I'VE DONE SOME weird and wonderful things in my time and nasal irrigation, or jal neti, looks set to join the list. As I stand with my head tilted over a wash basin, about to pour a lukewarm saline solution up my right nostril and out through the left by means of a spout attached to a special neti pot (the size of a small mug), I wonder whether I'm going to survive the experience: death by drowning or by embarrassment. What kind of nasal nasties, I ask myself, is the water going to flush out?
Jal neti practitioner par excellence and founder of Sachananda Yoga Shala in Central, Kavita Khosa, who is talking me through the Indian technique, reassures me that I will live to see another day and helps me find the right position. The key, she advises, is not to inhale but to breathe through the mouth. The water goes up my right nasal passage, down the other and out of my left nostril in a steady and thankfully clear trickle. It takes a matter of minutes and feels a bit awkward but is not nearly as uncomfortable as I had imagined. And nothing scary comes out.
'The water has to be body temperature and its salinity the same as blood because you are putting it into your body and don't want to shock it,' explains Khosa. 'It's easy to make - just warm water and table salt - but if the solution is too salty, too hot or too cold, jal neti will feel uncomfortable. Just taste the solution first - it should be only faintly salty.'
When I have blown my nose as Khosa instructs and repeated the process on the other nostril, my nose feels cleaner, my eyes brighter and my head lighter. Whether or not it is a coincidence, but that night I sleep like the proverbial baby.
Jal neti (meaning 'water' and 'cleansing' respectively) is a branch of hatha yoga called kriya, or 'action'. As Khosa explains, there are six kriya cleansing techniques as laid down in ancient Indian scripts, of which jal neti is the simplest. (Others include punjal - flushing out toxins by drinking enough salt water to make yourself sick - and the throat-constricting vastra dhauti, which involves the ingestion of a long piece of gauze that is pulled out of the mouth along with the contents of the stomach.) It is believed to cure ailments relating to the eyes, nose, throat and brain although you don't have to be ill to benefit and can use jal neti for general health maintenance.
Lining the nasal passages are microscopic hairs called cilia, which are coated with a layer of mucus. They catch dust, dirt, bacteria and other inhaled particles, such as pollen, and when functioning properly prevent these undesirables entering the lungs and bloodstream. Jal neti washes away the pollutants from the cilia, allowing for clearer breathing at the very least, and moisturises the nose.
'People seem to equate jal neti with colonic irrigation and think it is disgusting,' says Khosa. 'People are also put off because they associate water up the nose with discomfort, choking or drowning but it is simple and can't harm you. Think of it as being on a par with cleaning your ears or navel. It has been practised for thousands of years and its benefits are backed by modern research. It only does good.'