Sudation Therapy

Fomentation or sudation therapy refers to a treatment which cures stiffness, heaviness, and coolness, and produces sweating. This therapy is performed in the purvakarma procedures, that is, it is a part of the treatments done before one can start taking any Panchkarma therapies.¹

When is Sudation done:

• Before doing Panchkarma procedures both Snehana and Swedana are done.
• The main objective of both these therapies is to loosen the toxins and help them accumulate in the right places so that they can be easily removed through Panchkarma procedures.
• In these procedures also some surface level or superficial toxins start getting eliminated from the skin.

Different types of sudation therapy techniques:

• Massage with oil (considered as external oleation therapy)
• Massage without oil 
• Dry massage
• Using heat bags
• Steam
• One type of sudation can be done on all the days or depending on how the body reacts, the method of sudation can be changed.

Process of Sudation:

• Chosen way of sudation is done for 7 days straight. 
• After this, 1 day of rest is taken. Then, if the body is ready for Panchkarma - then that is done. 
• If the body doesn't seem ready for Panchkarma, sudation is again done for 7 more days. 
• Then again after these 7 days, 1 day of rest is taken. Now the body is evaluated as whether it is ready for Panchkarma or not. If it is, then the Panchkarma procedures are done. 
• If the body doesn't seem ready for Panchkarma, sudation is again done for 7 more days.
• Then again 1 day rest is taken.

For how many days the process of Sudation is completed:

• 21 is the maximum number of days when the sudation can be done.
• One might stop after 7 days or 14 days depending on how an individual body responds. 
• In some cases, even 7 days of sudation might not even be required (usually common for Pitta dominant people)

How does the body communicate that the process of sudation is complete:

• If the skin becomes oily, the process of sudation should be stopped.
• If body gives any sign that it doesn't want any more external heat like even slight redness, then the sudation process should be stopped immediately.

Complementary treatments:

• While sudation is being done, one can get some localised massages if they have an issue over there. For example, along with sudation therapy, in the same days if required one can take a specific massage of knee for knee pain and so on.

Important:

• If one is doing sudation therapy for a week, then the recommended Panchkarma must also be done.
• If one is not available for Panchkarma and just wants massages included in sudation therapy, then the massages should not be done every day for seven days. 
• If daily massages are done for seven days and no proper Panchkarma is done, then mild purgation is the bare minimum that one must do no matter what.

Nature of the substances used ¹:

• Hot
• Penetrating
• Smooth
• Dry
• Minute
• Stable 
• Mobile
• Liquid 
• Heavy

Useful for ¹:

• Cold, cough, hiccoughs
• Bronchial asthma
• Heaviness in the body
• Body ache
• Ear pain, neck pain
• Headache, migraine
• Hoarseness of voice, sore throat
• Hemorrhagic strokes or paralysis
• Excess yawning
• Chills, tremors, numbness of extremities
• Flatulence, constipation and abdominal cramps
• Urinary obstruction, painful urination
• Testicular hypertrophy
• Cramps or pain in legs, calf muscles and knee joints
• Diseases occurring because of poor digestion and metabolism
• Vata disorders

References:

Primary Reference: School of Ayurveda and Panchkarma - Lecture and Notes

1. Patanjali