# Brain flossing

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-flossing/109909>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 20, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-flossing/109909 "2002-05-20T04:58:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DaveoRad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@DaveoRad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveoRad)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-flossing/109909/1 "2002-05-20T04:58:48Z")

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[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_050.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_050.html)

"If you are genuinely desirous of probing your innards with twine, I can suggest an alternative yogic exercise called _sutra neti_, which involves a dampened, waxed string that you snort through one nostril. After a few days practice, it is claimed, you should be able to inhale the string with such velocity that you can fish the far end out of your mouth.

“With both ends in hand, you can then engage in the practice of _gharshana-neti_, or string rubbing, which apparently is something like playing the Jew’s-harp. Picture it: nasal floss! I guarantee, it’ll be a day the gang in the car pool won’t soon forget.”

My college friends used to call this “brain flossing”. It’s OK – I don’t think any of my friends ever tried it. Apparently it was all the rage among punk rockers, who allegedly used a chain instead of a waxed string. Somehow I get the idea that the whole thing was an urban legend. (Not the yogic exercise, but the “brain flossing” thing.)

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-flossing/109909/2 "2002-05-21T02:16:32Z")

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Well, it’s apparently a real, if not terribly “fun” thing, IMO.

Google, “sutra neti”, it’s all over the place.  
[http://www.rainbowbody.net/Purity/SutraNeti.htm](http://www.rainbowbody.net/Purity/SutraNeti.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> Sutra Neti (Nasal String Cleansing Technique)
> 
> Sutra Neti is one of classic Shat Karmas (Six Cleansing Activities) of ancient Hatha Yoga. Its benefits are extolled by the great treatises on Hatha Yoga and Yoga Hygiene as an important synergist in accelerating the yogic process. Although water cleansing or bathing of the nasal cavities mechanically removes dust, irritants, and impurities from the nasal passages and is thus beneficially soothing, Sutra Neti goes further in stimulating and tonifying the nerves, glands, and organs of the entire nasal and cranial area including the eyes, sinuses, ears, and cranium. For centuries it has been a specific treatment in India for sluggishness, sinus headaches, congestion, eye and ear complaints, heaviness of the head, excess kapha (mucus), lack of alertness, opening of the third eye, and the like.

Think I’ll allow my Third Eye to stay closed, thank you very much. 😃