Shankhaprakshalana – Yogic Intestinal Cleanse

"Shankhaprakshalana purifies the body. By practicing with care, one gets a luminous or shining body." Gheranda Samhita, 17th century text

by Shanti 1996, revised and expanded in 2024

A woman wrote to me five months after her first intestinal cleanse:

As I'm sure you remember, I was allergic to milk and sugar when I visited you in November. I say was, as just before Christmas I received the best Christmas present ever. I cautiously tried to eat normally, and it worked! Since then I haven't had any problems at all.

A very happy Katrin.

Hatha Yoga

The yoga tradition is rich, containing a comprehensive knowledge of the body and mind. It is a science of tried and tested methods, which have been refined over thousands of years. Anyone can use yoga, regardless of what you believe in or who you are. The methods work precisely and without side effects. They give you access to your own inner resources.

Hatha Yoga is a part of the yoga tradition. It includes the physical cleansing processes, which can resolve imbalance and tension in the body that stands in the way of your well-being. The state of health can be improved with Hatha Yoga. Digestive issues, asthma, migraines, and even diabetes can be relieved and sometimes cured.

On a retreat that I was teaching a young man with diabetes participated. His pancreas did not produce any insulin at all when he arrived at Haa Retreat Center. He had to take insulin several times a day. After just a couple of days of yoga training, his insulin requirement decreased. We teachers had prepared him for the possibility of change after the intestinal cleansing, but we did not expect such a quick response. His pancreas began to work, and towards the end of the course he needed very little supplementary insulin.

Ha stands for the sun and tha for the moon. The sun - warm, active and physical. The moon - cool, passive and mental, reflecting the sun's light.

Hatha Yoga is built upon the knowledge of how to bring the body's organs and functions into mutual balance, thereby creating a harmonious foundation in the physical and mental state. Restlessness is often a sign of an imbalance in the body.

Physiologically, the yogic principle of balance between heat and cold, exertion and relaxation or expansion and absorption can be likened to the two complimentary functions of the autonomic nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic. When we feel stressed or threatened, the sympathetic nervous system responds: The pupils dilate, blood rushes from the inner organs to the muscles, the heart beats faster and respiration increases. When we are able to relax again, the parasympathetic causes an opposite physiological response: the muscles relax, the digestion increases, etc.

Chronic stress is the result of an imbalance between these two functions, between sun and moon energy, In the autonomic nervous system it can be seen as a constant sympathetic activity, even when trying to rest. This can lead to all sorts of complications, physical as well as mental.

The cleansing processes of Hatha Yoga remove fundamental tensions, that stand in the way of your clarity and concentration. They are divided into six main groups: Shat Karma. Some of the simpler methods are, for example, brushing the teeth and cleaning the scalp. In the text, Gheranda Samhita, they are described alongside other more comprehensive methods.

Such cleansing processes include nose cleansing, Neti, where salt water at body temperature is poured through the nasal pasage and stomach cleansing, Kunjal Kriya, where salt water is consumed on an empty stomach and then expelled by vomiting. The are exercises for the stomach such as Agnisar and Nauli, where the muscles of the abdomen are rotated, massaging the intestines and stimulating the digestion. The breathing exercise Kapalabhati cleanses the lungs. Tratak where you concentrate on the flame of a candle, gives a better balance in the brain and strengthens and cleanses the eyes – it is also an important concentration technique. And finally, there is Shankhaprakshalana, intestinal cleansing:

Shankhaprakshalana

Here we have the most comprehensive cleansing process, which cleanses all the way from the mouth to the anus. In Sanskrit, the approximately seven meter long folded intestine gets its name from the conch shankha. Prakshalana means to wash thoroughly. In certain texts, Shankhaprakshalana is referred to as Varisara Dhauti.

In the intestines, 'residue' accumulates, waste products remain sitting in the small folds of the intestines, around which tensions can arise, binding energy and affecting one's well-being. When the intestines are rinsed, the residue and tensions are removed.

The skin becomes clean and soft and various kinds of skin allergies and eczema are relieved, and can even disappear completely.

The senses are sharpened to such a degree that they feel as though they were muffled, and have now been unwrapped. I will never forget the taste of that boiled carrot I ate after my first intestinal cleanse. Its taste was more carrot-like than I had ever previously experienced.

The effects, however, are not only physical, such as an improvement in taste and sight. When the coarse tensions are removed from the stomach and abdomen, you have the released energy at your disposal, and the body feels light and healthy. It becomes easier to calm down, something that facilitates the learning of yoga and meditation.

