One Pot to Rule Them All
Apr 16th, 2010 by Sri Lalita
Last week, I went to a party and this guy and I got into a lively conversation about…neti pots. You know, the yogic practice where you run a mild, warm saline solution into one nostril and out the other. Yes, at a party. It’s Berkeley, people.
Anyway, somehow I started to wax on poetic about my new giant neti pot which I got about 6 months ago and how much it has changed my life. I mean it. Changed. My. Life. I swear by this thing. The wild part is, he responded with equal enthusiasm! He had recently gotten the big kind, too, and couldn’t believe the difference.
Apparently, I’m not alone! The big neti pot is where it’s at, but nobody seems to talk about it. So, I’m talkin’.
Now, I’ve been using neti pots for years. I mostly used what I had access to: the cute little ceramic numbers from the generic yoga studio or health food store that hold maybe a cup or two of water. This amount, split between both nostrils, makes for a paltry jala neti experience. I guess I was pretty excited about jala neti when first discovered it and I practiced it regularly for a time. I must have been impressed with the result even from the little pot because I even gave everybody in my family some cute hand-thrown ceramic neti pots one Christmas. (Poor guys: they all looked at me like I was nuts, but smiled and thanked me and probably never tried it. I can’t really blame them. You’re either into this kind of thing or you’re not.)
Enter the new neti pot. I got it about 6 months ago for my birthday and it has been…lifechanging. It’s made by healthandyoga.com and I even tried to get a discount code for y’all, but I had to become and affiliate and it just seemed like too much of a pain. I can still get it if there is an outcry from y’all. I’m registered as an affiliate, but I have to put their button on my website to make it easier for you and for you to get the discount, and I was reticent about making this forum commercial in any way. But, then again, it’s great to save money. So, just submit a comment that you want me to do it and I’ll see what I can do about getting you 15% off or something.
Anyway, this pot. I feel like I want to tell you guys about this pot the way I used to want to tell girlfriends about some new guy I’d been seeing. That’s the excitement factor around here. It’s shiny and nice and quiet, but most of all…it’s big. Size matters. And it can go again and again and again. I usually fill it twice in a session–once for each side. It’s incredible.
What more could any girl ask for?
[Note: it's a great idea to talk to a qualified yoga instructor if you are interested in starting a jala neti practice. Despite what you'll read on the internet, it *is* a practice, not something to take up now and then when you're feeling congested. It does so much more than 'clean the sinuses' or whatever they say. And, if you're a renegade and are gonna watch youtube and try it anyway, please please PLEASE dry your nasal passages gently and thoroughly afterward. Your head will thank you.]
yes! It’s way too much work to use the small pots – they are cute (and better than none) but it takes a half-dozen refills to get the job done (dissolve the salt and then get the water to the right temp, etc, each time). Also the big pot gives you a little more pressure this can be really good on those congested mornings.
Drying is so important, especially during the winter months. If you do all your sat kriyas in the same session, kapalabati does most of the drying.
Another great article, Sri! Thanks for the tip.
What more could any girl ask for?
Maybe..
Men definitely don’t understand women these days