Tamara Jal in Ayurveda

My kalash – a vessel for storing water for tamara jal (copper water)

I’m pretty certain I mentioned a while back that I had started drinking copper water, which in Ayurveda is called ‘tamara jal’. Water that’s been infused with copper is an old Ayurveda practice that adherents believe boosts healing, stimulates the brain and promotes clear thinking, regulates the function of the thyroid gland, and help alleviate anemia. It’s reported benefits in battling anemia – which I’ve grappled with my whole life – are what drew me to it.

I haven’t had a blood test in over a year, but my last check showed moderate anemia that had worsened since the prior test 2 years before. Anemia is tough to live with. Like my mother, I inherited a body that blocks iron absorption and sometimes feels weak and burned-out, and a brain that is sometimes dazed. Symptoms always worsen during my period and for days after it has ended. Feeling faint or actually fainting after standing up is not unusual.

I’ve done the Feosol thing, the sublingual B12 thing: I’ve not yet taken injections. I’m still hoping that I’ll happen upon something that will help absorb the iron that’s present in my body that won’t require me to go to a clinic once a week. Copper is a mineral that is said to do that.

Ayurveda experts also say that tamara jal helps with weight maintenance, wound healing, and melanin production. Some enthusiasts say tamara jal fights cancer.

I’ve never been a fan of wonder cures. I doubt that tamara jal can do anything to slow down a beast like cancer. I also don’t believe it will clear plaque from arteries and lower cholesterol (you CAN easily do that, though, by eliminating animal products from your food choices). I do know that copper is a vital mineral necessary for many body processes. The next time I have my blood checked, we’ll see if tamara jal has been at all helpful.

I had my kalash sent from an Ayurveda supplier in Jaipur, India. If you decide to try tamara jal, make sure to get a pure copper vessel, not copper mixed with other metals. One way to tell is to know that copper is a very soft metal and difficult to bend into shapes.

So if your kalash is intricately carved, it’s probably not pure copper. My kalash in the photo above is nicely hammered, but otherwise simply shaped. I also have a thermos kalash that is very simple in design.

The water (I use spring, not tap) should be in the kalash at least 8 hours before you drink it. Copper leaches into the water very slowly. I drink one to two cups a day. It’s said that you should not drink more than three cups of tamara jal a day.

In (indoor) garden news, the banana plants are getting awfully big. They’re exceeding my expectations in development, but now there’s a new problem: where do I put them? They’ve been thriving under the grow lights, but they’re getting too big to fit underneath. I love having this problem, but I better get a plan in place. The banana trees are taking over.

While surfing the Internet this morning, I came across a retail advertisement for a holographic lamp that projects the head of the Buddha, in blue light, from its base. The ad read something like, “The perfect gift for all your Buddhist friends”.

Buddhism has become big business. A lot of money is being made on items that we can surround ourselves with that holler Buddhism. Clothes and art, lamps and furniture, jewelry and incense burners, coffee mugs and dog collars, meditation ‘supplies’ and tattoos, bumper stickers and phone cases, and on and on.

But here’s the thing: Buddhists are not supposed to groove on material things. That advertisement made me sad. A life-sized, holographic Buddha head? Oh, ick.

Tell you what: take the money that might have been spent on something as purposeless as a holographic Buddha, and put it toward a meditation retreat at a local temple. Donate it to the monks. Or register for a class. Or give it to someone who isn’t as blessed as we are. They may need to pay a bill, or get some food.

Live in peace.