Daily oil massage plays a major role in preventing complications from stress like hypertension, depression, headaches, and more. In India massage is a natural part of daily life. Infants are massaged every day from the day they are born to age three, and weekly after that. By age six, children are massaging their elders. It's common for entire families to massage one another once a week. Pregnant women are massaged daily during pregnancy and for more than a month after giving birth. Sensual massage with aphrodisiac oils is advised in treatises on sexology.

In Ayurveda, bathing is a ritual designed to clean you inside and out, and begins with the application of oil. Applying oil to your skin lubricates, protects, detoxifies, and rejuvenates your skin and nervous system, while soothing your endocrine system. The oil helps loosen and liquefy ama so that the toxins can drain into the body's gastrointestinal tract for elimination. It is an excellent antidote for modern stresses and is said to help you achieve the balance that is the foundation of spiritual development. As the body's largest and most sensitive organ, your skin deserves abhyanga every day.

In Ayurveda getting a massage or giving one to yourself is one of the most effective and pleasant ways you can balance vata and is a wonderful way to start the day. With regular practice you'll see why abhyanga is considered to be the crown jewel of rejuvenation, prevention, and longevity. Sesame oil is recommended for vata, pitta, and kapha types, and for healthy people as well as those suffering from an illness. The only exception is when your kapha is aggravated in this case you should use a dry massage, described below. Be sure to get cold-pressed organic oil from a health food store. Olive oil is also acceptable, and coconut oil works well for pitta types. Never use mineral oil or any other oil that is not digestible (the skin is a digestive organ). It's traditional to cook the oil one time, heating it until it forms tiny bubbles. This is said to cure the oil and prevent it from turning rancid. Certain condi¬tions respond best to medicated oils-oils to which special herbs and fragrant spices have been added, as specified in the A-Z section. Once you've been treating yourself to abhyanga regularly, it's hard to stop, and even busy people manage to make time.

"If I get lazy or pressed for time and skip my daily abhyanga, I really start to miss it. I feel scattered, less grounded, less able to cope. I love the little pool of serenity it creates in the morning . . . a quiet, sensual time just for myself before I get swept up in the madness of the day. I think what a different world it would be if everyone had v,p,k, massage in the morning Copyright © Dr.Helen Thomas 2007. All rights reserved.