Where can I learn Shankhaprakshalana?

Even though the intestinal cleanse is simple to perform, it demands guidance by a teacher with personal experience, and should not be done alone, but only together with others in a group.

The Scandinavian Yoga & Meditation School offers intestinal cleanses regularly in Stockholm and Copenhagen. It is also part of all our retreats at Håå Retreat Center.

We ask yoga teachers who haven't tried it themselves or don't have the proper education, to abstain from using or teaching it until they have the necessary experience and training. We also request authors not to paraphrase this article in their own words. It is based on personal experience and a direct introduction to the method, and should not be retold as second hand knowledge.

It is necessary to set aside a whole day and not make any other plans for the afternoon and evening. The evening meal should be skipped the day before. You may eat some fruits and drink water or herbal tea, but no dairy products.

If you suffer from any illness, talk to your teacher before doing the intestinal cleanse.

The water and salt

The water for the intestinal cleanse must be physiological saline water, the same salt concentration as the body's own, 0.9%. This allows the water to leave the stomach more quickly, while maintaining the same osmotic pressure upon both sides of the intestinal wall. This means that the body neither absorbs nor yields salt or water in significant quantities; the saline water stays in the intestinal canal on its way down through the body and is evacuated through the rectum.

We have found that some people have allergy-like reaction to sea salt. We suggest using ordinary rock salt that is free from any anti-caking agent. We normally use Himalaya Salt or Luisenhaller rock salt.

The ease with which the water passes through the intestines is also dependent on the temperature of the water. It is perfect when it is like warm soup.

The procedure

The intestinal cleanse is done by drinking a glass of salt water and performing five simple exercises that help the water to pass through the intestines. Afterwards, you drink a glass of salt water, do the exercises and continue like this.

After the sixth glass, you begin to go to the toilet following the exercises. Gradually, as you drink more glasses and do the exercises, the water that is evacuated becomes lighter and contains fewer and fewer particles. Finally, it is almost as clear as the water you drink, and completely free from particles.

The intestinal cleanse itself is now over. Altogether, sixteen large glasses of salt water, or a little more, are consumed. Do not drink ordinary water during the process nor the following four hours.

The exercises

1. The first exercise is a variation of The Palm Pose or Tadasana in Sanskrit.

Stand with the arms stretched over your head, and your hands clasped with the palms up.
Inhale and rise up on your toes. Balance while looking up at your hands, and hold the breath.
Walk around on your toes, as long as you can hold your breath.

Then come down again on your soles while exhaling.
Stand relaxed for a while with your arms at your sides and your eyes closed.

Repeat it three times.

2. The second exercise is called
Tiryaka Tadasana
in Sanskrit.
We call it
The Tree in the Wind.

Stand with the legs apart,
clasp the hands
and turn the palms outwards.

Stretch the arms over the head,
look up at the hands
and sway from side to side.

Do it eight times to each side.

3. The third exercise is Kati Chakrasana,

The Waist Twist.

Stand with your feet apart
and arms hanging at your sides.

Start swinging your arms from side to side by twisting your body.
When you twist to the right, look as far back as you can over your right shoulder – then twist to the left.

Now swing so fast that your left hand ends on your right shoulder and the right hand swings behind your back and touches your waist round on the left side, and vice versa. Your arms should be so relaxed that they swing out horizontally from the body.

This exercise is also done eight times to each side.

4. The fourth exercise is called Tiryaka Bhujangasana, and is translated as The Twisted Cobra.

First lie on the stomach with the legs wide apart.

Then raise the body up on straight arms and twist the head and torso so that you can look over the right shoulder and see down towards the left heel. Repeat to the other side.

The exercise is repeated eight times to each side.

5. The fifth exercise, Udarakarshanasana, translates as Abdominal Massage.

Sit in a squatting position with the hands placed upon the knees. Hold the upper body and head erect.

Lower the right knee to the left foot, while pressing the left leg against the body so that it exerts a pressure against the stomach, all the way down to the groin.

Repeat to the other side.

Do it eight times to each side.

These five exercises cause the water to pass easily through the alimentary canal, from stomach to anus. It is important to do the exercises in the correct order. This will cause the sphincter muscles in the stomach and intestines to open one after another.

Kunjal Kriya - Stomach Cleanse

Shankhaprakshalana is followed by Kunjal, the stomach cleanse.

The water for the stomach cleanse has the same salt concentration as that used for Shankhaprakshalana, but is a little cooler, slightly below body temperature.

Kunjal Kriya, should not be confused with Kriya Yoga, which is an advanced meditation technique.

