I decided to get my copper bottle out again. It’s summer, it’s getting warm, and copper is an ancient Ayurvedic tradition; water from a copper bottle takes on different properties. I’d done it before and it went fine. So why not?
The first two days were fine. I drank from it whilst building the yurt – lovely and refreshing.
On the third day, I was sitting in the shade for a moment, feeling thirsty after a morning of sanding, and took a couple of big gulps. Immediately afterwards, a wave of nausea washed over me. My mouth started to water in the way it does just before I’m about to vomit. “What’s going on here?” I thought.
I thought it might be the water, but couldn’t think of why. Later that day, when I was back home, I took two more sips, and the same thing happened again. Nauseous, a watering mouth, that feeling of almost having to throw up. This was clearly the bottle, but why?
After a bit of Googling, I did find some information about copper bottles and oxidation, but I wasn’t entirely convinced.
I had a mentoring session with my Ayurveda teacher, regarding completely different questions about a client where I needed the advice of a more experienced Ayurveda expert.
At the end, I told her this story. And she said straight away: copper and too much pitta don’t mix. Copper irritates pitta. And with that week’s heatwave and the tablets for my kidneys, my pitta is on the edge.
And then I remembered a lesson from a few years ago about how women with a pitta constitution shouldn’t use a copper IUD. It often leads to heavy periods, chronic lower back pain, all sorts of things. The copper has an effect. For the first two days, my body could still cope with the copper, but it built up, and by day 3, it was too much.
What you eat and drink from a copper pot, an iron pan or a plastic bottle – it does make a difference. Iron can help with anaemia. Copper can irritate pitta. Plastic contains microplastics. The material that food is stored in or cooked in has an effect.
Just because something is Ayurvedic, ancient and wise, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea for everyone at all times.
Sometimes it simply makes you feel sick or unwell.
Lots of love,
Rianne
