Ayurvedic massage is among the very best ways to decrease stress, slow down the skin’s aging process, improve blood flow and eliminate toxins from cells. Using ancient Ayurvedic herbs blended with oils, it works to purify, nourish and tone the skin on a deep cellular level. It promotes lymphatic drainage, reduces free-radical activity and detoxifies. The herbs used have organic anti-oxidants and have anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Massage is prescribed in Ayurveda as it is one of the secrets to longevity. It is helpful to pacify the Vata dosha and it is this dosha that dries out us as we get older, causing everything from wrinkled skin. Bob Hope credited his long life to a live in masseuse and daily massages.
Dr. Andrew Weil, director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona at Tucson and leader of alternative health states he is a firm believer that massage stimulates the body’s own healing response, and he regularly recommends massage treatment. An increasing body of research shows that massage provides health benefits during the life span: It promotes weight gain and motor development in babies, boosts respiratory function in children with asthma. Additionally, it increases blood circulation, reduces stress hormones, increases range of motion, reduces depression, and enhances immune function. Massage relaxes and tones the muscles, stimulates glands beneath the skin to produce hormones, including serotonin that calms the mind and emotions and promotes drainage of the lymphatic system. Lymphatic fluid provides nutrients to the cells and carries away cellular debris and toxic particles.
As the fluid passes through the lymph nodes, the waste products are flushed out. Unfortunately, unlike the blood system, the lymph system doesn’t have a pump, but is determined by muscle contractions to move about the bodies’ network of lymph vessels. When muscles are inactive, the unfiltered fluid stagnates and becomes ‘MA’ which can precipitate hereditary breakdown and disease. Massage stimulates the nodes and drains the poisonous fluids, which is very important to good health. The abhyangam oils utilized enhance this purification procedure, by penetrating the skin and balancing the doshas, they have anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Designed to penetrate the skin, their nutrients do right into the blood capillaries, loosens toxins that are attached and carries them into the digestive tract for elimination. The herbal oils enhance blood circulation, digestive tract, feeds the skin and works to balance the emotions and relax the mind.