Want to improve your sleep quality without any stimulants? Try this Indian mysticism called Shirodhara.

In this day and age, in our busy, overbearing lives, 8 hours of sleep seems like an impossible feat to achieve. The adverse effects that sleep deprivation can have on one’s physical and mental health is much more intricate than one can comprehend. The food you eat, the exercise you put your body through ,and even the medications you take, all work in coherence and come to fruition only when your body gets adequate sleep.

There are various factors responsible for insomnia like stress, poor lifestyle, caffeine intake, and depression. But what is the science behind the disruption of sleep patterns? It’s simple. Just as you need to tune in to the right frequency to get a radio working, there is a certain frequency that keeps the brain in a calm and healthy state. If this frequency is altered, all kinds of mental and nervous health issues arise. Shirodhara is a technique that accurately calibrates this unhealthy brain wave frequency to the optimum level, the way you would adjust the knob on the radio to get to your desired radio channel. According to a research published in the journal of Ayurveda and integrative medicine, Shirodhara alleviates stress by reducing plasma cortisol levels. Shirodhara is also beneficial in treating migraine, epilepsy, hypertension, cervical spondylosis, eye, and ear disorders. Psychology diseases like dementia, schizophrenia, cerebral palsy, Bell’s palsy can also be cured with Shirodhara.

Procedure :

The patient is made to lay down in a supine position on a rimmed wooden massage table. Then using warm oil the patient is massaged all over the head, face, neck, and shoulders. A Wad of cotton, enough to cover the eyes, is placed over the eyelids and a strip of gauze is tied around the head over the eyebrows so the cotton wad stays in place and the oil doesn’t percolate and irritate the eyes. The ears are covered with cotton balls. A metal container preferably made of brass or copper is suspended just a couple of inches above the patient’s forehead with a help of a cord. Now the container is filled with warm medicated oil, just above the body temperature and as per the patient’s convenience. The stopcock of the container is adjusted so that a thin trail of the oil is running down through the aperture of the container and onto the forehead of the patient. The vessel should be kept oscillating sideways so the oil reaches both sides of the head. Variations can be made by targeting the crown of the head instead of the forehead, or reducing the trail of the oil to a dribble and centered only on the midpoint of the forehead. The oil that runs down the head is collected from under the massage table through a hole and reheated to reuse until the procedure is complete. The procedure is conventionally carried out in the mornings (around 7 a.m-10 a.m) for about 60 to 90 minutes. After the procedure is done the patient is advised to wipe the oil off the head and take a shower with warm water.

My personal experience with Shirodhara

After grappling with insomnia for 8 long years, switching physicians, and trying different line of treatments, I came across this mystical yet scientifically explicable technique called Shirodhara. Initially skeptical, as I wasn’t convinced that mere topical administration of herbal oils would make any difference, I still gave it a try. And it turned out to be a life-changing experience for me. The first three days of treatment didn’t show any visible improvements but on the fourth day, as I laid down to sleep at night, I felt a fuzzy feeling of a light trail of oil pouring over my forehead as if my body was reliving the procedure conducted in the mornings. As I was getting enchanted by this feeling I drifted off to sleep. It was a deep, dreamless sleep where I slept like a corpse. My sleep quality had improved at such an exponential rate that I could reap the advantages of 8 hours of sleep in a single hour.

Shirodhara- a passive meditation technique.

''Shiro'' means head and ''Dhara'' means a trail of any decoction (oil or buttermilk) of choice. Different ailments need different kinds of oils. It’s the physician who decides which combination of oils and herbs should be prescribed to the patient depending on the patient’s age, body type, nature, and extent of the disease. The feeling of serenity and rejuvenation that you attain by meditating diligently for months can be achieved within 21 days of Shirodhara. Albeit it involves the local application of oils but is deemed to give spectacular results.

Ayurveda- the way of life

Ayurveda is a classical and most ancient system of medicine in India and Shirodhara is one of the pillars of Ayurveda. Ayurveda dates back to 3000b.c and is believed to be the foundation over which modern medicine was built. In Ayurveda man is compared to the soil and any bacteria/virus entering the body to a seed. Here Ayurveda works towards boosting and strengthening the soil whereas modern medicine focuses on weakening the seed. In other words, Ayurveda is a holistic approach to strengthening the immune system and addressing the disease at the root level so it doesn’t recur. Considering the pandemic that we are dealing with in the present it is a palpable fact that Ayurveda will be the way of life in the days to come.