First of all, you may be wondering what exactly is “neti”. In a sentence “neti” is a technique for cleansing the nasal passages.

There are various types but my favourite one is nasal irrigation or “jala neti” where you use slightly salted warm water to clear your nostrils with a tool known as a “neti pot” or “lota”. This is the technique that is most popular and what most people mean when they talk about “doing neti”.

I remember when I first tried it I wasn’t convinced and felt the water wouldn’t come out or I wouldn’t be able to breath. However, something made me persist and the water did come out and I could breath and now I can even speak (not advised for a beginner) while doing it!

Even though I don’t have sinus or allergy problems, I’ve seen the benefits especially when I have colds – they get flushed out – literally. Other benefits I’ve experienced have been when having to stay up very late to finish work. While my colleagues had coffee I did a neti around 11pm and was wide-awake and alert to work until we finished around 3am. My regular neti practice also helped me when I took an early morning flight. I did my neti practice as usual in the morning and noticed that my ears did not pop during take-off and landing.

Have you tried doing neti? Do you have any neti experiences – good or bad?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Neti info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.