AYURVEDIC SELF-ABHYANGA: How to do an Ayurvedic Self-Abhyanga or Self-Massage at home

Transcript

foreign [Music] thing that we're looking to do when we're practicing silver younger or self massage is to pacify water lotion and for this the oil has to be nice and warm it should be warmed up to quite a bit more than body temperature so when you put it on it has a nice soothing relaxing feeling [Music] so we begin with the feet the feet are a very important part of the body to massage okay bear our weight during the day they do an awful lot of work so it's important to be really thorough with the feet working in between the metatarsals the small joints of the toes and the ankles [Music] as the joints are places where vato can accumulate very easily foreign joints in the ankles and the feet moving on to the legs we do longer Strokes on the long bones massaging towards the heart one of The Shins up the calf [Music] foreign we don't have to be too firm or use too much pressure with the massage [Music] with the knees again small circles on the joints being nice and thorough and in the thighs again long strokes towards the heart [Music] after we finish the legs move on to the abdomen pour a generous amount of oil begin with circular movements in a clockwise Direction [Music] again you don't have to use too much pressure especially here on the abdomen it can be very gentle [Music] [Music] before moving on to the hips massaging around the hip bones around the flanks and then into the lower back the lower back is another site of Arthur accumulation so working as far as you can reach without stretching or straining just working nicely into that lumbar area and into the flanks and around the top of the pelvis there move on to the chest when you're doing the chest be careful to massage all the way out across the collarbones and being really thorough around the shoulder joints and then you can even work up into the trapezius and into the base of the neck on both sides nice long strokes on the arms paying particular attention again to the Ang to the wrists as with the ankles and the hands as with the feet foreign [Music] really working into the fingers and the joints of the fingers in between the metacarpals [Music] finishing wise massaging up the arm towards the heart doing the back of the arm as well as the underside once you've finished the shoulders the arms then you can move on to the neck many of us experience tension or stiffness in the shoulders and the neck so this can be a really nice area to pay attention to you can work quite thoroughly into the neck in between the joints the vertebrae all the way up to the base of the skull and there are some pressure points there that we can work on as well so we can then move on to the ears Begin by placing a couple of drops of oil in each ear doesn't have to be too much the ears and the header are really important place again for working to pacify and calm down that watha Dosha and massaging in the into the jaw can be a really nice thing to do as well again an area where there's a lot of stiffness and tension for many people so next we're going to massage the head the head's obviously optional if you need to go out for the day and you don't want to have oily hair then you don't have to do this but the head is a very important place for pacifying Vata and for stabilizing the senses and if you're suffering for an insomnia or excessive thinking stress then definitely their head is essential just choose a day when you can wash your hair or you don't have to go out and about it's often useful to do nasty or just put a couple of drops of oil up each nostril you can sniff that up into the nose and always finish by working into the mama points or pressure points on the forehead and the temples