A “scene” you’ll “see” many times throughout the day in my home is the pouring of mildly hot water (especially hot in cold, rainy fall and winter season). It is sipped throughout the day (never gulped) and had when thirsty (never forcing water into the system).

Water itself is medicine, and care should be taken as to the quality and quantity. Spring water is best but purified is okay and tap water should be avoided for all purposes other than maybe washing dishes.

Bring your batch of good water to a boil (only takes a minute or two), and let it sit on the counter until it cools to the temperature you want it at (another minute or two) then simply pour into a thermos to keep for the day. Depending on how many people you have in your household (and everyone should partake), you may have to repeat this once or twice more in the day. Boiled water should not be kept for more than one day as it is considered old after that time.

You can drink hot, warm or room temperature to cool (okay at times for our hot pitta constitutions) but by no means drink water ice cold or cold unless you want to put out the healthy fire of your digestive system.

The digestive system, the system that takes in all the foods and drinks we consume and breaks them down to be taken up by the bloodstream and into what makes our bodily cells and tissues) works hard all day and night. In ayurveda, is likened to a fire which needs to be given wood at regular intervals to keep it burning. Yet, should one put things into it that weakness it such as cold food and drinks and excessive amounts of raw foods, it’s as if one threw sand onto the fire and sniffed it out. What is left is a weak fire that will ultimately do a weak job at breaking up and digesting food leaving us with undigested food substances called ama. When ama accumulates, it works it’s way into the deep tissues of the body with the help of vata dosha, the dosha that is responsible for all movement and moving that ama it will, to where we don’t want it. Herein lies disease manifestation if not corrected. All this to say, keep your digestive system (agni) well balanced by treating it well.

According to the Ayurvedic texts, boiling can be as follows:

For vata imbalances such as those with pain in the body, neurological disorders and constipation - boil water until 1/4th from the original quantity gets reduced.

For pitta imbalances such a diarrhea and anger - boil water until 1/2 reduces.

For kapha imbalances such as obesity and lethargy - boil water until 3/4th from the original quantitys.

Consuming hot to warm water is one of the best ways to take care of agni as well calming vata dosha in those who suffer with pain, reducing constipating, reducing obesity and moving out excess fat, helping to also dissolve ama, supporting ojas or our vitality by limiting frequent colds, and clearing the urinary channels and reducing any blockages in the body. Hot water calms vata and kapha dosha while it increases pitta dosha. Again, hot water relieves ama, one of the root causes for most diseases. Hot water is often taken after internal ghee or sesame oil consumption.

Excessive amounts of water is not recommended. For the average adult 5-6 cups of water is sufficient and a little more while one is sweating during a workout. Anymore than this and we wash from the body important minerals and actually weaken agni instead of strrengthening it.

Remember, it’s the small things we do that make a big impact on our health.

Journeying together,

Kari