I love the neti pot. I don’t use it often, only if I have a cold, or if it’s allergy season. Well….. it’s getting to be allergy time! I haven’t felt any allergies yet, but I can only assume it’s coming.
Traditionally, a yogi does Jala Neti (the purifying practice of nasal washing) every day. For awhile, I tried this, and I felt dried out. Now I use as needed. As a teenager, the first time I used the neti pot, I remember thinking, “Well, I have no nasal issues. Everyone else in my teacher training gets sinus infections, allergies, etc. I have none of these, so this isn’t for me.” Nevertheless, after my first foray into neti cleansing, I felt like I had never taken such a full, satisfying breath. It was awesome! And, several years after moving to Boston, I developed allergies – and was very happy to already know about the neti pot!
Yogis have known for a LONG time how helpful the neti pot is, but in case you need scientific evidence, there are actually studies to prove its efficacy – check out this recent NYTimes article.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ll also be taking allergy pills and using eye drops when the going gets rough. But the neti is unsurpassed for helping me feel clear and unclogged.
Don’t resist! If you have nasal issues (and even if you don’t), try out a neti pot.
My neti pot looks like this, only blue. You can buy them at Whole Foods and awesome natural food stores such as Cambridge Naturals.
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Do you use distilled water in it? I have owned a couple of neti pots and also liked the way it felt during the onset of allergy seasons (we have several distinct ones in Texas, ugh), but — using warm tap water — I frequently developed sinus infections after using it for several days in a row. I always meant to try using distilled water but haven’t gotten around to it.
Hey Rob! Truth be told, when I learned about neti, I was told that distilled water was important, so when I used it regularly, I always used distilled, along with natural sea salts. I haven’t bought distilled water in a few years, but I also don’t use the neti so regularly. I’ve never heard of *developing* infections from neti – they’re supposed to great for curing a sinus infection.
The other thing is that I really don’t like using it everyday. Try every other day? That works better for me, and then just showering and washing my face to remove pollen from my body daily.
Hope that helps!
[…] many people know about the wonders of the Neti pot – Oprah’s talked about it, and I’ve blogged about it, so it’s pretty much out there […]
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