Panchakarma at Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre, MERU

Panchakarma means five actions, the five classical cleansing treatments of Ayurveda. At the Maharishi Ayurveda Health Centre at MERU three of them are given: Virechana, therapeutic purgation; Basti, the Ayurvedic enema series; and Nasya, medicated oils through the nasal passages. Vamana and Raktamokshana are not given here. Around those sit warm oil therapies, light organic vegetarian food and long rest, in a sequence set by a Vaidya.

Programmes at MERU run for seven, ten, fourteen or twenty-one treatment days, each with one night more than its treatment days. Seven is the shortest offered, because a cleansing Basti (enema) is always held between two nourishing ones and a proper sequence needs at least that long. Shorter stays are offered as Ayurvedic Experiences instead, and for many guests that is the right amount.

That is decided at a consultation rather than at the point of booking. Panchakarma gives back in proportion to the time and quiet you can give it, so guests who clear the diary get the most from it. If the weeks cannot be cleared just now, a Vaidya will say so and suggest an Ayurvedic Experience instead.

Purvakarma, preparation: a light diet, cleansing herbs, and where prescribed Snehapana, the internal oleation with ghee, or herbal preparations where ghee is not suitable. Pradhanakarma, the main actions: Virechana, the purgation day, together with Basti and Nasya. Paschatkarma, the re-building phase: a graduated return to solid food that begins here the day after the purgation and continues at home, holding to the Satvik diet while the body rebuilds, with Rasayana prescribed personally.

Mostly, no. The purgation day is demanding and is followed by a day of rest. The rest of the programme is warm oil, steam and quiet. What Panchakarma asks of you is discipline rather than endurance, and it asks it at both ends: the preparation before you arrive, and the lighter eating afterwards. Guests are seen by their Vaidya every second day, and the programme is adjusted if anything is harder than it should be.