Ayurvedic Insight
Issue #25, November 2003
In This Issue
Abhyanga: Ayurvedic Oil Massage
by Dr. Claudia Welch
“The body of one who uses oil massage regularly does not
become affected much even if subjected to accidental
injuries, or strenuous work. By using oil massage daily, a
person is endowed with pleasant touch, trimmed body parts
and becomes strong, charming and least affected by old age.”
Charaka Samhita Vol. 1, V: 88-89
Abhyanga is the anointing of the body with oil. Often
medicated and usually warm, the oil is massaged into the
entire body before bathing. 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.
Benefits of Abhyanga (applying oil to the body)
(Outlined in: Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita and Ashtanga
Hrdayam)
- 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 Kapha
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
Vata Pacifying Abhyanga:
The primary qualities of vata are dry, light, cool, rough,
subtle and mobile. Most of these qualities are opposite to
those of oil. This is why warm oil is especially good for
pacifying vata.
If your vata is high, either in your Prakriti or Vikriti,
doing abhyanga daily can be highly beneficial, even
life-changing. Sushruta says, "The deranged vayu [vata] of
the body is restored to its normal condition by the help of
Udvartana (massage)." (Sushruta Vol.2, 24:28) Just be sure
to do the abhyanga in a warm place and avoid getting chilled
afterwards.
Abhyanga Routine:
"By using oil massage daily, a person is endowed with
pleasant touch, trimmed body parts and becomes strong,
charming and least affected by old age." Charaka Samhita
Vol. 1, V: 88-89
- Put about ½ cup oil in a squeeze bottle.
- Place the bottle of oil in a pan of hot water until the
oil is pleasantly warm.
- Sit or stand comfortably in a warm room, on a towel that
you don't mind ruining with oil accumulation. Make sure
you're protected from any drafts.
- Lovingly and patiently massage the oil into your entire
body for about 15 minutes, beginning at the
extremities and working toward the middle of the body. Use
long strokes on the limbs and circular strokes on the
joints. Massage the abdomen and chest in broad, clockwise,
circular motions.
- Apply oil to the crown of your head and work slowly out
from there in circular strokes. Oil applied
to the head should be warm but not hot.
- Put a couple drops of warm oil on the tip of your little
finger or on a cotton
ball and apply to the opening of the ear canal. (If there is
any current or chronic discomfort in the ears don't do this
without the recommendation of your health care
practitioner).
- Be sure to wash your feet off before entering the shower.
- After you've massaged your entire body, enjoy a warm bath
or shower.
- Remove the oil with a gentle soap.
- When you get out of the shower, towel dry. Keep a special
towel for drying off after your massage because it can
eventually get ruined, due to the accumulation of oil.
Dr. Claudia Welch is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and a
practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine. She worked at the
Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM with her teacher, Dr.
Vasant Lad, for seven years, and is currently a member of
the faculty. She received her Master's Degree in Oriental
Medicine from Southwest Acupuncture College in 1997. Dr.
Welch is a faculty member at Southwest Acupuncture College
and at The Institute for Postgraduate Studies in Acupuncture
and Oriental Medicine, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Recipe: Pumpkin and Green Beans
- 2 cups string beans
- 3 cups pumpkin (1 pound)
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 Tbsp. sunflower oil
- 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
- 1/8 tsp. asafoetida
- 1 clove garlic
- 3/4 tsp. sea salt
- 2 tsps. coriander pwd.
- 1 Tbsp. brown rice syrup
- 1/2 tsp. curry pwd.
Wash and dry green beans; chop them in 1 inch pieces. Wash
pumpkin, cut in 1 inch wedges, peel, then slice in 1/2 inch
pieces.
Heat the oil in a large skillet and add mustard and
fenugreek seeds. When mustard seeds pop, add asafoetida,
whole uncut garlic and green beans. Cook over medium heat
for about 5 minutes. Then add chopped pumpkin, salt and
water. Cover and cook for another 15 minutes over medium
heat. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. This goes well
with any kind of soup and bread.
Recipe reprinted with permission from The Ayurvedic Cookbook
by Amadea Morningstar with Urmila Desai, Lotus Press, P.O.
Box 325, Twin Lakes, WI 53181.(c)1990 All Rights Reserved.
Ethical Revolution - Notes from David Crow
David Crow, author of "In Search of the Medicine Buddha,"
was recently honored with an invitation to speak on a panel
with the Dalai Lama in New York City. We were moved by his
vision for the role medicinal plants can play in solving
global problems and wanted to share some of his remarks with
you. The following is a reprinting of his notes for the
talk.
Your Holiness:
I would like to discuss the role that traditional medical
systems, such as Tibetan medicine, can play in creating and
supporting an ethical revolution.
There are two broad topics to consider.
The first is the role that plants in general, and
specifically medicinal plants, can play in solving global
problems.
The second is the ethical principles that are contained
within traditional medical systems, and how these can be
used to protect the environment and benefit people.
During my studies of Tibetan, Ayurvedic, and Chinese
medicine, I came to understand that medicinal plants are one
of humanity's greatest resources. They are the world's
oldest and most widespread form of healthcare. In many parts
of the world, medicinal plants are the only affordable form
of healthcare available to people.
