Joint & Muscle

Choosing between the oil and the decoction

The largest shelf on the store, and it divides cleanly. Thailams are warmed and worked into the area, most often before a bath. Kashayams and tablets are taken by mouth, on the schedule the label sets. Classical practice pairs the two rather than setting them against each other, and a physician will rarely choose one and abandon the other.

Buying without guidance, choose the format you will still be using in the sixth week. An oil asks for ten minutes and a towel. A tablet asks only to be remembered. Neither is the more serious purchase.

Three formats, and what each asks of you

1. Thailams — Warmed, and massaged in. The more pleasant of the two by common account, and the more demanding: it wants time set aside, and it marks fabric.
2. Kashayams and tablets — Taken internally. The decoctions are the older form and genuinely bitter; the tablets carry the same classical recipes and survive travel.
3. Kizhi powders — Bound into a cloth bolus, warmed, and pressed on. A therapy-room technique rather than a rub-on product — understand it before ordering.

See also Herbal Oils & Balms, Nerve & Mobility. Kairali has made Ayurvedic formulations in Kerala since 1908.

Always read the label and directions on the pack you receive, and speak with your physician before starting anything new — particularly if you are pregnant, nursing, managing a health condition or taking prescription medicine.