21 Stimulate the sense of touch

The five senses are the access doors through which, we receive all the information from our environment

The view, smell, palate, hearing, touch

On this occasion, we are going to talk about touch

Physical contact can evoke healing responses in our body and also in our mind

The skin, it's the largest organ of the body and it's rich neuroreceptors, for, helps us to activate the inner pharmacy, help us to activate healing

For example, when we feel tired at the end of the day, or we are in pain, a massage can help us a lot, because exactly the massage you have therefore, that capacity to make us free the weariness and to make us free from pain

On this occasion, we are going to learn how to do a massage, a self-massage which is called "Abhyanga", self-massage, "autoabhy"

"autoabhyanga"

We are going to use natural oils, according to our predominant dosha, according to our predominant dosha our constution; we have spoken before, of these three humors or doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha; which are fundamental principles about which, rests the knowledge of Ayurveda and that through this program, we are learning about how they manifest themselves in our physiology and how to use some techniques, to keep the balance and good health

This type of massage, "Abhyanga", is recommended to do daily in the morning, as part of our routine, because it helps us throughout the day to be more focused, to have our skin hydrated, our muscles too, are favored and the skin being the organ largest organ of our body, we have the opportunity to absorb throughout the day, then the nutrients of these natural oils

First, let's choose which of these oils is more favorable for your constitution, to balance your predominant dosha or if you have an excess of any of the three doshas

Let's start by talking about vata

Vata as it's changeable, it's mobile, it's the principle of movement, to counteract this quality, because we need to use oils that are more dense, such as the almond oil and sesame oil, which are oils that have denser, heavier qualities

and they help to pacify, help to pacify vata

Massage for vata, should be a gentle massage, a massage that nourishes, but to soften, to soothe, we want to to appease that quality of movement, that when it accumulates, then it can lead to overtiredness, then, so we need to calm down the principle of movement and for that we use oils that are heavier

For pita, as the main quality of pita is heat, transformation, because what we want is refresh, to refresh pita a little bit and for pita a little bit deeper, more intense massage is recommended, with oils that are more refreshing, like coconut oil or olive oil

And kapha, which is the beginning of stability, of structure, sometimes, because the qualities of kapha tend to be to an excess of inertia, of little movement, and we will then use aeites light and a little bit hot too, because kapha needs warmth, too, to add a little bit of warmth, so, we can use it

And for kapha it's recommended the oil of mustard, because it is warm and it is light and penetrates very well into the body and brings warmth to the joints

So once you have chosen the oil which is more favorable, according to your constitution, well, we are going to separate ten minutes in the morning, to do the massage, the massage must be done in the bathroom and we put a towel to prevent slipping or stain

And we're going to heat this oil, we're going to use maybe two little fingers of oil, from a regular glass

and we're going to heat it for ten or fifteen minutes in the microwave, or if you want to maintain more of the properties of the oil, you can heat it in the water bath more slowly

And once we have the oil warm, we heat it up because that heat allows it to penetrate

more easily into our body and allows that everything nutritious, its qualities, let's say like that open up, that they're more willing to be absorbed by our body, for our organism

So, once we have everything prepared, we have heated the oil, we have our towel and we have our we are ready to make us the massage, well, now let's learn the technique that we are going to use, which is very simple, and that we can do it every day, in the mornings

and go recognizing, nourishing ourselves with all the benefits of the that it brings us

So, we start, we put a little bit of oil on our hand and we're going to start by massaging the scalp, as if we were shampooing the scalp

and so we go activating for the skin of the skull, we are massaging with the oil, allowing that through the massage, it will penetrate

We are adding another little bit of oil and let's massage the face, very kindly with circular movements around the eyes, of the ears, we can massage the neck from the front and in the back, also helping us to release the neck tension

Something very important to keep in mind during the massage, more than the technique is our state of mind, that our state of mind must be a state of love, of tranquility, of affection towards ourselves; it is that moment, that space that we are creating to be in contact with us and to create then that, a favorable atmosphere and a state of mind of love and of acceptance

Then we continue, with the shoulders on the shoulders and in all the joints we're going to to give circular movements, on the joints we massage with circular movements and then on the long areas of the arms we will activate up and down, this kind of friction helps us also, to release toxins that are there accumulated in the organism and then we continue to in the joints always rotating and in the parts of the body

of our most elongated extremities with vigor, always upward and downward

Then on the wrist, then circles, on the hands we activate up and down and on the little fingers we go with circles too

For kapha,,, the massage should be a little bit more active, because we always want to activate this tranquility, this inertia which tends to kapha, this excess of stability that sometimes, because it becomes in lack of mobility, then, massage for khapa, should be a little more vigorous and more energetic

We continue with the massage, we can put the other little bit of oil in our hands and now we are massaging the chest in circles, and also the abdomen in shape circles, to activate a little bit

In the chest part, we can also do up and down movements

and in the area of the back then we go in circles also, massaging as much as possible

Then with the legs we continue in the same way, as we did with the arms

In the area of the joints, we rub, we do it in circles and in the more elongated parts then come on up and down, and then so we continue on the knees, we rotate in the form of a circle, on the legs up and down, with a little bit of vigor

At the ankles in the form of circles, and on the toes, also in the form of circles

If you find that you don't have, perhaps, the ten minutes to make this complete massage, the most important parts you should pay attention to are, on the scalp and the feet, because there is going to help us, well, help us to activate and to release also a lot of tension

So to sum up, we become aware of the importance of performing a massage every day, on our body, so that, because in our skin there are many receptors, that activate the inner pharmacy, activate, help us to activate the processes inner healing processes of our body, and also help us to calm the mind

This type of massage, is especially, although we all benefit from them, but especially we must do it when we have an imbalance of vata, when we have an excess of vata, because it also helps us to calm down the mind

Once the massage is finished, we take a bath and it is recommended to use a little soap to maintain a little bit of this layer of oil throughout the day, which is going to allow us to keep us toned and to our body throughout the day absorbing these properties that are found in the natural oils

Remember, touch is fundamental for your health and well-being