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Jala Neti Pot to clear sinuses
I have been advised by an alternative practitioner to use a neti pot to clear my sinuses which are permanently bunged up and irritating but I am somewhat apprehensive. Is a neti pot safe to use? Might I risk choking or could it damage my nasal linings?
Jala neti is one of the cleansing yoga practices that are known, collectively, as Kryias. Yoga, as you know, is simply one discipline that makes up the traditional Indian healing system of Ayurveda; a sanskrit word which means the science of life or longevity.
If you study the yoga texts, you will learn the primary purpose of the Kryias is to cleanse the mind and body, to clear the nadis (energy channels in the body), increase vitality and help develop greater awareness of the functioning of the chakra centres.
Since some of the kryias involve drinking salt water to purge the stomach by vomiting, stringing a thread through the nostril and bringing it out through the throat and even swallowing and regurgitating yards of soft cloth to cleanse the digestive tract, they also serve another interesting purpose which is to help the yoga student overcome any sense of repulsion about their own bodies. It is a rare yoga teacher in the West who teaches the kryias and so few people here practice them.
The jala neti pot looks like a small spouted jug which you fill with water that you have boiled, dissolved salt into and allowed to cool to room temperature. You then hang over the sink to tip this saline solution through one nostril, tilting your head to allow it to emerge from the other nostril. Keep a box of tissues near by to blow your nose which you will need to do between nostrils.
Not only is jala neti simple to do, it is perfectly safe and 100% effective. The sensation of the fluid passing into your nostrils does take some getting used to but I cannot think of a better way of keeping the nasal passages clear of infection and there really is no need to be apprehensive.