The Pechora method (sometimes called the Pechoti intake method) is based on the idea that you can absorb substances like essential oils through your belly button. This includes massaging them in for pain relief and relaxation. It’s thought that a gland called the Pechora gland in your navel allows you to absorb substances like CBD oil into your body. However, there’s no evidence that this gland actually exists.
There’s no harm in trying the Pechora method to see what it does for you. Let’s get into whether it works, whether it’s safe, and how to do it if you want to try it.
The Pechora method comes from Ayurveda medicine. Ayurveda is an ancient medicinal practice that originated in India. It focuses on connections between physical and spiritual health.
But there’s no clinical evidence to support the existence of the Pechora gland or any other part of your anatomy that lets you absorb oils through your belly button.
A 2014 review of research on Ayurveda medicine found that there was only one scientific study of Ayurveda medicine out of a collection of more than 7,000 studies.
Almost no research has been done since then. But that doesn’t mean that myths about the Pechoti method haven’t spread.
This belief may be based on the fact that you absorbed nutrients through the navel tissues and the umbilical cord when you were in the womb. Therefore, these same navel tissues could also pass the essential oils, the thinking goes.
But that belief contradicts what actually happens after you’re born and your umbilical cord is cut off.
Once you leave the womb, the flow of blood and fluids through the cord gradually stops. Then, the doctor cuts off the umbilical cord, which is the only method of transmission between mom and baby.
All that’s left behind on your navel after birth are skin tissues and hard, solid ligaments that eventually fall off or seal up. There’s no gland left here that can absorb anything.
