Abhyanga: Ayurvedic Oil Massage
Abhyanga is the anointing of the body with oil. Organic warm oil with personalized essential oils for your body type is massaged into the entire body including the scalp. For thousands of years people have used abhyanga to maintain health, benefit sleep patterns, increase longevity. It has also been used as a medicine for certain disorders. Abhyanga can be incorporated into a routine appropriate for almost anyone.
The Sanskrit word sneha can be translated as both “oil” and “love”. It is believed that the effects of abhyanga are similar to those received when one is saturated with love. Like the experience of being loved, abhyanga can give a deep feeling of stability and warmth. Sneha is subtle; this allows the oil/love to pass through minute channels in the body and penetrate deep layers of tissue.
In Ayurveda, it is believed that there are seven layers of tissue in the body (called dhatus). Each successive layer is more concentrated and life-giving. For sneha to reach the deepest layer, it is believed that it must be massaged into the body for 800 matras, roughly five minutes. To give this kind of attention to your entire body, you may need about fifteen-minutes. Considering the benefits that have been gained by people for thousands of years, fifteen-minutes per day is a minimal amount of time.
Our Abhyanga treatments last 60 minutes. The base oils together with the essential oils are customized for each person after determining the person's dosha (body type). Only organic oils are used.
Benefits of External Oleation
Benefits of applying oil to the body (Abhyanga):
Produces softness, strength and color to the body
Decreases the effects of aging
Bestows good vision
Nourishes the body
Increases longevity
Benefits sleep patterns
Benefits skin
Strengthens the body’s tolerance
Imparts a firmness to the limbs
Imparts tone and vigor to the dhatus (tissues) of the body
Stimulates the internal organs of the body, including circulation
Pacifies Vata and Pitta and Harmonizes Pitta
Benefits of applying oil to the scalp (Murdha taila):
Makes hair grow luxuriantly, thick, soft and glossy
Soothes and invigorates the sense organs
Removes facial wrinkles
Benefits of applying oil to the ears (Karna purna):
Benefits disorders in the ear which are due to increased Vata
Benefits stiff neck
Benefits stiffness in the jaw
Benefits of applying oil to the feet (Padaghata):
Coarseness, stiffness, roughness, fatigue and numbness of the feet are alleviated
Strength and firmness of the feet is attained
Vision is enhanced
Vata is pacified
Sciatica is benefited
Local veins and ligaments are benefited