How to do oil pulling: gandusha and kavala, step by step

Oil pulling is having a moment on the internet, and most of what circulates gets the tradition backwards — wrong oil, wrong duration, and claims the classical texts never made. Here is the practice as Ayurveda actually describes it, stripped of the hype, so you can try it properly and decide for yourself.

What are gandusha and kavala?

They are two related mouth rituals from classical Ayurveda. In gandusha, the mouth is filled almost completely with oil and simply held — no swishing, because there is no room to swish. In kavala, you take a smaller amount and move it slowly around the mouth. What the internet calls “oil pulling” is essentially kavala, and it is the easier of the two to start with.

The texts describe these as part of dinacharya — the daily morning routine — alongside tongue scraping and abhyanga, the oil massage we have written about before. One framing note before we go further: Ayurveda’s descriptions are the tradition’s own map. We repeat them here as tradition, not as a set of promises from us.

Which oil does the tradition actually name?

Sesame — and specifically krishna tila, black sesame, is the variety the classical texts hold highest. Coconut-oil pulling is a modern adaptation that spread because coconut tastes milder; there is nothing wrong with preferring it, but it is not the classical choice. We have laid out the full comparison on our best oil for oil pulling page.

If you want to do the practice the way it was written down, use a Truly Cold Pressed black sesame oil — unrefined, so the oil still tastes and behaves the way the texts assumed it would. Refined, deodorised sesame is a different substance wearing the same name.

How do you do kavala, step by step?

1. Do it first thing in the morning, before tea, before breakfast, after scraping your tongue. Tradition places it on an empty stomach.
2. Take about one tablespoon of oil. Less is fine when you start. Your mouth should feel comfortably loose, not full.
3. Move it slowly. This is not mouthwash — no vigorous gargling. Let it travel around the teeth and cheeks at an unhurried pace.
4. Start with five minutes. The often-quoted twenty minutes is a destination, not a starting point. Five minutes on day one is genuinely enough; work upward over weeks if you enjoy it.
5. Spit it into the bin, not the sink. Oil sets in drains and clogs them. A tissue in the dustbin is the practical route.
6. Rinse with warm water, then carry on with brushing as normal.

What should you expect it to feel like?

Honestly: strange for the first few days, then oddly pleasant. The jaw works harder than you expect — if it aches, you took too much oil or swished too vigorously. Most people describe the after-feeling simply: the mouth feels clean, warm and settled. That sensory experience is the only outcome we will promise, because it is the only one we can.

What does oil pulling NOT do?

It does not replace brushing, flossing or your dentist — the texts never asked anyone to stop cleaning their teeth, and neither do we. And the popular claim that the oil “draws impurities out of the body” is modern marketing language, not something we can stand behind. The classical framing is simpler and more modest: a daily oil ritual for the mouth, valued for how it makes the mouth feel. If a seller needs dramatic claims to sell you sesame oil, they are telling you something about their sesame oil.

Three practical notes before you start

• Do not swallow the oil — spit all of it out when you finish.
• Small children should not do this; the practice assumes an adult’s control over swallowing.
• Unrefined oil has sediment, and that is normal. Our oils are pressed slowly in a wooden ghani and left unfiltered beyond a simple settling, so a little cloudiness at the bottom of the bottle is the oil being itself — here is how to store it well.

Five minutes, one tablespoon, black sesame, spit in the bin. That is the whole practice — quieter than the internet version, and much closer to the original.