THE WILLIS PROTOCOLS: NETI POT OR JALANETI
by Carol Willis, MA

(C) Copyright by Carol Willis, 2004-2005. All rights Reserved.

[Permission is granted to forward this article only in its entirety to individual friends. Please request permission of a list owner before posting it to an e-list. Please write for author's permission before publishing it to a website or hardcopy periodical. cbwillis@lightlink.com ]

["The Willis Protocols" are a series of thematic articles on natural healing and wellness, documenting what has worked for me over the years, together with my notes on underlying fundamentals and rationale. Disclaimer: I am NOT a doctor. The following should be taken as the speculative writing of a layman and personal history only. - CBW]

RAVE FOR NETI

After using the neti pot for one year now, I can say that using the neti pot for non-force saline sinus lavage is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

The neti pot is used in ayurvedic and yogic purification and hygiene practices. Use of the neti not only cleanses the sinuses but acts on many levels of one's system including the nervous system and spiritual awareness.

What benefits from the neti do I notice most after one year? The neti is excellent for sinus lavage - certain, thorough, and entirely non-force, in contrast to methods such as old-fashioned snuffling of salt water, spraying saline solution, or water pic sorts of equipment. When I first started using the neti, I thought I might have a SINUS infection. Within one week of using the neti, I felt out of the woods on the sinus infection and have not had a sense of recurrence.

I use the neti twice a week after a shower/shampoo, more often if I feel like I may be coming down with respiratory bug (2x a day then). I had read that regular neti users claim that neti has prevented COLDS and FLU. I suspended judgement until I had a chance to get more experience firsthand. I now believe this to be a valid claim. I have other bug protocols that are effective at least 80% of the time for heading off respiratory bugs, but I have to say I'm at least as impressed with the neti as anything else I use for the purpose, and if the neti is used in conjunction with my other methods, the combination is nearly foolproof. I say nearly, because I haven't found any exceptions so far, though I suppose it could happen. Either method or both together is certainly better than catching every bug that comes around, or every other bug, or even one bug a year! Much greater freedom from bugs and less fear of the environment and what's in it - these are very good results!

I'm in it for the freedom :-)

Speaking of freedom, since the first day of using the neti, I have experienced more CLARITY OF MIND and SPIRIT, sense of SPACIOUSNESS, APPRECIATION of simplicity and cleanliness, greater physical stability generally, and a resulting sense of EMOTIONAL peace.

I've also experienced CLEAR EYES on the day of using the neti. I suspect that some redness in the whites of the eye has less to do with allergens or tiredness than to do with sinus congestion, irritation and possibly subclinical sinus infection. So there is also a BEAUTY element to the neti.

HOW I USE THE NETI

Here is how I use the neti, as I found it didn't work exactly "as advertised" for me. Water did not always flow freely in one side and out the other as shown in neti illustrations. Actually, it rarely does this for me under any circumstances. I had to find my own workarounds and unconventional ways of doing neti. Hopefully by my sharing my process, others will get a better feel for the essentials and how to adapt for themselves.

MATERIALS needed: neti pot, non-iodized salt, warm water, sink, box of tissues, wet wrung-out washcloth.

(Note: Ladies, plan to put any face cream and/or make-up on AFTER doing the neti, not before!)

The advertised method of neti has you bend over a sink and tilt your head to one side, start pouring water in one nostril, breathing through your mouth slowly, and the water comes out the other nostril. Alternate sides til done. The Norwegian blonde in the rhino horn demo advertisement looks so sexy, you figure this is going to be easy. Well good luck! :-)

Most people would expect to use a bathroom sink for sanitary and aesthetic reasons, however I've found I need the space and height of a clean and spacious kitchen SINK, and I clean the sink again afterward. A kitchen countertop is the perfect height for resting your arm(s) and stabilizing yourself while you're doing neti, while bathroom sinks and counters are much lower and more awkward, but may work best for children.

Which neti pot? My favorite is a 16 oz stainless steel neti pot, which is light and unbreakable. There is a school of thought that says you need to do 16 oz of water for a proper neti, so if your neti is only 8 oz, you'll need to fill it twice. Many neti pots are ceramic. Sooner or later, a ceramic pot will break, so save yourself the heartbreak and just get yourself an unbreakable neti. A neti pot costs around $20 and is one of the best investments you will ever make. See Resources below. Though neti's are of course washable, each person in the family will likely want their own neti, like a personal toothbrush.

What kind of SALT should you use? You're going to be making a comfortably warm saline (salt) solution for use in the neti. Some neti's even come with sea salt. I would recommend against sea salt due to impurities in the ocean. Also, do NOT use iodized salt. The ideal salt for neti is a NON-iodized plain salt, which costs about 50 cents a box at the grocery store and will last you very long time. I use 1/4 t. salt for an 8 oz. neti pot, or 1/2 t. salt for a 16 oz. neti pot. Put the salt in the pot, and add warm water.

