What is the best time to practice OP?
Ayurveda advised OP in the morning after brushing teeth and cleaning tongue on empty stomach. Dr Karach advised OP before breakfast on empty stomach. One hour after drinking water or tea or coffee or liquids in the morning but before breakfast. The best time is when you do not feel well for any health problem do OP on empty stomach.
Who can Practice OP?
Everybody above the age of five years can practice. For children of five years and above use only a teaspoon (five ml) of oil for OP. People with dentures should remove them and practice. Woman can practice OP during periods and also pregnancy.
How much time gap is required to eat or drink after OP?
After doing OP, wash your mouth and then you can eat or drink and no time gap is required.
What other Oils can be used for OP?
Dr Karach had suggested refined sunflower Oil. Sesame Oil was prescribed in Ayurveda texts for OP. Both oils worked well in curing health problems. Some found sesame oil better. Other oils have been used by some practitioners on their own and they did not report desirable results to enable me to recommend. Some other oils may be suitable for particular problems but I do not recommend for daily practice.
The quantity of 10 ml of oil is too little for OP. Can we do with 20 ml of oil?
When we do OP the entire oil should become thin, like water and no oily feeling should be left. When that happens we would have utilized the entire oil for the purpose of OP. This happens within 15 to 20 minutes for most of the people. If the quantity is increased it takes more time to become watery and white and many would not like to spend more time on pulling. Spitting when it is still oily is waste of oil and a feeling of freshness does not come which is not desirable. If you feel a few ml of more oil is required try, there is no harm. This is also the reason for suggesting only five ml of oil for children.
Can we do any other work while doing OP?
No. It is advised to do OP slowly, chin up preferably in sitting position, to see that oil pulled through teeth and touches all portions of mucous membrane in the oral cavity.
Is there any difference in the practice of OP for Acute and Chronic diseases?
Acute diseases will be cured in two to four days by practicing OP three times a day on empty stomach, before breakfast, lunch and dinner. Chronic diseases need more time may be up to one year or more depending on the condition of disease, age, habits, state of general health of the person, etc.
What problems arise during OP: - (a) Oil does not become watery or thin even after 30 minutes and it appears the oil is being absorbed and it reduces in quantity (b) Nose block due to accumulation of mucus (c) Sneezing and coughing (d) Phlegm in the throat gets loose and comes into the mouth (e) Urge to pass urine or stools.
(a) Oil does not become watery because there is inadequate salivation and mouth is dry. In most cases, it happens in the morning and in some cases evening also. Under normal circumstances oil will not get absorbed in the mouth. Main reason is lack of adequate slivation due to lack fluids in body. In all such cases you must drink two or three glasses of water, go for a walk of 30 to 45 minutes and do OP after returning.
(b) To avoid nose block during OP wash, clean and blow your nose before starting OP. Slowly blow out nose to clear while holding the oil in the mouth. Repeat if necessary as you continue OP.
(c) Sensation/irritation may cause sneezing or coughing while doing OP. Do OP slowly in a relaxed state to avoid such irritation. Stop pulling and relax as irritation or sensation to sneeze is felt. It will subside. You can sneeze or cough while holding oil in mouth. If you have to sneeze or cough through mouth do it in the sink or some such place to avoid oil driblets spray all over or cover mouth with tissue paper.
(d) If phlegm comes into the mouth, making pulling inconvenient, spit and do pulling with fresh oil again.
(e) Urge to urinate or pass stools will arise only if you have not gone through nature’s calls before OP. In all cases of urge to pass stools or urinate during OP, the best is to relax on the commode and do OP.
How long will it take to cure a particular disease?
How long it takes to cure a particular disease is difficult to specify because it depends on the age, state of health and disease, food and other habits etc of each person. Dr Karach however said “that chronic diseases may take a year whereas acute diseases can be cured in 2 to 4 days. Practice until the original strength, freshness, calm sleep, good appetite and good remembrance is back again”.
How does OP Cure/Heal Diseases?
Without going into the way of how curing takes place as per medical and other sciences (I have written one full chapter on ‘How OP cures Diseases’ in my Book on Oil Pulling) I give you a method by which you can infer how OP cures/heals.
Dr (med.) Karach the author of OP said: "The oil therapy heals tooth pain totally. Obvious results are re-fixing of loose teeth, stops bleeding gums and whitening of the teeth.
OP is called "KAVALA GRAHAM" in the Ayurveda texts. In Charaka Samhita sutra sthana chapter it is given: “by OP with til-taila (sesame oil) teeth are not affected with cavities and they become firm rooted. Teeth pain and sensitivity to sour items will be healed and one will be able to chew the hardest items.”
Those who have given their experience are given in Specific diseases under Teeth and inTestimonies give the results of OP the effect on solving teeth problems. One outstanding result of OP is fixing loose teeth which no dentist can do.
From the experiences you can see that OP will relieve your tooth pain, removes infection, stops further decay, reduces/eliminates sensitivity of teeth and fixes loose/shaky teeth.
From the above you can draw a parallel to existing methods of cure by doctors in that “OP is analgesic in relieving pain, antibiotic in eliminating infection, anabolic in fixing loose teeth, reduces sensitivity of teeth like sensodant’ and also ensures oral hygiene. OP makes this possible by its influence on the nervous system, endocrine and immune systems towards a state of balance-is health-from an unbalnced state-ill health.
In a similar way OP will cure/heal headaches, migraine, sneezing, cold and some pains in a few days or doing OP few times one after another. Hangover will be relieved within two or three times of doing OP in the morning. These also can be experienced in a few days. Judge OP from your experience.
In a similar manner OP cures all other diseases and the time taken will be different for each person.
Are there any reactions and can the medicines be used and /or continued?
Normally there are no reactions and the curing is smooth, gentle and pleasant. Some times in some cases, there might be an aggravation-worsening of a disease. At such times, there is nothing to worry. Aggravation of the disease is a sure sign of cure. In case the aggravation is not tolerable you may stop for few days or take any medicine for relief and then continue OP.
If medicines are being used, gradually reduce their intake as you find improvement with the practice of OP and finally stop and continue OP to fully eradicate the disease from the body. In case of any chronic disease, if you are taking medicines regularly and do not wish to reduce chemical medicines OP will not be effective in curing your chronic disease but will certainly reduce the side effects of the remnants of chemicals drugs.
Dr Karach said: “some people in whom various illnesses are simultaneously manifest, an apparent worsening of condition is possible. This is due to primary infection first being depleted, causing secondary infections to dominate temporarily. After a few days secondary infection will disappear while another may be stimulated into activity. Such symptoms are usually apparent in persons suffering from chronic or terminal illnesses. Under these circumstances Dr Karach recommends that the affected person steadfastly continues the treatment even if fevers are initiated. Dr Karach maintains just when these symptoms appear the oil treatment will facilitate rapid healing. Should the treatment be broken for one reason or another the overall effects will be slowed down. For these reasons Dr Karach maintains that an apparent worsening of health is an excellent sign that disease is progressively being removed from the body”.
Examples of reactions: - (a) Itching of the skin during infection and inflammation of an injury or wound and the same itching may be present in an aggravated manner during cure of the wound/injury. (b) A bone breaks due to an accident. The pain at the time of setting is more severe and also during the process of healing.
Advice on how to deal with healing reactions