The Benefits of Shilajit
The Benefits of Shilajit
Shilajit, pronounced “sheel-a-jeet,” is a dark, sticky mineral substance that exudes from the rocks of high mountainous regions during the heat of summer.
It may be surprising to learn that a sticky black excretion from rocks would have any health benefits, but shilajit has been used as a health-promoting ally around the world for over 3,000 years and is even considered a panacea by some.1 It is especially known for its powerful rejuvenating effects in the body, which help to support the immune system and support healthy aging, among many other incredible benefits.
Shilajit Uses and Benefits
Shilajit is an incredible ally for the entire body.6 It can be used to gently detoxify the tissues, but it also has a strengthening, nourishing, and building quality. This combination makes shilajit a highly prized supplement for almost everyone that offers a number of benefits:
- Cleanses and detoxifies: Shilajit initiates gentle detoxification throughout the body, helping to purify the blood, remove excess kapha, and maintain a healthy weight.
- Revitalizes the immune system: The rejuvenating quality of shilajit strengthens the natural function of the immune system and promotes the health of the lungs and respiratory tract.
- Supports the kidneys and urinary tract: Shilajit rejuvenates the urinary tract and helps maintain strong kidney function.
- Promotes healthy blood sugar: It helps maintain balanced blood sugar levels already in the normal range.
- Aids reproductive health: Shilajit is known to strengthen the reproductive system, tone the reproductive organs, and revitalize the libido.
- Fortifies the bones: It strengthens the tissue of the skeletal system to support strong and healthy bones.
- Promotes abundant energy: As a powerful rejuvenative, shilajit brings energy, vitality, and stamina.
- Supports healthy aging: Often recognized as a panacea of health, shilajit promotes health, longevity, and a youthful glow.
- Enhances digestion and absorption: Shilajit supports the healthy absorption of nutrients and can even help magnify the potency of other herbs.
Shilajit in Ayurveda
Shilajit includes four of the six Ayurvedic tastes—pungent, bitter, salty, and astringent—and carries a pungent, heating energy, or virya. While it is considered balancing for all three doshas of vata, pitta, and kapha, its gentle heating nature can
Shilajit has an affinity for the mutra vaha srota (urinary system), where it helps to clear the stagnation of kapha, tone vata, and stimulate the flow of apana vayu through the pelvic region. It also strengthens the kidneys, a vital part of the greater urinary system.
Shilajit also has a powerful effect on the medas dhatu (fat tissue) and the ambuvaha srotas (the channels of water) throughout the body, helping to regulate healthy weight and maintain well-balanced blood sugar levels in the normal range.
In the reproductive system (shukra dhatu), shilajit is renowned for supporting the health and function of the ovaries and testes. As a rasayana, it has a nourishing and replenishing quality that benefits the tissues of the entire reproductive system, protecting them from excess vata, premature degeneration, and general weakness.
Considering shilajit’s high mineral content and its ability to support so many systems and tissue layers in the body, it is no surprise that shilajit is considered an adaptogenic herb, making it a wonderful ally for supporting the adrenals and healthy energy levels while it helps your body cope with stress.
Traditionally, shilajit is known as yoga vahi—which means “joining carrier”—because of its ability to carry and drive nutrients deep into the body so they can work most effectively. As a yoga vahi, shilajit can be taken with other herbs and supplements to enhance their effectiveness.
The Benefits of Shilajit
Shilajit, pronounced “sheel-a-jeet,” is a dark, sticky mineral substance that exudes from the rocks of high mountainous regions during the heat of summer.
It may be surprising to learn that a sticky black excretion from rocks would have any health benefits, but shilajit has been used as a health-promoting ally around the world for over 3,000 years and is even considered a panacea by some.1 It is especially known for its powerful rejuvenating effects in the body, which help to support the immune system and support healthy aging, among many other incredible benefits.
In this article:
- What Is Shilajit?
- Shilajit Uses and Benefits
- How to Take Shilajit
- Modern Research on Shilajit
- Is Shilajit Safe?
- The Sourcing and Processing of Banyan's Shilajit
What Is Shilajit?
Translated from Sanskrit, shilajit means “the destroyer of weakness,”2 which speaks to its incredible ability to bring strength and rejuvenation to the body. Unlike most of our herbal products, this tar-like material is not actually harvested directly from a plant.
Shilajit is created from the slow decomposition of plant material over many centuries, deep in the rocks of high mountainous regions across the world.
As it develops, it becomes a sticky, mineral-infused substance. Eventually, stimulated by the intense heat of summer, it seeps out through the rocks, finally available to harvest. This process of creation explains some of its other names, such as “blood of the mountains,” “mineral pitch,” and “juice of rock.”3
One of the reasons that shilajit is such a powerful healing substance is that it is packed with beneficial minerals, including silica, iron, calcium, copper, lithium, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, sodium, and zinc.4 Not only is shilajit rich in organic trace minerals (in this case, “organic” means plant-derived), but it also contains fulvic acid, humic acid, amino acids, and plant-based antioxidants.5
Shilajit Uses and Benefits
Shilajit is an incredible ally for the entire body.6 It can be used to gently detoxify the tissues, but it also has a strengthening, nourishing, and building quality. This combination makes shilajit a highly prized supplement for almost everyone that offers a number of benefits:
- Cleanses and detoxifies: Shilajit initiates gentle detoxification throughout the body, helping to purify the blood, remove excess kapha, and maintain a healthy weight.
