Don’t Touch My Neti Pot! The Ancient Practice of Nasal Cleansing
A dry heave would probably be the appropriate reaction from a person witnessing for the first time the ancient practice of nasal cleaning. While it’s not a particularly pleasant event for a bystander, a good nasal cleansing session can lead to sighs of relief (out of both nostrils!) for the doer of the deed. Though nasal cleansing has been a technique used by yogis and Ayurvedic practitioners for ages, today it is an often recommended remedy by doctors for treating environmentally induced sinus and allergy problems and other respiratory ailments.
Since mouth breathers are a bit discriminated against in yoga class, the benefit of nasal cleansing for stuffy yogis is clear. With allergy season just around the corner, if you haven’t ever felt the relief that comes from sticking a neti pot in your nose and feeling the salty water drain out the other nostril, you should seriously consider it to the alternative of popping more pills.
So, if you’re interested, you may be wondering what you need to do to get started. There’s really not much. It’s pretty simple actually. You may want to buy a neti pot, but that’s not even necessary. Many ear, nose and throat doctors suggest using a baby bulb syringe for getting the water into the nose. You can’t get much cheaper. If you decide to go the bulb syringe route, the only other thing you will need is a glass jar to put a homemade saline solution in. While you can buy individual pre-measured packets of saline, here’s a homemade recipe that my sister got from her doctor.
The recipe:
- Carefully clean and rinse a 1-quart jar. Fill the clean jar with tap water or bottled water. You do not need to boil the water.
- Add one level teaspoon of non-iodized (”pickling”) salt. DO NOT use table salt. Table salt has unwanted additives. You can ask for pickling salt at the grocery store.
- Add one level teaspoon of baking soda (pure bicarbonate).
- Stir or shake before each use. Store at room temperature. After one week pour out any mixture that is left over and make a new recipe.
Once you have your mixture ready, all you have to do is squirt one to two syringes of solution per nostril and let it drain into the sink or tub. Check out this clip to watch a demonstration on how to properly perform a nasal cleanse using a neti pot. The same technique can be applied if you use a bulb syringe.
Here are some of the benefits you can expect from using this solution:
- Rinsing your nose with the salt water and baking soda solution washes crusts (gross) and other debris from your nose.
- Salty water pulls fluid out of swollen membranes. Washing the inside of the nose decongests it and improves airflow. Not only does it make breathing easier, but it helps open the sinus passages.
- Studies show that this mixture of concentrated salt water and baking soda helps the nose membrane to work better and move mucus out of the nose faster.
While the above recommendations have worked for me, there are a lot of websites with even more information on nasal cleansing that you may find useful. Check out the following links for more information.
Wow, thanks for this! I’m grateful for your clear explanation and for all the links.
My husband and I have been doing this nasal cleansing for about three months now, but without a neti pot because I couldn’t find one. We just use a small milkjug. We lean over the bath and pour the solution into one nostril, remain upside down for about a minute, and then blow it clear.
We’ve both had sinus infections (strongly coloured mucus) for ages, and antibiotics don’t help. The nasal cleansing really does bring relief. It seems to be the only way we can keep the sinusitis under control and avoid pain. However, it hasn’t actually cleared the infection (yet?).
I mentioned the nasal cleansing to the doctor who gave me the antibiotics and she had never heard of it. She warned me that salt was an irritant. However, when I tried to use just plain water, it was far too hard - lots of burning and tears and spluttering!
I notice you say that it’s not necessary to boil the water. I usually do, although I let it cool a bit, obviously. I find that it’s much easier to do the cleansing with warm water than with cold. We’ve never put the bicarb in, so I’ll add that now.
Thanks for the reminder to use my neti pot! I have one, but need to make a daily habit of using it. I cut the Allegra-D out of my life this year. I don’t miss it so far and I work in a 90-year old, stinky, moldy, crusty middle school filled with adolescent germ machines. I never thought I’d be able to go without my “Daily D.”
Ahhhh….Sigh….through my nose of course.
I was told that it is better to do the neti pot a little after getting up, not first thing in the morning. Another yogi told me that in my YTT.
The light hearted tone to your blog is so great - I totally appreciate it.
I also want to thank you for inspiring me to try using WordPress for my new blog. I’m in a messy state now making the switch…but I wanted to learn all these added features.
Well, I think I’ll go for a little nasal cleansing right now.
I realize I’m a bit late, but I just wanted to chime in for anyone reading this in the future. I’ve been using nasal lavage for several years now (I think since I was pregnant four years ago.) I’ve never used a Neti pot- heck, when I am really desperate and don’t have even a cup, I just put saline in my (clean) hand and snort it up my nose. Not pleasant, but it does the trick. I also use a bulb syringe or a medicine syringe, whichever is clean and available.
What I really wanted to point out is that my doctor (a board certified internist and pediatrician) not only recommends nasal lavage, but her office actually has little kits already made up (a squirt bottle and a recipe similar to above) to hand out to patients with sinus problems. I don’t really get the doctor mentioned in the other comment- your body is saline, your tears are saline…unless you put in tons of salt, it won’t irritate your body……..
[...] you run out to buy your own - here’s a link to another blog where you can learn [...]
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
[...] Here is a great blog post from a really cool blogger at Daily Cup of Yoga. [...]
I’ll join the chorus (late) on the neti pot. I’ve been using one daily for years now and it’s allowed me to go without any medications for seasonal allergies. Better than that, I breath clearer (out of both nostrils!) than I ever have.
For convenience and ease of use, I think it’s worth picking up a neti pot. They’re cheap and locally available. I picked up a stainless steel pot, and I use it in the shower each morning. Toss in a tbsp of non-iodized coarse kosher salt, and I use it in the shower.