Getting to know the neti pot

Recently, my wife had a bad sinus infection. When antibiotics didn't help, she turned to alternative medicine. The one approach that (we think) worked best in helping to clear out her sinuses was the neti pot. If you don't know what a neti pot is (and we didn't before the sinus infection), it's an ancient cleansing technique developed in India and South Asia. In Sanskrit, jala neti, means nasal cleansing with water.

By mixing salt in water and pouring it through the nasal passages, the neti potter clears out mucus and pollen, which is said to help prevent/cure sinusitis and relieve the headaches associated with it.

Before we tried out the pot, we looked on YouTube to see if there were any clips of other potters, figuring there might be one, or possibly two. Turns out, there's a whole neti potter community! Dozens of people looking for their 15-minutes, or, alternatively, people really really passionate about their neti pots. Here are nine that made us giggle.

A neti pot virgin trying it out for the first time on camera.

This gal is pretty eloquent, and does a great job of instructing.

This one definitely takes the award for best soundtrack! Cyber hi-5s to the first person who can name the tune.

Wait, with a watering can??? You go girl!

Another hilarious soundtrack. Love the faces this bloke makes. (Not sure why I thought he was British... but I did.)

That's the exact same neti pot we used, vis-a-vis the blue one you see in some of the other clips. This guy's eyes kill me.

This gal takes the Chipmunk approach, proving that even speeded up, the neti delivers. We especially liked her nose-blowing technique at the end.

The parents seem to be enjoying this more than their kid!

Even a two-year old is getting in on the act!