# Bāṣpa Sveda (Steam-Box Sudation) > Bāṣpa Sveda is steam sudation given in a chamber, with the person seated inside and the head kept outside it. The source record describes twenty to thirty minutes of vapour carrying vāta-hara dravyas, stopped at the signs of adequate sudation. It is a therapist-administered preparatory step, not a home practice. ## Key facts - **Sanskrit name:** Bāṣpa Sveda ## What it is Bāṣpa Sveda is a form of svedana, the sudation or sweating therapies. The source record classes it as a pūrva-karma, a preparatory procedure, in the bāṣpa (vapour) subcategory, and glosses it in English as steam-box sudation. The defining arrangement is that the person sits inside a steam chamber with the head outside it. ## Where it comes from in the classical literature The record cites Caraka Saṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 14. That chapter is the Svedādhyāya, Caraka's chapter on sudation, so the citation is on the right ground. The chapter does describe steam and chamber sudation: among the thirteen fire-based (sāgni) types it lists nāḍī sveda, where vapour from a pitcher of decocted substances reaches the body through a pipe, and jentāka and kuṭī sveda, which are conducted inside a heated building. The specific heading "bāṣpa sveda" is not one of Caraka's thirteen names, so read the citation as covering the procedure class rather than the term. ## What a session involves The record gives three steps: the person is seated in the steam chamber with the head outside; the steam is infused with vāta-hara dravyas; and the exposure runs twenty to thirty minutes, until the signs of samyak-yoga, correct sudation, appear. Caraka Sūtrasthāna 14 describes those signs as relief from the feeling of cold, from pain, stiffness and heaviness, with softness of the body. That endpoint, not the clock, is what the classical text treats as the stopping rule. ## What is used The record names three dravyas for the steam: Daśamūla, Eraṇḍa and Sahacara. It names no oils, no cūrṇa and no equipment beyond the chamber itself. ## Who should avoid it Caraka Sūtrasthāna 14, in the translation consulted, withholds sudation from a substantial list of people, including those who are pregnant, those with bleeding disorders, those in whom pitta predominates, and those with diarrhoea, diabetes, fainting episodes, extreme emaciation or jaundice. This is the classical list and not a modern screening protocol, which is one more reason the procedure belongs with someone trained to take a history first. ## What to ask before booking The record carries no adverse-event data, no red flags, no frequency, no course length and no seasonal guidance, so there is nothing here to quote you on how often it is repeated or when. Reasonable things to establish with the practitioner are how the endpoint will be judged, how the head is kept out of the vapour, and whether any of the classical exclusions above apply to you. --- Canonical version of this page: https://nighantu.ageayurveda.com/practice/baspa-sveda/ Published by Age Ayurveda in the Nighantu. Educational reference only, not medical advice. Incorporates material from the Amidha Ayurveda Herb Database under CC BY 4.0.