had relatively few moments that I had to put on my “work” hat. I feel blessed to have this time away from the office, and I also feel blessed to have my work, home, and family to go back to.

When in the middle of everyday life, it is easy for me to forget that…… every day is a blessing. While I know that now, how can I be sure to remember that a month from now when life is back into full swing with kids, their school, stress around our work, etc.?

While here I did get a glimpse of how the Indians of the Hindu faith keep it fresh in their minds. I went to Hyderabad’s Hanuman Temple with a group of four other people. Hanuman is a deity known as a boundary guardian and one of great strength. The temple itself is over 850 years old and there are a number of other smaller buildings that are more recently built that house other deities of their faith. One of the buildings contained the Navagraha, the nine influencers . Each influencer or planet is said to hold sway over different aspects of our lives and during our visit to the temple we performed the Navagraha pooja with the help of a Pundit(monk).

During the pooja we made offerings to each of the nine planets so that they would in turn bless us with good fortune. We cracked and offered coconuts, gave grains, oils, flowers, coins, turmeric, fire, and incense. It is interesting that in this faith, the oldest faith still practiced, they still give physical offerings. In most faiths the offerings are only verbal in the form of prayers. Of course, some faiths have over time, consciously made the choice to move away from physical offerings but I find something appealing about that combination of the physical and spiritual, giving in order to receive blessings.

The act of giving is something that I need to practice more in my life. Perhaps that will make it easier to remember all the blessings I currently enjoy during those moments of stress!

We are told the clinic will do our laundry if we want.  Turns out the cleaning ladies do the laundry outside our room in a corner on the roof in bucket and put it on the line to dry.  Upon seeing the bucket, I thought better of it.  There are also two small Indian washing machines in each of the two building, but both were broken when we arrived.  Alan took our dirty clothes over the business center, where they were cleaned and PRESSED.  I thought this is ideal until the second load came back.  One of my T-shirts smelled so badly, although it was beautifully pressed.  I think it was washed in smelly water and Alan thinks it was an old fashioned coal iron. No matter what it is, I can’t wear it without gagging.

Yesterday, I was feeling so energetic after my treatments and heard that the washing machines had been fixed; I thought I would give it a try.  Now mind you this is a work-out because we are on the 4^th floor and the working machine is on the third floor of the other building.  I figure it is good for me and I will have clean clothes at the end of the process.

It really was an I LOVE LUCY experiment on the first load.  I came back in the allotted hour to find the machine just finishing the cycle, overflowing with suds because I have evidently put in too much laundry powder.  Then I try to open it, without reading the last direction that says, “Wait until machine unlocks once the cycle completes”.  I rip off the hand-made string used to open the tricky door.  Down the three flights I go, to get help at the office for the mess I have made!  Prasad fixes the handle and we start the cycle again to get rid of the overabundance of Tide.  Well, the clothes are clean but you know what it is like when you use too much soap.  Not so wonderful!

So today, I start anew with energy for more clean clothes!  This time Ganga, the female doctor shows me how to use the machine in my building on the second floor.  The instructions include turning on the water and the electricity before getting to the machine.   She notes I should get right to it, as the electricity will be going off at noon in about 40 minutes, as it always does for about an hour or two!

I get right to it.  I put the whites in the machine as Ganga has instructed me and run over the other building with a load of towels.  I go off to lunch, quite proud of myself.  The electricity is off about noon, but I figure I will check on things when it comes back on.

I return to find the load of whites done so well, they are practically dry.  It doesn’t occur to me anything is wrong.  I take them upstairs to the roof and ever so carefully hang them on the line.   I see there are spots on Alan’s white things; I just assume the machines are not as efficient as ours.  Alan is so careful when he hangs things up; I am trying to meet his standards.  I run back down to the second floor and put another load in the machine.  At the allocated time, I ask Alan to go pick them up and he returns with dry things as well, saying the machine is not working!  Ah, that explains the dry white things with spots!  I can’t stop laughing.  Alan takes the whites over the third floor across the street and does the load, thank God!

Ganga later explains to me I have mixed up turning on the water and no water has come into the machine.  Well, I am done with laundry for today.  Maybe tomorrow I have energy for it again.

We decide it’s a good thing I have skills that keep me from having to be a laundress!  I still can’t stop laughing with tears as I type this post!

