MUD PACKS :
The mudpack should be used for 20 to 30 minutes. After it is removed clean the skin using a soft piece of cloth dipped in cold water clay is to be found in different shades in different places but whatever the mud is loamy and has a tendency to stick to the skin some sand The best way to prepare a mudpack is to take clay from about four inches below the surface of the earth. Ensure that the clay does not contain any impurities like compost or pebbles. If their are any pebbles grind the clay and pass it through a sieve. Mix it with cold water and see that it has a consistency like soft sough. It should stick and not be thin enough to slide down when used in the pack. If the pack is to be applied on the abdomen (from the navel to the pubes) spread the mud evenly on a piece of cloth see that it is about half an inch thick. Then place it gently with the cloth up and the mud touching the skin. Remove the cloth and place a thick woolen piece of cloth on the mud. You may even let the cotton cloth remain over the mud but cover it with a thick woolen. If that is done the patient can keep lying doing without covering himself with a blanket or a sheet.
BATHING :
A bath is a daily ritual but few people understand its purpose or importance that is why most of us merely throw water over our heads and the bodies and think that we have done our duty throwing water- what is a bath? The twin purposes of a bath are cleanliness and reactivating the circulation of the blood by the tingling sensation that cold water produces as it comes into contact with the skin. The first purpose i.e. cleanliness can be better served by hot water. The skin of the body has million of pores through which the skin breathes as we do through our lungs. If the pores are clogged the lungs are over worked. Over work may lead to fatigue or exhaustion of the lungs. And then closed pores do not pass any perspiration which is a must to clear the blood of morbid humors. Closed pores are a danger to the general health of human beings. Cold water is also a cleansing agent but it cannot deal with the grease and dirt infesting the pores of the skin. Hot water mixed with lemon juice is the best cleansing agent for the skin. For better still take a lemon and roast it lightly over a fire. Then cut it into two parts dip a part in hot water and rub it over your skin. This will cleanse your skin as no soap can do. But a hot bath should not be taken daily. It generally brings lethargy weakness and slows down the digestive processes. Once or twice a week is enough if you have to take a hot bath the temperature of the water should not be more than one or two degrees above body temperature.
A hot bath before retiring for the night is the best for your health. It helps you to sleep better and if you cover your body after a hot bath it will save you from the danger of exposure. A bath hot or cold should be taken one hour before meals or three hours after it. Really hot water for a bath has its own advantages but it should be used sparingly. If you are suffering from cold taken a hot bath cover yourself with woolens and get into bed. It will drive away the cold a really hot bath when you are tried acts as a tonic it drives away fatigue as nothing else does. A bath with hot water has its uses but a daily bath should be with cold water when the skin is cooled by the cold water blood rushes to warm it up. The circulation of the blood is activated and the blood is also cleansed of many impurities. A slowed down circulation is a prelude to old age a cold bath is there fore instrumental in keeping us young.
The best way to start a bath is to rub the whole of your body with your palms or with a rough towel. Start with your scalp forehead face and the neck. Then go on to your wrists and then to the shoulders through the arms. Afterward rub your chest the arm pits and abdomen and the back. The feet should be the last to receive attention keep your feet straight when you rub them. Start from the feet and dome up to the thighs. In the begin rub gently but later increase the pressure. After the vigorous rubbing take a cold bath wipe your body with a towel. Start with the head and then dry up the whole body. You will feel a peculiar kind of pleasure when you rub your body after a bath. For weak persons a rubing can do the job of exercise.
If this method of taking a bath is adopted there will not be any danger of any skin eruptions or itch. The face will be free of pimples and other blemishes which mar its beauty. The skin will acquire a healthy glow and if it is rough and leathery it will become pink and soft. You will have the feeling as if you had been having an oil massage. If the palms of the hand are used to dry up the body after a bath instead of a towel it will be doubly beneficial. It gives a pleasant sensation during winter.
HIP BATH :
You must have seen specially made tubs for hip bath. The tub is oval in shape and one end of it is raised so that patient can rest his back against it. This is the ideal tub for taking a hip bath.
Fill the tub with cold water. The level of the water should navel of the water should be so adjusted that it touches your navel when you sit in it. Your feet will be outside the tub and you can support them by keeping a low stool in front of the tub. You can rest your back against the raised portion of the rub and remain in that half spine position.
Take a rough towel and rub your abdomen from the right to the left. Do it gently so that the skin is not scraped. Do not apply too much pressure in rubbing a hip bath can be taken from ten to twenty minutes. Thin persons should take it for only ten minutes and the stout ones can continue for 20 minutes. During winter the duration of the hip bath should be reduced by about 25 percent.
In the beginning the hip bath should be taken only for a minute or two the time should be increased gradually to ten or twenty minutes as indicated above. If it is too cold rub your minutes before getting into the tub. A vigorous rubbing of the body will bring warmth to it and you will not experience any discomfort when you start the hip bath.
Wipe your body with a towel when you get out of the tub dress quickly and go for a walk or take some other exercise. Those too weak to engage in any such activity should get into bed and wrap a blanket around them and rest for half an hour to bring back warmth to their body. You can take a bath a couple of hours after the hip bath and not before.
GENITALS BATH :
Keep a stool one-foot long six inches wide and six inches high in the tub. It would be all the better if there is a circulation cut in front of it. If a stool is not readily available keep four bricks, two upon two to raise the level and sit on them. The water level in the tub should be such that it is one inch above the stool the water should be cold; during summer the water of an earthen pitcher can be used for the purpose.
