U
urine therapy In Ayurvedic medicine, the practice
of drinking, injecting, or externally applying one’s
own urine as a treatment for certain ailments or as
a way of promoting health. Also called amaroli,
urine therapy is part of the yoga and tantra tradition
and is said to cleanse the body of impurities and
encourage spiritual growth. Among the ailments
some claim are treatable with urine therapy are
asthma, flu, tuberculosis, toothache, allergies, heart
disease, dysentery, edema, eye irritation, fatigue,
fever, smallpox, infertility, hepatitis, Kaposi’s sar-
coma, morning sickness, depression, jaundice,
tetanus, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, baldness,
gonorrhea, leprosy, typhus, rheumatism, gastric
ulcer, lymphatic disorder, bone fractures, chicken-
pox, pneumonia, hangover, common cold, sore
throat, eczema, psoriasis, insect and snake bites,
nettle sting, sea hedgehog sting, herpes simplex,
sunburn, and skin cancer. A urine mask may be
prepared for general skin care, and drinking urine is
considered a spiritual practice that strengthens the
immune system. Yogis, Ayurvedic practitioners, and
others who espouse urine therapy say urine is ster-
ile, has antiseptic properties, and contains harmless
and nourishing components, as opposed to its being
a toxic end or waste product of digestion. Its avail-
ability and lack of cost are also factors enthusiasts
point out. Urine therapy has been practiced for
thousands of years in the East, as evidenced by an
approximately 5,000-year-old document describing
Ayurvedic herbs and practices. Part of the docu-
ment, called “Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi,” which refers
to “the method of drinking urine in order to reju-
venate,” is named for Shiva (auspiciousness), the
highest god in the Hindu pantheon. “Shivambu”
means “the water of Shiva.”
Urine therapy has also long been practiced in
Western cultures including those of the ancient
Romans and Greeks. Various uses of urine may be
found in the following sources: the German ency-
clopedia Johann Heinrich Zedler’s Grossen Vollstandi-
gen Universallexikonof 1747; The Water of Life, by
John W. Armstrong (Saffron Walden, England:
Health Science Press, first edition 1944, 1990);
Auto-Urine Cure, by R. V. Karlekar (Bombay, India:
Shree Gajanan Book Depot Prakashan, 1969); Mir-
acles of Urine Therapy, by Dr. C. P. Mithal (New
Delhi, India: Pankaj Publications, 1978); Urine
Therapy; Self-Healing through Intrinsic Medicine, by Dr.
John F. O’Quinn (Fort Pierce, Fla.: Life Science
Institute, 1982); Your Own Perfect Medicine: The
Incredible Proven Natural Miracle Cure That Medical
Science Has Never Revealed!, by Martha M. Christy
(Scottsdale, Ariz.: Future Med, Inc., 1994); The
Golden Fountain: The Complete Guide to Urine Therapy,
by Coen van der Kroon (Swallcliffe, United King-
dom: Amethyst Books, 1996).
The examination of urine—urinalysis—is inte-
gral in Eastern and Western medical practices, par-
ticularly as a diagnostic test. Color, odor, amount,
clarity, and other characteristics are observed while
tests for acidity, alkalinity, toxins, microorganisms,
proteins, and other measurements are performed
by adding a sample of urine to certain chemicals or
substances and obtaining results. In Ayurvedic med-
icine the oil drop test requires one drop of sesame
oil per urine sample. Practitioners say that if the
drop spreads immediately, the patient’s ailment will
be easy to treat, if it sinks to the middle of the sam-
ple, the ailment will be difficult to treat, and if it
sinks to the bottom, the ailment will be more diffi-
cult. However, if the drop creates wavelike move-
ments on the surface of the sample, a vata(one of
the three doshas, or body types, set forth in
Ayurveda) disorder is indicated. A pittadisorder is
indicated if the drop disperses on the surface of the155