I finished the thyroid treatment and resumed the regular meals, thank goodness! Turns out there are 18 meals, in groups of three with each group given flavor by adding different herbs.  The tastes are sweet, bitter, sour, salt, pungent and astringent.  I asked if I could have some light green tea and was told no, it would interfere with the cleansing and taste progression.  I could only drink warm water.

By the 7^th day, I asked to move from two meals to three.  My sleeplessness had returned and being hungry and not sleeping was not a good combo.  The third meal a day helped tremendously. I would wake very tired and was amazed at the significant improvement in my well-being and mood after a few hours with the techs with lots of oil and massaging!  Also if I don’t feel great, I have taken a lesson from Alan and I am repeating positive mantras as I rest on the table, like “I am healthy”. Today I added a list of what I am thankful for as they worked on me.

During the last few days of the thyroid treatment, I became very emotional for no apparent reason.  Dr. Raju says this is part of the healing process.  He tells me I am releasing old sorrow from my system and I will have a lighter heart, which will help me heal.  I like that thought!

To pass the time in the late afternoons, I have been shopping with my Aussie pals next door to the clinic.  There is a “housewife”, Tripty who has a little shop in her house.  Tripty’s kids are watching Nick cartoons in Hindi on a flat screen TV in the little living room and the “shop” is in a back room.  There is a covered mattress on the floor and many clothes in piles and bags around the room.    I brought a few dresses and fabrics to make outfits.  The fabric is really neat; it comes with a scarf and one or two different fabrics.   You pay $8-$10 for the fabrics and then you take it over the business center to a tailor who will sew it in any style to your perfect fit.  On the wall, the tailor has many photos of different Indian styles called Punjabs (Indian pant suits).  Here is a picture of the wall of photos.  He charges $3 to make sew the outfit!  I am having two made and can pick up in a few days.  I am hoping this won’t be like a home ec project I made in High School, when I realized I have no ability to visualize fabrics and styles and ended up hating what I made.  I figure I have not spent that much money and it has been a fun distraction!

Tripty is really nice, speaks English well and knows she has some good shoppers in her midst.  Yesterday she went to the wholesale market to restock for us.  I had asked if she had any men’s pajamas, thinking that would be good for Alan and Jacob.  When we went to have a look at what she had purchased for us, turns out she had traditional Indian Punjabs, that men wear to temples.  Alan liked them and actually bought this one he is modeling!  Will have to find Jacob something else!

We just passed the two week mark at the clinic.  Alan has one more week of treatments and I have two.  Here are some recent photos of us.  The white one is before dinner one night in front of the dining hall and the other one is of both of us just after having finished our morning treatments, relaxing in front of the main building.

The internet connection was down at the building for two days. There is a small internet café over at the business center we can use.  It does not look like a hip internet café you might imagine in the US with cool coffees and space to hang out.  It is kind of creepy, so glad we don’t have to use much.

It is said to be the monsoon season here.  It really has not rained here much, something about Hyderabad being on a plateau keeps it mostly dry.  However today it has rained all day and is a huge drag.  Praying it won’t last long.

I went on a fun outing yesterday (Tuesday) to have lunch at the Taj Falaknuma Palace. The palace took nine years to complete and was finally inhabited in 1889 by the then prime minister Nawab Vikar-ul-Umra as a personal residence. The thirty-five acre estate sits high on a hill and overlooks the city of Hyderabad. Story has it that the prime minister actually spent beyond his means to build the palace and when the 6th Nazim (monarch of Hyderabad) came to visit, the Vikar’s wife hatched a scheme where he offered to give it to him. The Nazim liked the palace very much, but could not accept the gift and instead instructed the treasury to send the entire amount the Vikar had spent! The Nazim took possession of the palace around 1898 and the royal family used the property up until the early 1950’s. The palace was quiet until 2000 when Taj Hotels leased the property and started renovating it for a hotel.

After stopping at the gate and taking a electric cart up to the palace we toured some of rooms and signed the guest book in the Vikar’s study.  Walking into the bedroom we saw a beautiful four-poster bed and on the nightstand was a telephone made of pure ivory!   There was a ladies “gossip” room and an interesting display of teapots.

