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Ayurveda approach
Acne is caused by high pitta moving under the skin and breaking
out in pimples. It is best to pinpoint the cause so the acne can
be treated properly. For the case of too much sunlight or exposure
to chemicals, just avoid them.
Pitta provoking causes include:
- Emotional stress
- Premenstrual hormonal changes
- Exposure to chemicals
- Exposure to too much sunlight
- Bacteria infection
Ayurveda offers a few natural remedies for acne
and taken together, they can be effective in controlling acne.
To be applied on skin
· Healing paste:
Home made paste from the following can be applied to the skin
to effectively reduce acne:
You need:
Water
Chickpea flour, available from Indian grocery shops or natural
food store
And
Almond powder
Or
½ teaspoon Sandalwood powder
¼ teaspoon Tumeric powder
Goats milk
1. chickpea paste:
Mix 1 teaspoon of chickpea flour with sufficient water and make
into a paste.
Apply paste and wash your face with the paste. Rinse
off and apply either the almond paste or sandalwood paste.
2. almond paste:
Add water to almond powder to make a paste.
Apply on face until allow it to dry on your skin
for about 30 minutes. Then rinse off gently, do not peel.
3. sandalwood paste:
A healing remedy for the skin is a mix of sandalwood and tumeric
powder with goat’s milk. Your face will look a little yellow
due to the tumeric but only up to about 5 days to effectively
ease acne.
Take the sandalwood and tumeric powder, and blend
well with sufficient goat’s milk to make a paste.
Apply on your face, rinsing it off when it dries
up.
· Melon facial:
At bedtime, rub some melon on the affected skin gently and leave
it overnight. It’s cooling anti-pitta quality helps heal
the acne while making the skin soft.
To be taken orally
· Aloe vera juice:
Here’s a naturally soothing drink with excellent healing
properties.
Prescription:
Drink half a cup of pure aloe vera juice twice a day.
· Amalaki herbs:
Keep your colon clean and in order to remove toxins from your
body, take amalaki herb in powder form.
Prescription:
Take ½ to a teaspoon every day before sleeping.
Place on tongue and swallow with warm water.
· Cumin-coriander-fennel tea:
Made from common household herbs, this is a helpful and soothing
tea.
Preparation:
Steep 1/3 teaspoon of seeds from each herb in hot water for 10
minutes, strain and its ready for drinking.
Prescription:
Take three times a day after meals.
· The pitta-pacifying diet:
Since acne is a pitta condition, follow a pitta pacifying diet.
In your favour are rice, oatmeal and apple sauce. Avoid spicy
food, fried food, fermented food, salt and citrus fruits like
oranges and grapefruits.
· Pitta-pacifying herbs:
- kutki
- guduchi
- shatavari
These herbs are great for pacifying excess pitta
that causes acne.
Preparation:
Mix equal portions of these three herbs, best to start with 1
teaspoon of each.
Prescription:
Take ¼ teaspoon of the mixture 3 times a day after meals.
Place powder under the tongue, and swallow with warm water.
· Blue water:
This drink has a cooling and soothing effect.
Preparation:
You need some blue translucent paper or blue cellophane, available
from most art shops. Use it to cover a clear glass jar or bottle
of water and sun it for 2 hours.
Prescription:
Drink 1 to 3 cups of blue water every day.
To be included in exercise
or lifestyle
· Visualisation:
The old wife’s advice of ‘avoid looking at the mirror
to constantly check on the acne or pimple’ perhaps stems
from Ayurveda. Looking in the mirror too often would make you
feel bad about your acne, suggesting negativity to the healing
process. A positive exercise on the other hand is visualisation.
It is an effective way of relieving stress as the root cause of
acne is stress.
Close eyes, think of your acne clearing away and
now visualize that happening. Communicating with the tissues in
your skin as if they are coming out of your acne does work.
· Face relaxing exercise:
This exercise helps relax the muscles of the face and increases
the blood supply. Wash hands clean and dry them. To create some
warmth, rub hands together vigorously and place them over your
face for a few minutes.
Another way is to rub your palms until they become
warm. Then using just the centre of your palms, gently touch the
eyelashes. The eyelash is intensely charged with electric and
it takes the warmth and relieves the pitta under the skin that
is breaking out in the form of acne.
· Moon breathing exercise:
To reduce pitta, this cooling breathing exercise requires breathing
through the left nostril only for 5 to 10 minutes. Breathing through
only the right is heating. Cover the right with the thumb, and
breath as normal through the left. Do not force it if the nostril
is blocked. Just try again later.
· Yoga postures:
Try yoga asanas like the Lion Pose and the sequence of postures,
the Moon Salutation.
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