Jal neti, and the six shatkarmas

Of all the practices in traditional hatha yoga, jal neti is the one that startles people most. Pouring salt water in one nostril and letting it run out of the other sounds, the first time you hear it, like something you would only do on a dare.

It is also, in a monsoon country, one of the most useful things in the whole repertoire. What follows is how we teach it, and one safety rule that matters more than all the rest of this article put together.

What the shatkarmas are

The shatkarmas — shat, six, and karma, action — are six groups of cleansing practices described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika of the fifteenth century and the Gheranda Samhita of the seventeenth. In the traditional order of things they come first: clean the body, then work with the breath, then sit.

• Neti — cleansing the nasal passages, with water or with a soft thread.
• Dhauti — cleansing the digestive tract, from the tongue at the mild end to swallowing a strip of cloth at the extreme one.
• Basti — cleansing the lower bowel with water.
• Nauli — churning the abdominal muscles in a rolling wave, a massage of the organs done with nothing but the belly.
• Kapalabhati — the sharp exhalations that clear the front of the head. We have a separate guide to kapalabhati.
• Trataka — steady gazing, usually at a candle flame, until the eyes water.

Two honest notes. First, several of these are serious practices that need a teacher in the room and are not suitable for self-experiment from a web page — the swallowed cloth and the water enema in particular. Second, almost nobody needs all six. In fifteen years of teaching, the two I actually teach most students are neti and kapalabhati.

What jal neti is

Jal means water. You fill a small pot with a long spout — a neti pot, sold in every second shop in Fort Kochi — with warm salt water, tilt your head, and let the water run in one nostril and out of the other. Gravity does the work.

Outside yoga the same thing is called nasal irrigation, and doctors recommend it routinely for sinus congestion and allergies. It is the one shatkarma that has quietly become mainstream medicine.

What it is for, in a yoga hall: a nose that is actually clear. Pranayama through a blocked nostril is a frustrating business, and alternate nostril breathing in particular asks that both sides work.

The water rule, which is not optional

This is the part to read twice.

Never use water straight from the tap. Tap water is treated to be safe to swallow, which is not the same as being safe to put in your nose. Stomach acid kills the organisms that survive in treated water; the nasal passages do not.

The organism this rule exists for is Naegleria fowleri, an amoeba which is harmless to drink and almost always fatal if it reaches the brain through the nose. Two people in Louisiana died this way in 2011 after rinsing with tap water, and the United States Food and Drug Administration has advised on neti pot water ever since.

Use one of these:

• Distilled or sterile water, bought as such.
• Boiled water — a rolling boil for three to five minutes, then cooled to lukewarm. Keep it covered and use it within a day.
• Filtered water, through a filter fine enough to trap protozoa. An ordinary jug filter is not.

In India, where many of our students arrive already careful about drinking water, the thing to watch is the moment of inattention: the tap in the bathroom is right there and the kettle is downstairs. Boil it the night before and leave it covered.

The salt, and the temperature

Plain water in the nose stings badly. Salt at roughly the concentration of your own tissue fluid does not, which is the whole point of the salt.

• How much. About half a level teaspoon of salt to 240 ml of water — a standard cup. A slightly stronger solution is sometimes used for a very blocked nose, but start here.
• Which salt. Non-iodised: rock salt or plain sea salt. Iodised table salt and anything with anti-caking agents will irritate.
• How warm. Body temperature. Test it on the inside of your wrist the way you would a baby's bottle. Cold water is unpleasant and hot water is worse.
• A pinch of bicarbonate of soda softens the sting further, if you find it stings at all.

If it burns, the mix is wrong — usually too little salt. If it tastes strongly of salt and the nose feels dried out afterwards, there is too much.

How to do it

Drying matters more than people expect. Water left sitting in the sinuses is the usual cause of the dripping nose an hour later that puts beginners off the practice for good.

