jihva dhauti

Jihva dhauti, or tongue cleansing, is part of the Ayurvedic oral care routine. Upon waking up examine your tounge— notice, is there a coating on my tongue? Is it dry? Are there bumps? These are indications as to what might be happening in your digestive system.

Before scraping your tongue please practice kavala, similar to oil pulling but calls for less oil, and be careful to not swallow that oil. I like to fill a pint size glass jar with organic sesame oil and add a bottle of Living Libations essential oil blend, “Happy Gum Drops” to it— should last about a month. Shake before each use, take a swig and swish it around in your mouth for 2 minutes, gargle and spit it out and continue on with your oral care routine. This practice tonifies the tissues of the mouth and throat and may draw out debris or toxins.

Now, scrape your tongue five times from back to front and rinse it off— then brush and floss. Your mouth will feel amazing! You can buy a stainless steel tongue scraper or better yet, go to my shop and buy a real silver one— this is more in line with the Ayurvedic tradition and has an added health benefit of leaving behind trace minerals with each scrape.

Tongue cleansing removes the coating that builds up on the tongue which is an accumulation of ama, or toxins. Left untreated, that ama will create foul breath and an altered sense of taste. When practiced regularly it improves taste and aids digestion by improving agni, or one’s digestive fire.

A healthy mouth is essential to properly chew and digest our food over a lifetime!