Subtle Innuendo: the Gentle Art of

Ayurvedic Enema
by Matthew Remski
Everyone should learn to do Ayurvedic enema, or basti. It is
the simplest purification technique of the oldest naturopathic
system in human culture. It has very few contraindications. It
is cheap and easy to do at home according to need and
constitution, once youve received frank and intelligent
instruction.
Most importantly, basti is the most powerful tool for
soothing and calming the general force of movement, communication, impulse, and
thought-patterning in your whole being the force of vata dosha. Unlike colonics, basti
does not fire-hose out chunks of adherent waste, it rather lubricates and encourages the
colons own self-cleansing intelligence, and, in the process, calms the physiological root
of every fear, anxiety, and doubt you have about the stability of your very presence in this
world all by nourishing vata dosha.
Vata dosha is the conjunction of the subtlest elements air and space that gather
at the cusp of the material world and blow forth into the infinite forms and functions of
life. It is responsible for the fashioning of the body in the womb, the spacious cavernosa
of the lungs, the blinking of your eyes, those delicate peristaltic stirrings that we call the
call of nature, and the speed with which the mind connects ideas to each other or to
actions.
When vata dosha is out of balance and in this culture we can assume that it
always is, between the speed of life, the coldness of social alienation, the brittle static of a
billion cell phones and nothing to say, the dryness of forced-air heating, the stagnancy of
our closed-systems glass buildings, and the pervasive fear that ripples through our
politics, economy and ecology we are vulnerable to gas and bloating, insomnia, chaos
in appetite/menses/sex, loneliness, dissociation from nature, and the strange belief that
the universe is not only failing to support us, but actually waging a war of attrition.
And where does this mysterious vata dosha live? According to Ayurveda: in the
breath, the bones, the nerves, yes, but primarily within the colon an open, spacious
tunnel of absorptive genius that dries the stool as it extracts the subtlest energies of our
food. In the ancient texts, the colon is said to be the root of the tree of health, the organ
from which all other organs derive their nutrition and vital impulse, and the focal point
for the health and balance of vata dosha.
Thus, it is vata dosha and its myriad functions that are the object of Ayurvedic
basti not mucoid plaques or other over-dramatized forms of so-called intestinal
sludge. Its impressive those ropes of black goo that folks are tweezing out of the toilet
in pictures on the internet. Unfortunately, theyre not real. Theyre simply the accreted
mass of the colon-cleansing herbs theyre selling you in that hysterical tone: figs,
psyllium, various emollient oils, senna. No autopsy has ever revealed mucoid plaques,
and the gastroenterologists never see it.
In Ayurveda, the notion of cleansing is subtler. The body is not a tangle of tubing
that needs a good scrape. It is, rather, a web of intelligent forces that can become
Renaissance Yoga and Ayurveda 391 Ontario Street, T.O., M5A 2V8 416-920-4520
www.renaissanceyoga.ca

forgetful of their inherent power or disorderly in their patterns. Certainly enema may
remove some adherent fecal matter, but its main purpose is to nurture the mucoidal
secretions and flora that allow the colon to calmly sip the joy of life like the root that it is.
The colon is a very emotional organ, and when it gets into one of its moods
(which is invariably a precursor to one of our own) digestive issues from opposite ends of
the spectrum manifest. Anxiety and fear promote the dry and contractile bowel of
constipation, which is not just an inability to let go of stool, but also an inability to let go
of the past. Warmth and oiliness and love are required. Anger and aggression promote
the overheated and dilatory bowel that moves too often because it is too impatient to
digest life, and needs to rush onwards, propelled by its inflamed appetite to devour the
next meal of dramatic experience. Bitter tastes, astringency, mung sprouts, and
moonlight are all advised.
But in both cases, periodic basti therapy, in the comfort of your own home, in the
proper season, after taking a simple cleansing diet for several days and fasting
moderately, after warm self-massage with oil and gentle sweating, will press the reset
button on the nervous system, and nurture the root of your digestion. Youll also sleep
deeper than you ever have before.
Specific instructions for basti which will differentiate between amounts of
liquid applied, herbs and oil type used, length of retention, time to administer, and
number of repetitions depend on constitution, age, season, health history, and
presenting symptoms. So I cant give meaningful instructions here. Not because its
complicated just that its individual. The value of Ayurveda, in basti as in all things, is
in recognizing that your pathway to health is as unique as you are, and that the dovetail of
training and self-awareness is the golden road.
Everybody should learn Ayurvedic enema. To calm vata dosha, improve
absorption, and nourish the bones and skin. Get some good training, and do it.

Renaissance Yoga and Ayurveda 391 Ontario Street, T.O., M5A 2V8 416-920-4520
www.renaissanceyoga.ca