Mukha Dhauti dosing for RA

Family: Star / RA protocol
Explained in: The Stiffening Joint

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BACK PAIN

Given by a therapist

Breathing, difficulty in low Back pain

From The Stiffening Joint

Why Mukha Dhauti is given, and to whom

The left finger that comes back in a few hours, and the dose for it

Now understand to whom, how and why Mukha Dhauti is to be done, because it is not an extra for everybody.

Key teaching

The finding that calls for it

It is to be done because we have found that in RA patients some people feel very good immediately after our treatment, but within a few hours the pain returns in the joints.

Then it has been seen that the pain returns in the ring finger of their left hand — from which we understand that every few hours the acid increases.

One reason for this can be that the haemoglobin of RA patients remains lower than normal. When haemoglobin is low, sufficient oxygen will not reach the tissues.

b. So: Mukha Dhauti is to be done by those who, along with joint pain, have much pain at Mu°, or at the middle joint of the ring finger of the left hand — but not as much pain in the same finger of the right hand.

That last clause is the selection rule and it is a comparison, not a threshold. Left worse than right. A patient with both fingers equally sore is not the patient this is written for; a patient whose right finger is the worse one is emphatically not, and you will see why at the head of the Alkaline Star.

And read the chain of reasoning in the first two paragraphs, because it is a good piece of clinical thinking regardless of what one makes of the chemistry. The relief does not hold. It stops holding after a few hours. The finger that comes back is the same finger every time — the left one. Therefore something is rising again on a cycle of hours, and it is rising on the acid side. A therapist who notices which thing returns, and when, has learned something a therapist who only notices it came back has not.

THE METHOD, STEP BY STEP

Mukha Dhauti, for the pains of RA

a. The manoeuvre. Seat the patient on a chair. Tell them to take a normal breath in through the nose, and immediately afterwards to throw it out forcefully through the mouth. By doing this, the carbonic acid trapped inside the joints will go out of the body through the breath in the form of carbon dioxide, and relief will be had from the pains.

c. The dose. It is to be done ten times together. Then take one minute's rest. Then ten times again — and in this way ten rounds, or at most fifteen rounds, can be done; that is, it can be done up to 100–150 times.

The heavier opening, where it is needed. If the patient has very much pain in the left ring finger, then for the first one or two days it may be got done up to 150 times. It may be done like this morning and evening. But one is to go forward while repeatedly checking the pain of the finger. As soon as the pain of the left ring finger goes, it is to be stopped.

d. The rest, and the reason for it. Taking one minute's rest in between is very necessary. As soon as Mukha Dhauti is done the acid will immediately be reduced — but if too much acid goes out at once, then for some time the alkali will increase, and the body may perhaps not be able to bear it.

The stopping rule. When the pain of the left ring finger goes, it is to be stopped — and the reason for that too is the same.

Table 10 — Card: Mukha Dhauti dosing for RA Seated Left

Who it is for	Those who, along with joint pain, have much pain at Mu° or at the middle joint of the LEFT ring finger — but not as much pain in the same finger of the right hand
Position	Seated on a chair
The breath	Normal breath in through the nose; immediately, throw it out forcefully through the mouth
Set	Ten times together
Rest between sets	One minute — very necessary
Rounds	Ten rounds, at most fifteen — that is, 100 to 150 times
The heavier opening	Up to 150 times for the first one or two days, morning and evening, if there is very much pain in the left ring finger
Monitoring	Go forward while repeatedly checking the pain of the finger
Stopping rule	Stop as soon as the pain of the left ring finger goes
The reason for the rest and for the stopping rule	If too much acid goes out at once, then for some time the alkali will increase, and the body may perhaps not be able to bear it
What it is doing	The carbonic acid trapped inside the joints goes out of the body through the breath, as carbon dioxide — and relief is had from the pains
The rest in the table	Table 8, How a Formula Is Built

TAKE CARE

Forceful breathing is a dose, and it is given to somebody who is unwell

A hundred and fifty forced exhalations is not a relaxation exercise. The material's own two safeguards are the whole of the safety in this treatment, and they are not optional: the one-minute rest between every set of ten, and stopping the moment the left ring-finger pain goes.

Do not teach it standing, and do not leave the patient alone during it. The instruction says seated on a chair, and it says so for a reason.

Stop at once for light-headedness, tingling of the lips or the fingers, cramping of the hands or feet, chest pain, palpitations or any disturbance of vision. Those are the body telling you exactly what the material predicts — that too much has gone out at once, and the alkali has risen further than this body can bear.

Ask before you start. Uncontrolled blood pressure, known heart trouble or a recent heart event, fits, glaucoma or recent eye surgery, recent surgery of the belly or the chest, a hernia, an active ulcer, pregnancy, or any past collapsed lung — in any of these, take medical advice before teaching forced breathing, and introduce it gradually if it is taught at all.

Teach it, do not merely perform it. This woman was taught it at home also, and that is where most of its work was done. A patient who can lower her own pain between visits is a patient with something in her hands besides a walking stick.

FROM AYURVEDA AND YOGA

What dhauti means, and what this practice most resembles

In the old texts dhauti names a family of physical cleansing acts — a swallowed cloth, swallowed water, swallowed air — belonging to the group of six purifications. Dhauti simply means a washing. A breathing instruction carried under that name is a modern therapeutic usage, and saying so costs the practice nothing.

What it most resembles in the classical repertoire is kapālabhāti — repeated forceful exhalation with the in-breath left to happen by itself, done in rounds with rests between them. And that comparison brings its own caution, which fits the material's insistence on the minute: rapid forced breathing is an arousing practice at the moment of doing it, and the settling comes afterwards, in the rest. The rounds are not an interruption of the practice. They are half of it.

A MISTAKE STUDENTS MAKE

Going on because the patient is enjoying it

The patient with a very painful left ring finger does a hundred and fifty, morning and evening, for two days — and on the third day the finger is quiet and she says the breathing makes her feel wonderful and asks whether she should keep doing it.

The instruction has already answered her: as soon as the pain of the left ring finger goes, it is to be stopped. Not reduced. Stopped. And the reason is not tidiness — it is the same reason as the one-minute rest. If too much acid goes out, then for some time the alkali will increase, and the body may perhaps not be able to bear it. You have been pushing this body one way on purpose; when it arrives, you stop pushing.

The therapist's error here is almost always kindness. Something helped, the patient liked it, and nobody wanted to take it away. Take it away. Then re-check the finger in two days, and if the pain has come back, begin again with the smaller dose and the same stopping rule. ▲ Take care

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Mukha Dhauti dosing for RA

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Why Mukha Dhauti is given, and to whom

The finding that calls for it

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