Add these practices to your daily routine
Last week, a friend called to tell me she was suffering terribly from spring allergies. We live in Southern Oregon where spring arrives gorgeous and loaded with pollen. I realized that for the first year in ages I wasn’t waking up every morning sneezing for a solid half hour and using up a box of tissues the rest of the day. And i realized why. I shared the reasons with my friend — and now i’ll share them with you.
Do these three practices every morning
I figured out that the secret of my no-allergy success is doing these three practices consistently every morning — jal neti, nasya oil and oil pulling. I’ve written about these amazing practices elsewhere, but i’ll repeat them here to underline their importance.
Jal neti — nasal cleansing
In a small stainless steel pot, mix un-iodized salt (Here’s the kind i like) in very warm water and mix. Then lean over the sink and pour half of the water through each nostril. Ideally, the water will pour easily through the other nostril. If it doesn’t, you need the practice even more, so be gentle and persist. But even if it pours feely, you’ll notice little blurbs in the water as mucous and trapped pollen from your nasal passages pours out. After you’ve done both sides, bend over a bathroom rug for a minute and let any excess water pour out, then gently blow your nose. After a couple minutes, do the next step.
Nasya oil — soothing the nasal passages
Nasya oil is a pure, herbal oil that lubricates and soothes the nasal passages. The tiny hairs inside the passages have been doing extra duty collecting all the pollen and irritants that spring throws at you, so the area needs all the TLC it can get. There’s a great nasya oil at Banyan Botanicals and also one i like at the Ayurveda Institute. You want to warm up the oil before using. You can do this under hot water in the sink or in a mini Crockpot that you keep in your bathroom (I love mine) and use to heat all your oils.
You can lie back on your bed or on a couch and squeeze half a stopper full of oil into each nostril. Sniff gently and relax for a minute. If you don’t have time, just put in the oil at the sink and sniff. It’s more important to use the oil than to lie down to do it. Wait a few minutes then do oil pulling.
Oil pulling — getting the gunk out
Oil pulling is a practice recommended for enhancing the health of teeth and gums. You take the warm pulling oil – -usually a sesame or coconut oil base with added herbs — into the mouth and swish it around for between 2 and 20 minutes. This is the oil i use. The oil attracts the bacteria from the teeth and gums and disposes of them when you spit out the oil. I use my pulling oil everyday, often holding it in my mouth while i shower and get dressed. What i’ve noticed is that it seems to pull mucous from my sinuses as well and that’s why i think it plays a role in keeping my allergic reactions at bay. Plus the removal of bacteria from the mouth helps to prevent the allergic reaction from morphing into something worse.
Make it part of daily routine
What we do regularly makes the difference in our lives. Adding these three practices will give you lots of benefits including easier breathing, likely fewer colds, better oral and dental health — and a relief from seasonal allergic reactions. Give them a try.