We then walked down and interesting path of

stones, through a garden and over to the dining area. Greg, one of my cohorts, dines at the palace often and had called ahead to make the reservation. When the chef hears that Greg is coming he always offers a couple of extra entrees that are not on the regular menu!  The lunch started with some nice chutneys and crisp breads. We ordered a nice combination dahl and vegetable dishes which were nicely spiced, some heat but not so much that it masked the flavors of the food.

We ended the meal with some light deserts that the chef sent out for us along with the best masala tea that I have tasted. We arrived back at the clinic about four hours after our departure convinced that we need to make at least one more visit before it is time to go home!

On Sunday, Dr. Krishna’s older brother and also a doctor of Ayurvedic medicine came to the clinic. Dr. Raju-ji (a term of respect)  After lunch he gave a lecture on a variety of topics including question and answers about the general health and how to make the most from these treatments we are receiving.  Dr. Raju runs another client in Delhi and all the guests chipped in money for his plane fare.

It was quite hot in the dining room, we had just had the big meal of the day and it was hard to completely understand his accent.  Many of the guests were nodding off, but didn’t seem to bother the wise doctor.  At one point he asked us how long we expected to live.  One person answered 80 and another 124.  I had the sense it was a trick question about our western approach to longevity.  He said there is no reason why we couldn’t live to 125.  He said that people expect to live to about 80, so they begin to create disease and winding down their lives.  He talked about people in the Himyalans, who many live well into their 100’s and said they expect it!  It certainly gave us all pause to think.

Another interesting point he made about our bodies when we age.  He said the condition of the heart is much more important than what we weigh.  He said people with some fat tend to live longer and can withstand disease better than people that are too thin.  He has seen over and over, when the very thin person gets sick, it is harder for them to bounce back than someone with a little bit of meat on the bones.  I certainly liked hearing this tidbit.

Then yesterday afternoon, the older Dr. Raju gave us each a special pulse reading.  Alan and I went in together for our reading.  He remembered Alan from last year and said he was very good.  His brother had recommended that Alan take a heavy metal prep tablet after he leaves the clinic for continued assurance the cancer does not return.  The older vaidya (Indian doctor) agreed it would be a very good measure.

Then he listened to my pulse and said, “Nice pulse”.  He said I was better and no longer had any edema.  I looked at my wrist and ankles, realizing it were true.  It had not occurred to me.  At home, often at the end of the day I could see edema where my socks had been.  He asked me why I more stressed than Alan.  True again.  I am not stressed about Alan, I feel good for about his health.  I am concerned about my well-being during the thyroid treatment and what its impact will be on me when I return to my life.  He said, don’t worry you are already so much better and will continue to improve.

I did ask the doctor how he knew I had edema and now I don’t without inspecting my body. He said when he listens to the pulse; he can hear all the memories of the body.  He can read the wounds you have had and as well those of your ancestors.  Pretty amazing, I would say!

I am on the 6^th day of the thyroid treatment.  It will be 9 days longs, so I have made it past the hump day so to speak.  I have been up and down in how I feel.  For the first two days, I didn’t take any thyroid meds and now I am taking 2/3 of my daily amount from home.  I definitely feel different; something is at play in terms of my system.  I feel somewhat off and calmer within, at the same time.  When I have my pulse read each morning, the younger Dr. Raju says my thyroid is working better.

The good news is I am sleeping much better in the last few nights.  This is a really big change, sleep been a HUGE issue for me for years.  Eating two meals a day of rice is quite challenging, but I have decided it is worth it, so making the best of it.  Every fourth meal, the rice is prepared differently, so that helps.  I just finished three meals of rice with dahl water.  Dahl is like a lentil soup.  I pretended it was like chicken broth without the chicken, of course, since most of the country is vegetarian!  Tonight I will start rice with lassi water, which is a type of thin yogurt drink.  Plus I can add some salt and have to say, salt never tasted so good!

On a fun note, I have been getting a new treatment for this second week.  It is called Parishek.   Two techs pour very warm water and herbs over your entire body, front and back.  It feels exquisite.  The table is incredibly slippery between the oil from the previous massage and the hot water; when I move I get the giggles concerned I will fly off the table!

Alan has gone off for an adventure today after his treatments.  He went with a few of the other guests to THE PALACE for lunch.  Supposed to be wonderful in terms of beauty and food!  He will have to write a post about the adventure.

