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You may already be familiar with wellness practices like eating healthy foods or getting enough sleep. But you might want to consider adding an abhyanga massage to your daily health ritual. Abhyanga is a healing therapy that comes from Ayurveda, an ancient medicinal system from India that’s becoming a popular healing trend.
While typically performed by a massage therapist, abhyanga is something you can do yourself and incorporate into your at-home wellness routine. A 10-minute massage with warm oils will have you feeling more relaxed and warm inside and out.
Health Benefits of Abhyanga
In the West, doctors tend to wait until an illness appears before providing treatment. Ayurveda takes a different approach with ongoing, proactive healing that prevents disease from forming in the first place.
According to Ayurveda, good health is nurtured through lifestyle and daily rituals, in line with your body’s leading dosha energy. Eating certain foods, meditation, exercise, and self-massage are activities that encourage wellbeing and balance in your body and soul.
Abhyanga involves massaging the body with warm oil and comes with a host of health benefits. Applying pressure to your body through massage promotes lymphatic drainage, which is believed to release toxins.
A study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that abhyanga is a great way to relieve stress. After a session, you may feel more rejuvenated and relaxed.
Plus, a little self-massage prior to workouts improves performance, joint flexibility, and range of movement during physical training, according to research from the Journal of Sports Sciences. Whether you exercise often or suffer from stiff muscles, abhyanga loosens tight, sore muscles and joints.
Abhyanga will also have your skin glowing! Self-massage increases blood flow to your skin, reduces the appearance of wrinkles, and eliminates hyperpigmentation (dark patches on the skin). So, start your morning looking and feeling your best.
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How to Do Abhyanga Self-Massage
Start by warming about a half-cup of oil. You can prepare your own massage oil; use sesame oil in the winter because it warms your body and coconut oil’s cooling properties make it a good choice for the warmer times of the year.
You can also add essential oils for aromatherapy benefits. For relaxation, go for scents like lavender or chamomile. Mint or lemon aromas will help you feel energized. You can also find herbal Ayurvedic oil blends that are specialized for various healing treatments.
Begin your self-massage before showering. It’s easy to do according to Healthline. Just apply the massage oil to your entire body including the top of your head. Apply even pressure through your palms and fingers. Add more oil when needed.
Start by massaging your scalp in circular motions. This will help moisturize your hair follicles and stimulate hair growth. Next, move onto your forehead, ears, cheeks, and jaw. Massage your feet, including your ankles, toes, and soles, as well as the palms of the hands and base of the fingernails.
Continue massaging your chest and abdomen, starting with the right side from your perspective looking down. Conduct circular massages from the right toward the left of your abdomen, to support your body’s natural digestive process. Use elongated strokes over long bones and smaller, circular motions over joints and sensitive parts.
Go from the outside areas of your body and move inwards, to move lymph fluids toward the center of your body. Finally, massage in straight, long motions on your arms and legs. Move in circular motions on your joints.
Once you complete your massage, enjoy a nice hot bath or shower. The heat of the water will help the oil penetrate the skin, giving you all those glorious moisturizing benefits, so skin looks supple, healthy, and beautiful.
Just a simple 10-minute abhyanga self-massage like this will have you glowing inside and out. If you are short on time just concentrate on your head and feet.
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