Take off your clothes and sit on the stool. Take a piece of cloth dip it in water and gently rub your abdomen with it for two minutes. Then take hold of the foreskin of your penis in two fingers and rub it lightly with a soft piece of cloth sipping cold water often. This can be continued for ten to twenty minutes. A lean person can do it for only ten minutes, and the hefty one for a long as twenty minutes. After the rubbing of the foreskin is completed, rub the entire spine with a wet towel in two hands and move it up and down on your spine.
Women should rub their abdomen. They should take a piece of soft cloth, pull up the lips of the vagina and rub them slowly also rub the spine as above. No hip bath or genitals bath should be taken at the time of menstruation. You must take exercise walk or lie down in a bed and wrap yourself in a blanket to restore the body heat lost due to immersion in water. If a tub is not available this bath can be taken in the sun. In that case spread a wet towel on the stool on which you sit keep a bucket full of water near the stool and take the bath as indicated above.
HOT FOOT BATH :
When you have to take foot bath sit on a stool and lower your feet in a bucket full of hot water. The level of the water should ideally, come up to the knees. The temperature of the water should not be too much above the body temperature. As the water gets cold go on adding more hot water. Take care to see that the hot water added later does not scaled the feet. Cover your self with a blanket wrap it around your body, even if the bucket is covered it will be all right. The head should be covered with a wet towel with cold water as the coldness of the towel evaporates dip it in cold water wring it lightly and again cover your head with it. Take some hot water before you lower your feet into the bucket water go on sipping hot water that throughout the time your feet are in the bucket. A hot foot bath should be taken for 20 minutes wash your feet with cold water afterward and wipe them with a towel. If you have perspired wipe your body with a wet towel and dress yourself. An ordinary bath can be taken after the hot bath.
WET PACK FOR THE CHEST :
The bandage to be used as a wet pack for the waist should be seven to eight feet long and six inches broad. It should be of soft cotton cloth. Dip it in cold water wring it lightly and wrap around your waist. It should cover the area from the navel to a little above the skin. Cover the wet bandage with a woolen cloth of equal dimensions and secure with a safety pin or a string so that it does not move, there will be a cold sensation on the skin covered by the wet pack but after ten minutes warmth will return. If you still feel cold after ten minutes that is an indication that the bandage has been wrapped lightly and has to be tightened. If the bandage has not been properly wrung out or it is thicker than it should be. The wet pack for the waist can be used from half an hour to two hours at a time.
SPONGING THE BODY :
When you are running a temperature, a sponge bath is more advisable than a bath. The patient should be fully covered with a sheet or blanket and his body should be wipe with a wet towel. Wipe his feet first one after the other. Rub them with the wet towel for four to five minutes and then wipe them with a dry towel. But even when the feet have been dried rub them with the palms of the hand so that some heat is generated in the body. In the case of high fever such rubbing is not advised. After the feet have been attended to go the calves and the rest of the legs the abdomen the chest the back the face and the neck. The hands should be rubbed for five to six minutes and the abdomen, chest and the back a little longer. The total time half an hour. The ideal time for a sponge bath is midday.
SUN BATH :
Sun bath is an important tool of the naturopathy even though people in the west use it for cosmetic purposes, it play an important part in restoring health. The ideal time for sun bathing is earlier in the morning. It differs in ever region & season for example in India- during summer is six to six thirty in the morning and in winter from seven to seven thirty in the morning. In Europe & America this timing will be according to the climatic condition of that places but it should be in the morning. Take of all your cloths and sit in a secluded corner away from interruptions. The whole of your body should be exposed to the health giving rays of thee sun.
In the beginning take a Sun-bath for only two to three minutes but increase the timing gradually to fifteen to twenty minutes. When the sunlight is very hot cover your head with a towel. If you cannot find a secluded place to take the Sun-bath, cover your self with a light cotton sheet.
SUN BATH FOR INDUCING PERSPIRATION :
Sweat can be induced through a Sunbath. For this purpose the sun should be hot enough at ten to eleven in the morning in summer and two to three in the afternoon in winter. Take hot water and lie down naked on a mattress or blanket spread on the floor. If the wind is strong choose a place where the wind is mild. You will start sweating in about ten to fifteen minutes to after you have lied down. After fifteen to twenty you minutes the sweat will start running down your body. The Sun bath can be continued for fifteen to twenty minutes. Whether you sweat or not you must take a cold bath just after it.
Some people may not perspire in the beginning but after repeating the Sun bath for three or four days their sweat glands will be activated and they will perspire. You must cover your head with a wet towel while taking a Sun bath but at the same time go on sipping warm water to and the body to produce the sweat.
FASTING :
Nothing except water should be taken when you are fasting. The intake of water should be two to two and a half litres. One feels fresh if one continues drinking water and the intake of water also helps the expulsion of morbid matter from the body. In the evening of the first day of the fast and the morning after an enema of hot water should be taken to clean the bowels.
One-day fasting should be followed by a food intake of 25% less than one normally takes. Two days fast should be followed by ingestion of fruits only, the next day. Normal food should follow the next day. A three days fast should be followed the next day by fruit juice and vegetable soup (the soup should be clear without addition of any thickening agents or condiments. On the fifth day eat fruits only and on the sixty-day breakfast on fruits lunch on bread and boiled vegetables and repeat a fruit diet on your dinner. It is only after wards that you should resume your normal diet.