In Sanskrit, Kunjal means "to throw up water", and Kriya, "process".

You drink the water in one go until the stomach is full – approximately 1½ litres – and, if it has the right temperature, the water will come up by itself. Otherwise, you can insert two fingers down your throat and trigger the vomiting reflex.

Stomach cleansing is a simple and quick process that produces a feeling of well-being and relaxation.

Therapeutically, Kunjal is used against stomach and digestive problems, headache, nervousness, asthma, common cold and coughing.

Kunjal Keiya can be practiced every morning on an empty stomach, for up to forty days. No special diet is required after practiced Kunjal, but wait 45 minutes before eating.

Neti - Nose cleanse

Afterwards, the nose is cleansed using the same physiological saline water, this time at body temperature. The spout of a Netipot is placed into one nostril, so that it sits tight. The head is held at an angle so that the water runs by itself in through one nostril and out of the other.

The process is repeated with the other nostril.

Rest and Food

When you have cleansed and dried the nose, done the exercises again, been to the toilet, and gotten the final water out, then lie down and rest for 45 minutes. You should not sleep but just lie and relax, maybe while listening to some pleasant music.

This period is the only opportunity that the digestive system (including the pancreas and liver) ever gets to really rest, because only when the intestines are completely empty, do digestive nerve impulses and glandular secretions stop. In this short time, the internal organs are able to revitalize themselves and when the rest period is finished the practitioner eats a simple meal of khichari (rice boiled with lentils and ghee).

Dr. Swami Shankaradevananda Saraswati
Yogic Management of Asthma and Diabetes

The aforementioned meal, consisting of rice, lentils, and ghee (clarified butter, the clear oil from heated butter) helps the digestive process start again in a gentle and balanced way. Eat plenty. Do not drink water and do not take a bath for the next four hours. Thereafter, only drink warm water for the rest of the day.

Take it easy until bedtime. You can take a walk in the fresh air, but don't do anything strenuous.

The Diet

What does one eat after the intestinal cleanse?
A diet is observed after the intestinal cleanse, including mild and easily digestible food, such as boiled grains (rice, pasta without egg, etc.), boiled or steamed vegetables and legumes (for instance beans or lentils). This protects the digestive system and gives the body time to stabilise the effect of the intestinal cleanse.

What does one avoid eating?
During the first ten days, the following things are to be refrained from: Coffee, tea, sugar, honey, chocolate, all varieties of sweets, tobacco and also medicine that is not absolutely necessary. Vegetables such as onions and leeks, raw vegetables and also spices are to be avoided, as well as all forms of fruit and dairy products.

Meat, fish, eggs and alcohol are not consumed for forty days.

Choice of content and preparation of the diet.
If you are in doubt as to what you can eat during the diet period, ask yourself whether you would give it to a baby. If you wouldn't, then don't eat it until after the diet.

A diet of boiled vegetables and grains may sound boring, but you can make interesting food by using your imagination. After a couple of days, you can begin to season the food with a small amount of herbs, but not strong spices, such as chili, curry, ginger and the like.

Organic vegetables are preferred.

Intestinal cleanse at the Scandinavian Yoga & Meditation School
At our city schools and weekend retreats, we end the intestinal cleanse by going through the diet. When joining a longer retreat at Håå Retreat Center, you will be served the proper food, so you don’t have to think about the diet yourself.

The body has regained its original sensitivity
After the diet period, bear in mind the body's increased sensitivity. You may not feel the same need for stimulants like coffee or sugar. Pay attention to the body's signals. After the intestinal cleanse, it is easier than at other times to change one's eating habits. It can also be a good time to stop smoking, as many lose the desire for the smoke following the process.

Laghoo Shankhaprakshalana – The small intestinal cleanse

There is also a shorter version of the interstinal cleanse. It can be used as part of a special treatment, for example by people suffering from diabetes. In this case, it is done every morning for forty days, following the full intestinal cleanse.

It is simpler because there is no diet to observe afterwards, and only six to eight glasses of saltwater are consumed. The same exercises as in the full Shankhaprakshalana are done after every second glass.

The little intestinal cleanse is done in the morning on an empty stomach. In contrast to the full intestinal cleanse, which is normally done only once or twice a year, the small one can be done as often as necessary.

Since the foundation of the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School in 1970, roughly 50.000 people have done Shankhaprakshalana with us — in our different city schools, and on our retreats Many people have done it more than once.

"Yoga hospitals" can be found in in India, where people with various psychosomatic illnesses, such as asthma and even diabetes, are treated. Common to them all is that medicine is not used in the treatment; it consists entirely of yoga techniques.

