Chapter 3A.

 Art of Loving Thyself.

 Drinking Water.

There are lot of confusing and contradicting theories about this; starting from do not drink water unless you are thirsty to drink 3 to 4 liters of water in a day. Actually the quantity could be different from person to person and it could depend on which day of the lunar calendar it is. You have to take interest in the procedure and be your own doctor. That is loving yourself and it is a stress buster.

 To start the day it is commonly recommended that you should drink 1 to 1.25 liters or 4 to 5 glasses of water (उषःपान). If you try to go into the details to find a universal healthy solution, it will lead you nowhere. Start your day with one glass of plain water and increase it gradually to about 750 ml if it suits you and your body accepts it without any bad reaction.

The temperature of the water should vary as per the season. Drinking water to start your day is certainly not harmful.

For deciding the quantity, you have to connect with yourself and listen to the body signals. Within a months’ time you may settle on 3 glasses of water without any complication. You have to decide your own quantity of water good for you by trial and error method.

 The quantity should be adequate for a good bowel movement and for flushing the kidneys. Try to urinate in a sitting position like squatting. It is good for men and women both. It may not be possible every time and everywhere but avoid urinating in a standing position or by sitting on a commode whenever you get a chance.

 The water you drink in the morning should not cause a running nose or frequent sneezing. Never drink water in standing position. Always sit down and then drink water. Prefer hot water in winter but not cold water in summer. Even in summer it is always good to drink water at room temperature. To make things more interesting and useful you can choose three glasses of water to drink from varieties like Plain water at room temperature, Plain warm water or Plain hot water.

Since you have decided to love yourself and give time for yourself, you can change your three glasses with interesting recipes.

Plain water with lemon slices in it.

Slice a lemon into small pieces and put it in about 1 liter of water in stainless steel or glass pot. Keep it for about 24 hours and drink it with everyone in the family. If the water is not finished after having one glass each then remove the lemon slices and consume the water during the day. The lemon skin has much more vitamin C and other useful ingredients than plain lemon juice. Put the lemon skin in the bathing water and rub it on the scalp and body.

 Plain water with fresh lemon juice and one tea spoon of honey at room temperature.

Never take honey with anything hot and never make honey warm or cold. Honey should not be taken if you are diabetic.

Water charged with copper, silver and gold.

This can be prepared by boiling about 1 liter of water in a copper vessel with 60 grams pure silver and 30 grams pure gold. Boil the water like this on a low flame till about one fourth water is boiled off. If you are going to prepare water like this every day for the family, then you can have it hot. If you cannot finish it every day then you can have a glass of water from it at room temperature every day. After the water cools down you can add few Rudraksha in it. This charged water is useful for many ailments. Otherwise, it could be a good tonic. One thing is for sure; it does not have any adverse effects either on you or on the gold and silver.