Why self massage is so beneficial
Balance hormones, improve sleep, assist digestion, decrease the effects of ageing with Abyhanga
Artwork by Henri Matisse, from Pinterest
Self massage, in this case called Abhyanga is a practice from the ancient science of Ayurveda. It’s one of the go-to treatments given by practitioners to help with numerous conditions. It’s very calming and soothes the nervous system. We know how stress is responsible for a huge amount of modern day disease so it makes sense that something so soothing is also so healing.
In her book Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life, Dr Claudia Welch says ‘While accupuncture and herbs and even diet can be helpful to counteract stress and its resulting hormonal imbalance, often there is no medicine - except pranayama - the affects the nervous system quite as rapidly as the regular practice of abhyanga.’
Classic texts from Ayurveda state that the benefits of Abhyanga:
Decreases the effects of ageing
Reduces anxiety
Helps to regulate sleep
Maintain flexibility in the body
Imparts softness, strength and colour to the body
Nourishes the skin
Assists digestion
Balances hormones and therefore helpful for symptoms during menopause
While sometimes we may find it hard to believe that a simple practice like self massage can help with such a range of quite serious health concerns, we need to consider that the skin is the largest organ in the body and we feel sensations on our skin. When warm oil massaged into the skin it calms the nervous system. When the nervous system is less hyper-vigilant the body is less likely to release stress hormones.
Overtime, the release of less and less stress hormones means the endocrine system may be able to regain balance. However, please do keep in mind that I really don’t want to promote any practice to be a magical cure-all! But in my opinion, anything that is calming on the nervous system and does no harm is worthwhile to include in your self-care regime.
This is just another way that we can get out of the way of the body’s own natural intelligence to heal its self.
Abyhanga during winter
Vata is sometimes described as ‘air’ and its characteristics are dry, cold and rough. As winter in often dry (not so far this year!) and cold, then you can see why vata is heightened in winter. The practice of warm oil on the skin is a perfect antidote to vata.
What oil should I use?
This may depend on your own constitution as well as the time of year. As the air is now cooler then black sesame oil is recommended as it’s very warming. If you tend to get warm easily and have pitta dominance in your constitution then you can use a more neutral oil like sweet almond oil, and when it’s particularly warm then coconut oil is cooling.
How do I do it?
You will need about half a cup of oil. Put it in a heat resistant jar and then place the jar in hot water. When the oil feels warm enough you’re ready to go. It’s better to lean towards ‘too warm’ than ‘just warm’ as the oil being warm is really what this is about.
Sit on an old towel and simply apply the oil to your whole body. You can start at the extremities and work towards the middle using long strokes on the limbs and circular stokes on the joints.
The great thing is, there’s not so much concern about your massage technique, but more the process of covering the body in warm oil - so you can’t really get it wrong.
Massage for around 5 - 20 minutes.
You don’t have to massage your head if you weren’t planning on washing your hair, but occasionally this is nice to do. A shower cap might be useful here!
After your massage have a warm shower and allow the water to wash the oil off your skin.
I definitely recommend having several old towels that you don’t mind getting ruined. It can be helpful to use an old face washer to wipe over your skin first to remove the bulk of the oil.
How often should I do it?
While some texts recommend doing Abhyanga every day, this isn’t realistic for most of us. Once, maybe twice a week is great. If you find that you love it and drawn to doing it more often then that’s wonderful!
This is one of the practices that we’ll take over our Winter Reset. I’m putting my hand up now to say that I get slack with Abyhanga but whenever I get back into it I remember how good it makes me feel.
It may be hard to believe that such a lovely practice can be so beneficial. Unlike other practices, which make us feel great after the fact - such as ice baths, not eating some favourite foods, and some forms of exercise , Abhyanga is truly a luxurious thing to do!
Have a great week,
Sarah
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