Daily Oil Massage

What is Ayurveda? Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine native to India where its earliest roots are found to evolve from the mid-second millennium BCE, the Vedic period.

In Sanskrit, words Āyus means “longevity” and veda means “knowledge” or “science”, therefore together you have the “knowledge of life”.

In short, as early as the Mahābhārata period, ayurveda was called “the science of eight components”. These are:

Internal medicine (Kāya-cikitsā)
Eye and ENT (Śālākya tantra)
Bhūta vidyā has been called psychiatry
Toxicology (Agadatantram)
Pediatrics (Kaumārabhṛtyam)
Surgery (Śalya-cikitsā)
Prevention of diseases and improving immunity and rejuvenation (rasayana)
Aphrodisiacs and improving health of progeny (Vajikaranam)

Of these eight components we will focus on number 7:

The prevention of diseases and improving immunity and “rejuvenation”.

1. Daily Oil Massage:

Per Week: 3 times a week

Benefits:

Reduces stress.
Removes the accumulation of toxins (digestive and environmental) from your skin.
Markedly improves the texture and elasticity of your skin.

Ingredients:

Cured sesame oil: If not cured just simply place a drop of water in the oil and wait for the drop of water to pop – then it is cured.
Organic coconut oil for people who produce a lot of body heat, get rashes easily, or are susceptible to inflammatory conditions. Coconut oil does not have to be cured.

Time limit:

5-30 minutes.

Procedure:

1. Place 1/2 cup of oil in a small plastic bottle.

2. Heat up oil by running it under hot water in the sink.

3. Once oil is warm, begin massaging scalp and face.

4. Move to the arms – use long strokes on your long bones and circular strokes over your joints.

5. Massage chest and abdomen using clockwise, circular motions over the abdomen and heart.

6. Reach around and rub oil up and down your back.

7. Massage your hips and legs using the same long strokes technique in number 4.

8. Finally, massage your scalp and feet, these are the two most important areas to massage to help you reduce stress. Therefore spend a little extra time on both of these areas.

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