The Yoga of Oil Pulling
We attended a conference in Oxfordshire some years ago and one of the guest speakers delivered a snappily titled – 10 steps to Wellness presentation. We could see on the worktop at the front, an enchanting array of raw foods, plant based ingredients, herbs, spices, superfoods, mixers, blenders, utensils, spring water and other nutritional delights.
What’s the thing?
Soon the question was posed: What is the thing? The first thing and most effective treatment you should do upon waking up in the morning? Audience responses came forth; Hydrate yourself! Drink a glass of water. Check your Whatsapp. Breathing Exercises. Stretch & do Yoga Sun salutations, Surya Namaskar…. and so on
But what was item number one? Turns out, on that day, in that room, none of the above. Remarkably it was Oil pulling!
Wellness Fads
Now whilst this may be new news to some, over recent years there has been a wide spread wellness fad championing the technique of oil pulling. A technique that is thousands of years old, coming from the same place that developed and gifted us Yoga – India of course.
There’s been lots of Instagram, Blogging & You Tube experts offering all sorts of wisdom on the technique. The interesting thing for most people and what ultimately leads to true behavioural change in our daily lives with any new (to us) idea, turns out to be the following.
Changing Yourself!
Is the new action being recommended; sustainable, convenient, easy and can we readily integrate it into our busy lives, without having to sacrifice time (which we don’t have too much of) or special equipment?
And the answer is ….maybe – if we are savvy and play it smart. So let’s make a start.
Are you in or out?
If you listen to the many explanations on using, for example, Coconut Oil for Oil Pulling – then the guidance is – you should oil-pull for 20 Minutes. Wow a full 1200 seconds … and that’s the point when many onlookers considering Oil Pulling, in true Dragons Den style, declare: I’m out!
So to achieve a change and incorporate this new action into our daily life we might need to find a more savvy, ancient wisdom meets modern high tech, time sensitive option. Something that gets the job done more efficiently and yet is still 100% efficacious.
Tooth Oil to the Rescue
One unique solution combining the best of this ancient Ayurvedic technique with modern high tech, is a Tooth Oil which rather then relying on one ingredient (i.e. coconut) relies on over 20 bio-available active ingredients, to get the job done.
Imagine, it’s similar to either having just one instrument doing the job or a whole orchestra at work with each ingredient attending to different requirements – and hence – the oil pulling effect can be achieved in 3-5 minutes (during the morning shower or 1stgoogle of the day) rather then 20 minutes which for many means “mission impossible!”
Daily Detox
But why is it Item 1 on the 10 steps to Wellness presentation, what is actually being achieved by Oil Pulling.
Different to using a Tooth Brush to ‘scratch and abrade” the teeth in the morning, we came to understand why Oil pulling removes all the toxins thrown into the oral cavity overnight and cleanses teeth, mouth & gums. Not just teeth, and is thereby a valuable technique to detox our overall body function, bit by bit, day by day, gently.
The Story so Far
Basically when we sleep all the body’s organs, rebalance, recalibrate & throw-off toxins and when we awake in the morning all bright and breezy (you know how that feels!), we all rush to the bathroom to ‘get rid’ of those toxins during our morning ablutions.
Also we might blow our nose, rub sleep from our eyes, naughtily cotton-bud our ears etc – but when it comes to the mouth, we often just, ‘give the teeth a good scratch’ with a tooth brush and paste and then head ‘downstairs’ to breakfast.
In so doing, we may end up ingesting & swallowing down all the toxins, microbes, bacteria the body has thrown into the oral cavity overnight (for removal) and then our liver & metabolism has to once again de-tox all these toxins. Hence the purpose of the early morning “Yoga of Oil Pulling” is to cleanse the oral cavity.
Oil pulling – can overcome this problem and help lighten the load the liver faces each day.
This particular Tooth oil is one which brings together the ancient and modern, it has Sesame as the base oil, as it is the most absorbent oil and a great ‘carrier” of the tooth oil’s constituents. For example, whilst Oil pulling, ingredients like Vitamin “E” (often difficult for the body to absorb) and anti-oxidants are carried into the connective tissue and gum pockets around the mouth.
Mother Nature’s Pharmacy
What’s more, conveniently it tastes great too with Japanese Mint, Peppermint & Menthol plus lots of other ingredients from Mother Nature’s Pharmacy, all known to be good for teeth, mouth & gums over 1,000’s of years. Synergistically they all work together.
So number 1 on the 10 steps to Wellness is a Daily detox via the ancient ayurvedic oil pulling technique and once you have removed the toxins you are good to go with some of the next steps, like steps 2-5.
2 – Ventilating Yourself – via early morning breathing exercise’s (includes a brisk walk)
3 – Achieving Yoga via Yoga Meditation ideally before your world wakes up.
4 – Hydrating Yourself by drinking some of your daily 1.5-2.0 litres of H2O
and so on…..
of course the later steps focused on what we are ingesting food wise and nutritionally via supplements and how preservative free and fresh these items might be?
5 – So Omega 3’s got a shout out – fish free of course – hence vegan.
For example, omega 3 with oil-soluble antioxidants combat the signs of aging with a smart strategy from nature and contribute to our supply of Omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin D.
The purely vegan Omega-3 fatty acids from the microalgae serve as cell building blocks and are believed to protect against cardiac disease. The highly effective antioxidants oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC), obtained from red grapeseed extract capture free radicals and possess anti-inflammatory properties. they are based on a 100% Freshness Philosophy.
Then the focus shifted onto specific menu options.
Highlighting the nutritional value of plant based foods, raw foods, super food ingredients, like turmeric, pepper, ginger, lemon and how these might be combined to produce effective nutritional outcomes….
The main thing is.
The main thing is. Start with one thing. One change = change and in the realm of behavioural changes, this for us humans is often the most difficult thing. We all know the old maxim: “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, so too it is with us. We are often (unconsciously) highly conditioned in how we think, act, behave and react. So getting us to try something new, well it’s an uphill struggle and the reason why the entire (A-I) Advertising Industry exists….just to get us to try something new, and maybe even feel good about it.
So keep smiling, and if you practice Yoga to cleanse & balance the subtle system, you might like to consider the “Yoga of Oil Pulling” to help cleanse the physical vessel too.