This morning waking I heard a strange animal noise and had a look down in the street.  There was a cow strolling and mooing quite loudly though the street.  There are two cows that live in the gated community and have free range to wander about.  I encountered the

cows for the first time the other day when returning from the treatment center.  They are renovating a house across the street from the clinic where there is a large pile of sand.  The cows were relaxing on the cool sand!  There are also wild dogs and cats that live in the street; they are often relaxing on the sand pile.

The treatments I received are similar to what Alan described in the previous post.  However, I don’t believe I will get the head basti, as that is helpful to heal his head from surgery and radiation.   I do get a “face mask” every day as part of my treatments and my

skin is amazing.  Also since I have started the thyroid treatment, they give me the face mask and a different herbal mixture on my neck for my thyroid.  While that is all drying, they are running the cool water and buttermilk mixture back and forth across my forehead.  It is lovely!

I shower in the one bathroom at the end of the treatments. The one word that comes to mind everyday as I leave the treatments room is EXTRAORDINARY.  I can’t believe how wonderful the treatments are and how calm and composed I feel as I walk back to the clinic.

Here is a photo of the business center, from two angles.  The building is within the gated community and has several different kinds of shops and services.  This is where Alan had his head shaved and we have gotten our laundry done.  The treatment rooms are on the top floor.  There is an elevator with a guy who runs it, although I prefer to walk the two flights.  On one of my first days, Kim and I were in there with the elevator guy and the electricity went off (which happens often).  The guy was able to pry open the doors and we got out as the elevator door was at floor opening. I have heard the others have been caught in there for over an hour.

The treatments rooms are very simple and do not meet the standards that we have for cleanness in the US.  The men and women are in different areas and are attended by techs of the same sex. The techs are wonderfully kind and gentle in giving the treatments and interacting with us, although most of them do not speak English.

We are each loosely assigned a tech, who does many of treatments and looks out for us.  Each night our techs come to our room to give us an herbed foot massage and put socks on to protect the feet.   This is a photo of Prya, my tech in my room “putting me to bed”.  Prya is absolutely beautiful. She is only 23 years old and is married to a nice guy who is also a tech here. They are Roman Catholic (unusual in India) and moved here from another PK clinic in Kerala, an Indian city on the Indian Ocean.

I have gotten savvier with iTunes and figured how to rent movies and am adding more music at a regular clip.  I am happy iTunes works here; there are several sites like Pandora or Netflix that are not available in India.

We are in our second full week at the clinic and would say we have gotten into the natural rhythm here.

I am completely fascinated by the practice of using the mind as a complement to medicine in the process of healing the body. Here at the clinic I have the opportunity to engage in that practice multiple times throughout the day as I meditate in the morning and during the  treatments.  On our first day Dr. Raju  told us that disease is often the result of karma and mind, and that we should use our minds to dispel the disease!

Today is the beginning of our second week at the clinic and my daily treatments are starting to change. The treatment that is consistent throughout the entire stay is the Abhyanga, which is a therapeutic massage that is the administered by two people using herb infused coconut oil. The two “techs”, in unison, use a series of strokes over the entire body that are meant to release any toxins and waste products that build up in layers of skin and the lymph system. It feels great and I like to help the process along by envisioning the cleansing process in my mind’s eye as they do the massage.

There is another treatment that uses a container (basti) to hold oil on different locations of the body,  the locations change throughout the stay. Currently I am receiving the heart basti which entails making a dough out of chickpea flour and water and then shaping it into a doughnut. The techs then place a doughnut over my heart and navel, smashing the outside of the doughnut so that it forms the “basti” and is sealed to my body. They then fill the basti with a warm-to-hot oil that is infused with herbs for that particular location. It is amazing how the body reacts to these treatments! As soon as the oil is added I can feel the pulsing of blood underneath the skin where the basti is placed. I focus on the blood rushing to that area of the body and washing away any disease.

One of my favorite treatments is the Thakradhara. For this treatment they cover my eyes and send a steady stream of cool water infused with buttermilk and herbs over my forehead. At times they let the stream fall on the middle of my forehead and others they sweep the water back and forth across it. It feels divine and particularly during the sweeping motion I imagine the cool liquid sweeping away any negative thoughts about my health and well-being.

The treatments above are given during the morning and after a long shower to clean off the oil and herbs I come back  and head off to lunch. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and I find it to be delicious. The food here is vegetarian but not vegan. But aside from abstaining from the yogurt drink that is served I have not been omitting any other food due to dairy content. The flavors and spices are great but they use very few chilies so the food is not hot.