- Revitalizes the immune system: The rejuvenating quality of shilajit strengthens the natural function of the immune system and promotes the health of the lungs and respiratory tract.
- Supports the kidneys and urinary tract: Shilajit rejuvenates the urinary tract and helps maintain strong kidney function.
- Promotes healthy blood sugar: It helps maintain balanced blood sugar levels already in the normal range.
- Aids reproductive health: Shilajit is known to strengthen the reproductive system, tone the reproductive organs, and revitalize the libido.
- Fortifies the bones: It strengthens the tissue of the skeletal system to support strong and healthy bones.
- Promotes abundant energy: As a powerful rejuvenative, shilajit brings energy, vitality, and stamina.
- Supports healthy aging: Often recognized as a panacea of health, shilajit promotes health, longevity, and a youthful glow.
- Enhances digestion and absorption: Shilajit supports the healthy absorption of nutrients and can even help magnify the potency of other herbs.
Shilajit in Ayurveda
Shilajit includes four of the six Ayurvedic tastes—pungent, bitter, salty, and astringent—and carries a pungent, heating energy, or virya. While it is considered balancing for all three doshas of vata, pitta, and kapha, its gentle heating nature can become aggravating for pitta if used in excess.7
Shilajit tablets
Shilajit has an affinity for the mutra vaha srota (urinary system), where it helps to clear the stagnation of kapha, tone vata, and stimulate the flow of apana vayu through the pelvic region. It also strengthens the kidneys, a vital part of the greater urinary system.
Shilajit also has a powerful effect on the medas dhatu (fat tissue) and the ambuvaha srotas (the channels of water) throughout the body, helping to regulate healthy weight and maintain well-balanced blood sugar levels in the normal range.
In the reproductive system (shukra dhatu), shilajit is renowned for supporting the health and function of the ovaries and testes. As a rasayana, it has a nourishing and replenishing quality that benefits the tissues of the entire reproductive system, protecting them from excess vata, premature degeneration, and general weakness.
Knowing this, you may ask, is shilajit is a good choice for post-partum rejuvenation? According to Ayurveda—absolutely!
Thanks to its high mineral content, shilajit is also highly supportive of rakta dhatu (blood) and asthi dhatu (bone), helping to nourish healthy blood and build strong, resilient bones.
On a broader scale, shilajit supports natural cleansing of any accumulated stagnation or toxicity, while also building and rejuvenating healthy tissues throughout the body. Through these actions, it is a powerful ally for balancing all three doshas.
Considering shilajit’s high mineral content and its ability to support so many systems and tissue layers in the body, it is no surprise that shilajit is considered an adaptogenic herb, making it a wonderful ally for supporting the adrenals and healthy energy levels while it helps your body cope with stress.
Traditionally, shilajit is known as yoga vahi—which means “joining carrier”—because of its ability to carry and drive nutrients deep into the body so they can work most effectively. As a yoga vahi, shilajit can be taken with other herbs and supplements to enhance their effectiveness.
How to Take Shilajit
Because taste plays such an important role in the digestive process and signals the body to initiate its own supportive mechanisms, Ayurveda traditionally recommends tasting herbs, and ingesting them in a powdered form when possible.
Because shilajit is not like a regular herb, and comes in the form of a dense sticky substance, Banyan Botanicals does not offer it in a powdered form. Instead, our shilajit is available in tablet-form for an easy and convenient way to take the substance internally.
Banyan provides tablets rather than capsules so that you can get a good taste of the herb, in traditional Ayurvedic style, if you so desire. But you will receive all the same benefits simply by swallowing the tablets. Many find this method preferable, as shilajit has a distinctly potent taste and smell.
Shilajit tablets are an easy supplement to use in your daily routine. The general recommendation is to take 1–2 tablets, once or twice daily, but we encourage you to consult with a healthcare practitioner to determine the dose that is ideal for you.
Taking Shilajit with Other Herbs
Shilajit works wonders on its own, and as a yoga vahi, it can be taken in combination with other herbs to enhance their effects.
When taking shilajit with ashwagandha, its rejuvenative qualities have a specific affinity for the male reproductive system. This combination also supports a strong, stable nervous system.8
Taking shilajit with shatavari and licorice is specifically beneficial for the female reproductive organs, soothing, nourishing and toning the entire system. It also strengthens and supports a calm, stable nervous system.9
Modern Research on Shilajit
There have been quite a few studies performed in order to research and report the health promoting benefits of shilajit. Among others, these studies have included investigations into shilajit’s positive impact on the health of the central nervous system, testosterone levels, maintaining strong immune function, and overcoming fatigue. Here are a few examples:
- "Clinical Evaluation of Purified Shilajit on Testosterone Levels in Healthy Volunteers." PubMed Abstract. Sept 2014.10
- "Safety and Efficacy of Shilajit." PubMed Abstract. Apr 2014.11
- "Shilajit: A Natural Phytocomplex with Potential Procognitive Activity." PubMed Abstract. Feb 2012.12
How to Take Shilajit
Shilajit tablets are an easy supplement to use in your daily routine. The general recommendation is to take 1–2 tablets, once or twice daily, but we encourage you to consult with a healthcare practitioner to determine the dose that is ideal for you.