Medicinal plants provide a wide range of therapeutic
benefits, which can be summarized into two primary
categories: they provide different kinds of nutrition, which
revitalize and strengthen the body, and they detoxify
the organs and tissues. These are functions which modern
drugs are generally unable to perform. These two functions
of strengthening and detoxifying the body will become
increasingly necessary as the nutritional status of food
declines, and environmental toxicity increases.
Medicinal plants are also the world's most lucrative legal
cash crops, which are capable of lifting communities and
nations out of poverty.
Because medicinal plants are so valuable, they are also the
key to preserving ecosystems: they offer sustainable
economic alternatives to environmentally destructive
practices.
Medicinal plants are also the foundation of a culture's
heritage of ethnobotanical knowledge and wisdom, one of
humanity's most valuable legacies.
Looking to the future, we can see that humanity will be
needing a lot of medicine. There is already a tremendous
worldwide increase in the demand for natural medicines, and
as environmental conditions worsen, this demand will grow
further.
In order to have those medicines we must begin replanting
the world, so that it can once again become a garden of
healing plants. If we consider the four benefits of
medicinal plants - medical, economic, ecological, and
cultural - we can see that they are the key to solving
numerous interrelated global problems, and the way to make
this vision a reality.
Replanting the world is not only a necessity for human
health. Just as plants detoxify and rejuvenate the human
body, they also detoxify and rejuvenate the outer body of
the planetary biosphere. Plants are medicines for the
diseases of the earth, just as they are medicines for
diseases of humanity: they purify, regenerate, and regulate
the soil, water, and air.
There are ultimately no manmade solutions to the disorders
of planetary physiology, such as global warming: The plants
made this world livable for higher life, and only the plants
can restore and maintain these conditions. For this reason,
the ethics of the new millennium must include respect,
gratitude, generosity, and restraint toward our botanical
elders.
Your Holiness, the approach to replanting the world that I
am advocating and working toward is the creation of a
grassroots medical system. This medical system, which we
could call "the people's pharmacy," is based on community
gardens and school gardens, collaborating with seed banks,
eco-preserves, organic farmers, the herb industry, health
educators, and other related entities.
There are numerous benefits that ensue when communities come
together to grow their own foods and medicines. Community
gardens bring social healing, higher nutritional status,
increased beauty, and decreased crime. Community gardens
provide food and medical security during times of economic
difficulties. School gardens in particular teach children
how to have a positive relationship with nature, and help
counteract the epidemic of nutrition-related health problems
that are plaguing the pediatric and adolescent population.
The positive conditions created by community gardens are the
foundation of an ethical, Dharmic culture. In order to
manifest this goal on a wider scale, there must be strong
collective motivation, political will, and economic
resources. This is the link to the ethical principles that
are contained within traditional medical philosophies,
because it is primarily the responsibility of physicians and
healthcare practitioners to raise the level of health
consciousness within society.
There are countless examples of how physicians can transform
society spirituality, ethically, politically, and
environmentally. One of the simplest examples is to consider
the changes that would occur if physicians gave only one
piece of nutritional advice: to eat only organic food. This
would lead to widespread environmental detoxification and
decreased rates of chronic degenerative diseases. If
physicians addressed illness at this level, they could help
create a revival of sustainable nontoxic agriculture, and
the creation of garden cities filled with healthy foods and
medicines.
I would like to offer a pragmatic solution that would
support replanting the world at this level. I propose that
the global sangha begin planting gardens of organic food and
medicinal plants. Specifically, I propose that Dharma
centers become repositories of botanical biodiversity,
centers of ethnobotanical knowledge and culture, and
community pharmacies.
If these Dharma gardens are planted around the world, there
will be widespread and far-reaching benefits. Endangered
medicinal plants, such as those used in Tibetan and
Ayurvedic medicine, will be preserved within spiritual
communities. The physicians of these ancient medical systems
will be able to continue making and dispensing their
traditional formulas. The health of both practitioners and
lay people associated with these centers will increase. The
presence of the plants will heal the local environments, and
bring happiness and well-being to all.
These are not new ideas: monastic pharmacies and medicinal
gardens were once a central part of many cultures, and there
are many such projects currently underway. However, I
believe that the world's urgent environmental, social, and
medical crises require that all levels of society become
much more active in this work of replanting the earth, one
neighborhood at a time. I believe that the religious
communities of all faiths can and should play an active role
in this endeavor.
I also believe that if this is done, a new form of
eco-dharma will evolve, that will teach through example the
ethics of the new millennium within the context of medical,
social, and environmental healing.
David Crow L.Ac. is a graduate of the American College of
Traditional Chinese Medicine and a Diplomate of the National
Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental
Medicine. He has twenty years of clinical experience using
integrated Chinese, Ayurvedic and Tibetan therapies,
including massage, aromatherapy, acupuncture, herbology, and
detoxification methods.
David Crow has done clinical internships with respected
acupuncturists and herbalists in the US and Asia, and
received advanced training in specialized acupuncture and
herbal therapies for specific health problems.
He is the author of "In Search of the Medicine Buddha, " a
book about his studies with Tibetan and Ayurvedic physicians
in the Himalayas. He is dedicated to promoting the spiritual
principals and earth-based wisdom of traditional healing art
as a path to individual well-being, global ecological
restoration and the revival of spiritual cultures. For more
information visit http://www.floracopeia.com.
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