After lunch I come back to our room and spend some time reading or writing and then head off to my afternoon treatment. There is usually only one treatment in the afternoon so the time goes by pretty quickly. Currently I am having a shiro(head) basti in the afternoon. This is my least favorite treatment but likely the one I need the most as the end result is a warm pool of infused oil covering my scalp. When it works correctly it is calming and I use the 40 minutes or so of the treatment to think about melting away the lesion that is on my brain. The problem with this treatment is the way they contain the pool on top of my head. They use a a thinner version of the “dough” as a paste along with a plastic rectangle that they wrap around my head and tie it on very tightly! Between the plastic riding down on my ears and the thing being clamped on too tightly it can be a little uncomfortable. I have had two of these so far and the first one went pretty smoothly, the one I had today was too tight and I now have a sore red spot on my forehead. I am sure there is a better way to do this!

Dinner is usually very light. A thin soup, some dahl, rice, and chapatti(bread). The food here at the clinic is really thought of as part of the treatment. Everything is meant to be easily digested and they purposely make the lunchtime meal heartier. While it doesn’t appear I have done much during the day, by 9:30 or 10:00 at night I am tired and ready for bed!

So that is a typical day in the life here at the clinic. Only two more weeks left in India, the time is going by way too quickly.

Today is Thursday morning, we have been gone from the States for two weeks and I notice I have really slowed down. Our days are patterned around what time Dr. Raju checks our pulse, when we have treatments and when meals are given.  We are exhausted and go to sleep by 9 each night, I even like that there is no David Letterman to entice me.

This morning I started the thyroid treatment.  I am instructed not to take the daily herbs we were given, my daily thyroid medication or eat or drink anything in the morning.  After my morning pulse check, I walked over to the doctor’s residence with a couple of guests for a special treatment.

This picture with my young friends was taken while we are waiting outside. Annalisa (Fairfield, Iowa) is on the left and Helena (Sydney, Australia) is in the middle.  I am wearing some new very light Indian pants and cotton scarf to keep me cool in the early heat.  This picture is of the Raju family house.

We are invited one by one onto the porch by Dr. Raju’s wife.  She is holding a yogurt drink with herbs for me to drink.  The herbs are an important part of the treatment and the Raju family holds them as multi-generation secret.  Mrs. Raju says a blessing over yogurt mixture.  Then asks me to face east and pray to my God and ancestors for healing.  I close my eyes and ask God, my parents, paternal and maternal grandparents by name to help me heal.  Plus I ask for Alan’s healing while I am at it; figure it can’t hurt! The drink tastes good and I am happy to drink it on my empty stomach.

During the thyroid treatment I will be given rice for lunch and dinner.  I have had the lunch serving; it was plain basmati and tasted delicious to me. I ate every bite! I understand I will have three serving of plain rice, then there will rice with some chili powder on the side for three meals and onto some other spices or herbs with the rice in three meal intervals.

At lunch today, I get a bit choked up when chatting with my new pals about being on the thyroid treatment.  I realize that I have waiting for about 16 months since learning about this approach and I am really thrilled that I am really doing it! I plan to remind myself how pleased I am about it, especially if I get really tired and sick of the rice meals!  The treatment could last anywhere from five to twelve days.

I understand I will have the yogurt drink with herbs early this evening and then tomorrow morning and that portion of the treatment will be over.  There is also an extra treatment applied to my neck and thyroid area when the treatments will be given this afternoon.  It is a special herbal pack that will be applied like a face pack to dry.  I understand that it is supposed to help reduce or melt the scarring around the thyroid, so it can operate properly.  The reason I am not taking the daily thyroid medication is to see if my thyroid will get back to work and stop counting on the synthetic hormone I put in my body on a regular basis.

Dr. Raju is monitoring our blood levels throughout the treatments.  The blood was taken on Sunday and the results have not been returned yet, as the results are waiting to complete from a lab in the US for the Vitamin D test.  Vitamin D is actually a hormone; it was misnamed as a vitamin.

I am reading a wonderful book by Thrity Umrigar called Bombay Time.  She also wrote The Space Between Us, about a middle class Indian woman and her maid; one of my all-time favorite books.  Bombay Time is on my IPad and I can’t seem to get it away from Alan is now reading Fifty Shades of Grey on it!