Hollywood celebrities are trying their hand at Rakta Moksha detox techniques too. While most people squirm at the thought of blood sucking leeches, celebrities like Demi Moore are swearing by leech therapy to keep themselves toxin free and youthful. According to US Magazine, leeches are Demi Moore’s secret to looking sexy at the age of 45.
“I feel like I’ve always been someone looking for the cutting edge of things that optimize your health and healing,” she told David Letterman when she appeared as a guest on his show a few months ago. Demi describes how four leeches got drunk on her blood, starting from her bellybutton, and how they don’t like hair and prefer waxed or shaved skin.
While Moore actually appeared on Letterman’s show to promote her movie Flawless, most of the conversation focused on how leech therapy has kept her health flawless. Check out the video for yourself:
I have received a series of questions from various folks following my recent post Leeches Help You Live Longer. Although a bizarre concept for many, this detox ritual has been a mainstay of Indian medicine for centuries. Banaras Hindu University recently released a news video showing leech therapy procedures for treating certain types of hair loss.
Since I know that many of you are curious, I decided to post the video for greater visibility. Even though it is in Hindi, it has universal appeal. After all, moving pictures say so much more than words…!
While most people squirm at the thought of blood sucking leeches, Ayurvedic medicine has had an obsession with these creatures for centuries. Leeches are a critical player in an age old form of Ayurvedic detoxification known as Rakta Moksha i.e. the letting of toxic blood. The technique, drawn from ancient Ayurvedic scriptures such as the Charak Samhita and the Sushrut Samhita has been a stronghold of Indian village medicine for centuries, says Dr. O.P. Singh of Banaras Hindu University, India’s renowned Ayurvedic educational institution.
The practice of rakta moksha using leeches has diminished considerably in Ayurvedic education and practice. Although university level courses are required to teach the theoretical aspects of this therapy, many do not offer practical education. But this is not a method that can be taught via chalk and blackboard; it takes dedicated time and patience to become well versed with species of leeches that not only suck infected blood but also salivate an enzyme called hirudin which has a therapeutic effect on toxic blood clots.
While interning at Vaidya Paranjpe’s clinic in Mumbai, I was trained to care for the leeches as much as for the patient. Identifying the species was a challenge in itself: it took months to learn how to distinguish between low-lying swamp varieties versus the specific medicinal varieties used for therapy. Disinfecting the leeches in in turmeric water was an essential precursor to applying them onto the patient’s infected body part. The application in itself was easier said than done; on one hand I had to deal with the temperament of the patient and on the other hand with the temperament of the leeches. I remember struggling in vain one day to attach a ’stubborn’ leech to a patient but no amount of coaxing could convince the particular leech to do so!
Once attached, a leech can suck approximately 10 ml of blood in approximately 30 minutes to an hour after which it automatically detaches from the body of the host. The infected body part of the patient is dusted with Mulhathi powder while the blood sucking leech is cleansed in turmeric once again to allow the organism to ‘vomit’ the diseased human blood sucked from host’s body.
Traditional Ayurvedic doctors who practice this form of detox are sometimes difficult to seek out as even today they tend to reside in rural India. The good news is that there is a renaissance in leech therapy is some of the more established Ayurvedic institutions. Banaras Hindu University is using leech therapy to cure diseases associated with aging including paralysis, hair loss and osteo-arthritis. And if that’s not hip enough, then consider the fact that celebrities like Demi Moore are swearing by leech therapy to keep themselves toxin free and youthful.
Now did you ever fathom that blood-sucking worms could meet your style and anti-aging needs?
Many people ask me about Ayurveda - how it is applicable to modern life…is it applicable at all? While it might be hard to fathom how a system of medicine 5,000 years old can apply to us today, as an Ayurvedic traditionalist, I find comfort in knowing that although we have evolved as a race, our basic health needs and wants have not changed drastically over the course of civilization. And therein lies the healing power of Ayurveda. I refer to it as a wisdom practice because its tried and tested methods have been passed down the ages as healing wisdom.
Because Ayurveda is the Science of Life, it provides a set of tools that help you live in harmony with your natural environment. When this happens you can truly maintain a state of balance. Although mothering children is a historical tradition, our patterns of living are much more complex than those of our forefathers. Which is why when we make the transition to motherhood, many of us are often jolted out of balance. Wisdom practices such as Ayurveda can come in handy to help you re-align yourself to maintain a more positive state of emotional and physical health.
Ayurveda is an ancient holistic health science from India. Sanskrit for “the Science of Life,” it is a set of self-care guidelines that will help you stay healthy by connecting the power of your mind with the physical health of your body. The term ‘medicine’ is considered limiting in the context of this life science, as it suggests healing only as a result of predetermined illness. Ayurveda, however, is a complete system that addresses the prevention of illness in addition to providing a systematic approach for diagnosing and treating negative health issues.
Ayurveda recognizes that we are all different—that we all look and behave differently from one another, and react differently to everyday situations. We are unique in everything from the foods we eat to the emotions we experience. Our individual dispositions require that we customize diet, herbs, massage and bodywork, yoga, self care and lifestyle routines to help us maximize life force. To stay healthy and balanced, Ayurveda recommends tailored lifestyle therapies, including digestive herbs, heavy oil therapies and detoxification programs. These are intended to be gentle, sustainable habits that can last a lifetime, not extreme regimes or quick fixes. An entirely natural system, Ayurvedic lifestyle therapies utilize organic ingredients that are drawn from animal, vegetable and mineral sources.