If water runs into your throat, the head is tipped too far back. If nothing comes out of the other side, that side is blocked — do not push; do the open side, and try again tomorrow.

How often, and when

In the morning, before pranayama, on an empty stomach. Most people do it daily for a period and then drop back to a few times a week, or use it when congested.

There is a reasonable argument against doing it every day indefinitely: the nose has its own mucus layer doing a job, and some ENT surgeons suspect very frequent long-term rinsing washes away protective factors along with the congestion. The research on this is thin and disputed. Our practical position is that daily during a congested stretch is clearly fine, and daily forever, when your nose is perfectly clear anyway, is a solution looking for a problem.

Do not do it immediately before going out into cold air, and do not do it right before breathing practice if the nose has not been properly dried.

Who should leave it alone

Skip jal neti, or ask a doctor first, if you have:

• An ear infection, or a blocked ear, or a perforated eardrum.
• Recent surgery on the nose, sinuses or ears.
• Frequent nosebleeds.
• A completely blocked nose that water will not pass through. Forcing it is how you push fluid where it should not go.
• Any structural problem a doctor has already told you about, such as a badly deviated septum.

Children can do it, but with a parent and a smaller pot, and not because it is good for them in the abstract.

The other five, briefly

For completeness, and so you know what you are hearing about if a teacher mentions them:

Dhauti ranges from the entirely ordinary to the advanced. Scraping the tongue is dhauti, and so is kunjal kriya, drinking a quantity of salt water and bringing it back up. The latter is done in some schools during teacher training and is not something to try alone.

Basti in the classical form draws water into the colon using nauli and abdominal pressure. A modern enema is its descendant. It is rarely taught now.

Nauli is the rolling of the abdominal muscles, and it is genuinely impressive to watch. It takes months, it requires uddiyana bandha first, and it should be skipped in pregnancy, with hernia, or with any serious abdominal condition.

Kapalabhati is counted here as a cleansing practice rather than a pranayama, because its purpose is to clear rather than to regulate. It has its own guide, including who should not do it.

Trataka is steady gazing at a candle flame until the eyes water, then closing them and holding the after-image. It is the gentlest of the six and a genuinely good bridge into sitting practice for people whose minds will not settle.

Where it fits

The shatkarmas are preparation. They are not the practice, and a school that makes a great deal of them is usually selling something. In a traditional class the order is simple: clear the body, breathe, move, rest. Neti belongs at the very start of that, on the days you need it.

We teach it in the teacher training, where there is time to do it together and correct the head angle, and to anyone in a daily class who asks — which, in the monsoon months, is most people. If you are in Fort Kochi and want to be shown once rather than read about it, ask before or after class and bring your pot.

Common questions

Is jal neti safe?

Yes, with one condition: the water must be distilled, sterile, or boiled for three to five minutes and cooled. Tap water is not safe for the nose even where it is safe to drink, because organisms that stomach acid would kill can survive in the nasal passages. Beyond the water, avoid it with an ear infection, a perforated eardrum, recent nasal surgery or frequent nosebleeds.

What water and salt should I use for a neti pot?

Distilled, sterile, or previously boiled and cooled water, at body temperature, with about half a level teaspoon of non-iodised salt per 240 ml. Rock salt or plain sea salt; not iodised table salt. A pinch of bicarbonate of soda reduces any stinging.

How often should you do jal neti?

Daily while you are congested, and a few times a week otherwise. Doing it every day indefinitely when your nose is already clear has no particular benefit, and some ENT specialists suspect long-term daily rinsing washes away useful mucus along with the congestion.

Does jal neti help sinusitis and allergies?

Saline nasal irrigation is recommended by doctors for chronic sinus congestion and allergic rhinitis, and it is one of the better-supported things in this whole area. It relieves symptoms; it does not cure an underlying allergy.

Why does the water sting?

Almost always too little salt. Salt at roughly the concentration of your own tissue fluid does not sting; plain water does. Check the mix, and check the temperature is close to body heat rather than cool.