The Yogic Treatment-cum-Research Center in Jaipur, Rajasthan in India was founded by Swami Anandananda, where he collaborated with a team of doctors. A group of yoga teachers from the Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School visited Swami Anandananda in 1973.

The treatment at the institution in Jaipur consisted of intestinal cleanse, followed up by various yoga programmes and supplemented with the small intestinal cleanse, which was done as often as necessary with regard to the patients needs. With these simple forms of treatment, diabetes (especially type II diabetes) and asthma patients experienced a noticeable improvement, if not full recovery.

A surgeon in Cologne, Germany, heard about the intestinal cleanse from a colleague who had tried it on one of our courses. He became so interested in trying the technique on his patients prior to their operations, that he invited one of our yoga teachers to Cologne. Normally, the doctors would use a method where the patient would sit on a special chair with a hole in the seat, and put a stomach pump in them. In this way, the intestines were rinsed with a saline solution. It is a harsh treatment to say the least. The first one to do the intestinal cleanse was a 75 year old woman. The doctor was very surprised to find how easy, with the help of the exercises, the water passed through her system. He was even more surprised the following day during the operation, when he discovered that her entire alimentary canal was completely clean - no particles could be found even in the folds of the intestines.

A cure for gallstones
– a personal experience of an effective method – by Laxmi

When I experienced gallstone pain, I went to the hospital to confirm the diagnosis. They scheduled me for an ultrasound scan and advised me to arrange a date for surgery afterward. However, I told them I would only proceed with surgery if it was absolutely necessary. First, I wanted to try an old-fashioned oil therapy to attempt to pass the stones naturally.

When I experienced gallstone pain, I went to the hospital to confirm the diagnosis. They scheduled me for an ultrasound scan and advised me to arrange a date for surgery afterward. However, I told them I would only proceed with surgery if it was absolutely necessary. First, I wanted to try an old-fashioned oil therapy to attempt to pass the stones naturally.

When I experienced gallstone pain, I went to the hospital to confirm the diagnosis. They scheduled me for an ultrasound scan and advised me to arrange a date for surgery afterward. However, I told them I would only proceed with surgery if it was absolutely necessary. First, I wanted to try an old-fashioned oil therapy to attempt to pass the stones naturally.

When I experienced gallstone pain, I went to the hospital to confirm the diagnosis. They scheduled me for an ultrasound scan and advised me to arrange a date for surgery afterward. However, I told them I would only proceed with surgery if it was absolutely necessary. First, I wanted to try an old-fashioned oil therapy to attempt to pass the stones naturally.

When I came home to the yoga school I did the intestinal cleanse. It took a little longer than usual, as I couldn't do the exercises thoroughly due to the pain, it felt as if there was a knife just below the ribcage on the right side. After the intestinal cleanse, I rested for an hour as usual, and then – instead of the food – I drank a litre of olive oil. I managed to drink the oil by thinking about the operation I was avoiding and the two week stay in the hospital afterwards. Since then, I have heard that it is sufficient with two decilitres of oil.

The next couple of hours I needed to rest again, so that the oil could work in peace. I lay on my right side and waited for the gallstones to come out. I went to the toilet a few times, but only oil and slime came out. At one point I gave up waiting, and ate the food and took it easy for the rest of the day.

The next morning, when I went to the toilet, a large green gallstone and thirty smaller ones came out, and the pain was gone!

What a relief! Gallstones emitted by a participant on a 14 days retreat at Haa Retreat Center, after a session of intestinal cleansing and oil treatment.
________

The time had come for a close examination before the operation. I took the small grass-green stones in a glass to the hospital and told them what I had done and that there was no longer any pain. The scan showed that there were no more stones left. The doctor's conclusion was, "you can't just go home and remove the gallstones yourself, so there has probably been a misdiagnosis from the start." The slightly elder doctor, who performed the ultra-sound examination said to me in all confidence that research was being carried out on the effect of fatty acids on gallstones.

This all happened thirteen years ago, and I haven't had any more stones since. I have done the treatment quite a few times just to be on the safe side, but only green liquid from the gallbladder comes out. Naturally, I do yoga exercises that keep the gallbladder and the other digestive organs in form. Other teachers and students who have tried the treatment at our Scandinavian Yoga and Meditation School have had equally good results from it.

A similar oil therapy is used by some holisic health practitioners. My late grandmother removed her gallstones by drinking double cream and melted butter.

This yogic gallstone therapy should only be done under guidance of an experienced yoga teacher.