What kind of water? You can use various kinds of purified water. However I just use warm tap water. This tap water does not smell of chlorine, I've had no problems with it for neti, and it's very convenient.

What temperature of water? The final solution is like bathwater - it should be warm but not overly warm. There should never be a sense that the water is burning the inside of your nose. Better a bit too cool than too warm. You will learn by experience how to get just the right warmth. Because I'm using tap water, I can readily adjust the temperature of the water. I begin with overly warm water, just a bit to dissolve the salt quickly. When salt is dissolved (and you can see the dissolution of the salt in a stainless steel neti pot), add more water to nearly fill the pot to desired temperature.

How much time to allow for neti? Elapsed time from gathering your materials, making the saline solution, doing neti, and cleaning up is about 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes the first time. You may be able to get it down to closer to 5 minutes with experience, but neti is something to enjoy and experience fully, not rush through, so give yourself the time. Make time for neti.

Before beginning the neti, blow the nose gently and wipe with a tissue, to clear space as much as you easily can for a free flow of water from the neti. Everything about the neti process is gentle, gentle, gentle. Persons in the habit of blowing their nose hard can cultivate an alternate gentle approach for doing neti.

NETI PROCESS. I bend over the sink, rest my forearms on the counter ledge, turn my head to the side, and begin breathing very slowly through my mouth. Place the neti spout against the higher nostril, and allow water to begin flowing into the nose and sinuses. There should be no salt water entering the mouth. If water enters the mouth, tilt your head farther forward until water does not enter the mouth. This is about the right position for neti. You can also tip your head slightly more forward at times to get water higher up into the sinuses.

Focus on very slow, deep breathing. Use the breath to help you, to ground and stabilize the process, even make clearing more pervasive on all levels. I like to think of the neti process as layered, the bottom layer being slow deep breathing, and the top layer being water flowing through the sinuses. (Sometimes it feels like the breath is going all the way to the lower back area. There may be an instinctive sense of gentle motion and swaying to the hips. This feels very stabilizing, grounding, and blissful and I find it helps move energy throughout the whole system. I have not heard about this elsewhere, but am sharing my own experience
here.)

Many people have some degree of deviated septum. It is really a question of degree of deviation from ideal norm. Because of this deviation, and because of matter in the nose and sinuses, water may not flow in one nostril and out the other as shown in neti illustrations. Don't worry about this. If you're getting water into the nose and sinuses, and alternating sides, it will drain out and cleanse the nose and sinus area.

Now you're flowing water into the top nostril. If water is not flowing freely out the other side, and it seems no more water will go in, I stop and *gently* snort out the water. After that I'll *gently* blow the nose. Then reverse sides for more neti. Repeat. Alternate sides til out of water. If you have an 8 oz neti, you may wish to refill and go again for a more thorough cleanse. I'll usually go through 4-6 tissues in the process. After you're done, you'll probably want to towel off your face with the wet washcloth.

(Note, you may have a funny smell in the nose for 1-2 hours after neti. This is common, nothing be concerned about. I don't know what causes this, whether it's the salt in the water, whether certain smell receptors get liberated from gunk, or the gunk has bacteria which is somehow perceptible through the sense of smell as toxic, or all of the above.)

OK ladies, now is the time to put on your moisturizer and make-up, or night cream, if you're going to do so.

How often to use the neti? As mentioned previously, I use it twice a week after a shower/shampoo, unless I feel a bug threatening in which case I use it daily or twice a day. Some people would say use it daily on general principles. I happen to prefer morning for maintenance use, however I'm not sure that it matters. If a person tends to get stuffed nose at night, they may want to use it before going to bed. Neti does affect the nervous system however, so if you're a person who has trouble sleeping, you may want to avoid neti at bedtime. Do not OVER-use the neti. More is not necessarily better! Do experiment to see what works best for you. Practitioners of meditation may want to do neti just before meditation as a preparatory purification and to enhance the experience of clarity and spaciousness.

Now a word for first timers and those with trepidations about doing neti. One session will convince you! In the meantime, here is some coaching. You're breathing through your mouth, so you always have air. You're breathing very slowly and deeply, so you're in control of the process. You're tilted far enough forward so that water is not going into your mouth. Know that you can always stop the process at any time and gently snort out any excess water. So you're prepared for all contingencies. You're in control. You will feel so good after one session that you'll wonder why you ever waited or hesitated, and where has neti been all my life anyhow?

MY RESOURCES

Jalaneti info: http://www.healthandyoga.com/html/neti/jalanetiinfo.html

Stainless steel coated 16 oz. neti pot: http://www.healthandyoga.com/sinus.html

Nutraceutic has "Rhino Horn" plastic 8 oz neti pots from Norway: http://www.nutraceutic.com/Products/Yoga/Neti/therhinohorn.htm

Carol Willis
cbwillis@lightlink.com
January 30, 2004

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