Netra Basti is a bath for the eyes. A ring of dough around each eye socket is filled with warm, clarified butter, and you open and close your eyes in it. It sounds strange and feels wonderful. I give it to people who spend their days looking at screens.
What Netra Basti is
You lie on your back. I build a soft dough ring around one eye, pour in warm medicated ghee, and ask you to blink slowly and look in different directions while it rests there for ten to fifteen minutes. Then the other eye. The treatment is bracketed by a face and head massage, so the muscles around the eyes let go as well. Vision is soft for a short while afterwards.
Where it comes from
Netra means eye in Sanskrit. Netra Basti (also called Netra Tarpana, which means nourishing the eyes) is a classical Ayurvedic treatment for the eyes, described for dryness, strain and weakness of sight. Ghee is the traditional medium because Ayurveda regards it as the most nourishing substance for the eyes and the nervous system. Sushruta describes tarpana, the retention of ghee around the eyes, in the chapter on eye therapies [1].
What it is for
What people come to me for:
- Dry, burning or tired eyes from screens
- Eye strain and tension headaches that start behind the eyes
- Light sensitivity
- Puffy, dark or tired-looking eyes
- Contact lens wearers who want to give their eyes a rest
Screen-related eye strain is well described; the American Optometric Association calls it computer vision syndrome and recommends regular breaks [2]. I know of no controlled trial of Netra Basti itself. The US National Institutes of Health summarises the research on Ayurveda as a whole [3].
How often to come
This depends on why you come. These are the rhythms I suggest most often; we settle on yours at the intake.
| If you come for | I suggest |
|---|
| Screen strain and dryness | A course of three to five sessions, one a week |
| Maintenance for heavy screen users | Once a month |
| Before or after a stressful period | A single session helps noticeably |
What to combine it with
Treatments that work well alongside it:
And at home, in the days around the treatment:
- Ghee in cooking, or a teaspoon in warm milk in the evening
- Less coffee and fewer late screens in the course weeks
- The 20-20-20 rule at work: every twenty minutes, look twenty metres away for twenty seconds
- Soaked almonds in the morning, an old Ayurvedic habit for the eyes
The 20-20-20 rule comes from the American Optometric Association [2].
Practical
60 minutes, €90. Amsterdam city centre, by appointment. Come without eye make-up and without contact lenses.
- Eat lightly, and nothing heavy in the ninety minutes before.
- Tell me beforehand about pain, injuries, pregnancy or conditions you are being treated for.
- Keep the rest of the day easy if you can. The body is warm and open, so a hat helps on cold days.
When not to book
Better to wait, or to choose another treatment, with:
- An eye infection or conjunctivitis
- A recent eye operation
- A cold with blocked sinuses
Let me know about any eye condition you are being treated for.
Afterwards
Leave the eyes alone rather than rubbing them. Give them a few hours without screens or bright light, with sunglasses outside, and skip eye make-up that day.
Booking
Before a first treatment I suggest an Ayurvedic consultation of forty minutes for €90, so I know which oil and which treatment fit you. If you already know what you want, write to me or book directly.
Before a first visit, read the preparation notes and contraindications and the cancellation and rescheduling policy.
References
Numbers in square brackets in the text point to the entries below. Journal references are given in the National Library of Medicine style; each was checked against the Crossref and PubMed registries.
- Srikantha Murthy KR, translator. Susruta Samhita. Vol. 3. Varanasi: Chaukhambha Orientalia; 2004. Uttaratantra, chapter 18 (Kriyakalpa): tarpana, the retention of medicated ghee around the eyes.
- American Optometric Association. Computer vision syndrome. St. Louis (MO): AOA. [AOA]
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Ayurvedic medicine: in depth. Bethesda (MD): National Institutes of Health. [NCCIH]
The frequencies and combinations above are my general advice from practice, not medical treatment. If you are being treated for a condition, tell your doctor and tell me.