Haritaki powder is the powder of a fruit, also known as Kadukaai. It is a master herb in Ayurvedic healing and part of a common formula, Triphala (three fruits) which is most known for it’s gentle bowel cleaning support and tissue rejuvenation.
Swami Nithyananda recommends all Niraharis (those practicing Nirahara Samyama) take 1 tsp of haritaki each evening, as powder in the mouth. Nithyananda says in Haritaki – Nectar, the Spiritual Cleanser:
The oxygen level in the blood increases to 300{91e3a87ad9ed6049930b03d9fe747551ba377bfccbb87792dcbd747a78b99eec}. The whole stomach gets cleansed. That is one thing. The main thing is the whole blood becomes pure. 300{91e3a87ad9ed6049930b03d9fe747551ba377bfccbb87792dcbd747a78b99eec} oxygen means equivalent to 2 hours of Pranayama.
The first time I participated in Nirahara Samyama, I didn’t have any strong reaction and although taking it as a powder is, well, very dry, I found that dumping the spoonful in the side of my mouth and quickly following it with water, and swishing the water around in my mouth, to work OK. I even found the aftertaste a bit sweet.
This time around however, the taste has been quite astringent and hard to take and, consequently I haven’t been too consistent on taking it every day. I had actually been taking 1/2 Tablespoon the week before I started the July Nirahara Samyama and checked the notes to see how much to take.
Today I took just 1 teaspoon around 11am, because I wanted it to do any work before the evening when I had to go out and I had missed taking it for a few days. And it did kick in about 2.30pm as we were picking up my son from summer school. I had to use the restroom before coming home and had quite a clean out and when home, was in the bathroom for some time.
And cramps started. I don’t want to scare people from using it, but that was my reality this time around! The cramps were very sharp, a bit like birthing cramps, but shorter and sharper.
I told a friend about it who had started taking haritaki after researching it, (she has not done the Nirahara Samyama) and she had cramps, but really liked the cleaning out and detoxing that was occurring, so she stuck with it. She said, “Haritaki did such great stuff to my body so far, really good for skin, hair, lungs and all else.”
This time, she told me:
“That is what Haritaki does, it has to scrape the accumulated dirt from your intestinal walls and gets the flukes and bugs out and that is the reason you only take Haritaki at night before going to bed, so you don’t feel the cramps after you fall asleep. I used to go to bed, and placing a hand on my belly saying ‘I love you’ as cramps would come since I took Haritaki and then stayed up a bit.”
I drank a lot of water, rested on the bed between cramps. It was so similar to birthing, and the cramps made you totally present! It lasted for about 4 hours. I wondered if some nasty worm was fighting its expulsion or some such similar parasitical battle was happening in my bowels.
Although I had felt some mild nausea, I wondered if having some strained soup would help so I warmed that up and strained it, and had a cramp in the kitchen.
My husband–who surely didn’t get what I was going through–when he complained about the things I left in the bathroom and that I couldn’t take our son to his meeting, I had an outburst at him. So perhaps haritaki helps with emotional purging too!
During the pain, I also retrieved my Natural Action Technologies portable unit and pointed it at my tummy and intended healing and restoration of balance. I fell asleep with the unit next to my pillow.
My advice regarding haritaki powder? Take 1 teaspoon in the evening for sure! Stick with it and if you happen to get cramping the first day, reduce the amount by half and take that for 3 days and then increase the amount to 3/4 teaspoon for 3 days.
What I did on Day 6 Nirahara Samyama:
– Day 3 of 7 day on Liquids
Drink or Eat
Structured Water and DE Structured Water
Neem leaf powder (1/4 tsp w/ 1/4 tsp structured water)
Haritaki powder (1 tsp w/ 1 tsp structured water)
Mix of juices: Suja berry, probiotic lemon, carrot juice
I do think that haritaki, as a cleanser, surely affected my emotions. My outburst at my husband was pretty intense and I was then able to talk to him the next day about the issues it represented. Swami Nithyananda does suggest doing a completion process while going through Nirahara Samyama. This process is called SAMSKARA DHAHANA KRIYA and you can hear him teach about it on the video: Technique to Burn the Root of Suffering
For an introduction to the Nirahara Samyama process, read the first post of this diary here. For all the posts in this series, go here: Nirahara Samyama Diary July 2015
