Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Winter Survival Tip #1: Abyanga (Daily Sesame Oil Self-Massage with Warmed Oil)

Are you feeling cold and brittle as the temperature outside drops to -10??

Ayurveda to the rescue!  Ayurveda is the Indian approach to wellness and has much to offer in terms of self-care and balance.  Today in class I shared the practice of abyanga that I've been doing this week under guidance from my ayurvedic consultant, Kathryn Templeton in CT.  I also came across a letter from my sister-in-law, Carla Danly who is studying ayurveda and she says this about abyanga:
 
Performing abyanga (daily sesame oil self-massage with warmed oil) which is an ayurvedic treatment for vata imbalance (too much vata) [We are in the vata season from Nov-Feb and have a tendency to go out of balance in vata].  The idea is that vata's being sensitive to increased nervous energy in cold, windy weather [and can be soothed by applying warmed oil to the body to calm the central nervous system].   

[Kathy here: This is how you do it: warm up the bathroom, undress and use a dry-skin brush to brush the skin from the periphery to the heart brushing along the long bones.  Systematically brush the entire body, brushing clockwise on the belly.  This stimulates the skin to release toxins.  Then take warm sesame oil (I filled up the sink with hot water and put the sesame oil bottle in the water while I brushed), then apply the warm oil from the periphery to the core and rub the joints in circles vigorously.  Spend about 20 minutes on this self-massage and then run a warm shower or bath.  For the last 30 seconds (or in my case 5 seconds) of the shower, turn the water to cold and do a refreshing cold rinse.  Truly invigorating, but the deep penetrating warmth remains].

Carla goes on to say: The cumulative effects of this treatment over time is that the oil is initially absorbed by the skin, making it softer/smoother, then into the muscle tissue, making the muscles more supple (helps lots with yoga), then the oil is absorbed by the joints, improving the quality of the synovial fluid.  Ayurveda recognizes the knees as an area with nodules like lymph nodes which collect toxins for removal from the body so the knees are an area for concentration with the oil massage (one should also emphasize the lymph node of the neck and armpit).  The oil is also absorbed through the abdominal wall into the intestines where it improves digestion....  On particularly cold days I really appreciated the hot oil on the back of the neck, the ears and the lumbar and sacral areas of the back.  The whole business completely changed the nature of Michigan winter for me... (that and my #4 merino wool Patagonia long johns!)... I never found winter unpleasant at all, not physically, not emotionally.  
Kathy here again:  Give it a try; it's wonderful.  And for a little while at least, Radha Crawley is still here and she specializes in ayurvedic massage.  I'm going to get sirodhana hot oil massage (oil flows down to the third eye and it's supposed to be sublime) before she moves to Sedona, AZ.  We will miss her in so many ways.  She's also hosting a warm spa night on Friday which will be a total winter treat.

Blessings for warmth!
Kathy


No comments:

Post a Comment