Self body massage with oil

For most people, massages are an indulgent splurge that should be reserved for special occasions, a 2-hour service performed by a professional or a moment you treat yourself with when you’ve ‘really deserved it’. But for the past 5,000 years of Ayurveda, massage has been use as an integral daily, and do-it-yourself practice for optimizing one’s health and wellbeing.

BENEFITS OF DAILY SELF-MASSAGE

Favoring our overall sense of wellbeing, daily self-massaging is, most importantly, paramount to the well-functioning of our body’s systems. If you remember one thing from this article, remember this… we have 2 main circulatory systems in our bodies: the blood vessels which are responsible for circulating the blood to our organs and the lymphatic system which carries our body’s toxins to the lymph nodes that work as filters for harmful substances. While the heart pumps the blood up and down our body, the lymphatic system doesn’t have a ‘pump’ and does NOT circulate on its own. It needs us to stimulate it, daily, with dry brushing and massaging to trigger a drainage of the fat deposits and toxins that have accumulated in the lymph. A daily practice of self-massaging will offer the following noteworthy benefits:

It increases proper blood circulation and lymph drainage which encourage the elimination of toxins and cellulite.
It balances the nervous system (we have thousands of sensory neurons per every square centimeter of our skin)
It lubricates the body’s skin and reduces facial wrinkles
It promotes flexibility of the muscles, tissues and joints
It encourages regular sleep patterns
It helps break down muscle knots and relieve chronic neck & shoulder stiffness and migraines
It stimulates hair growth

Providing a sense of nurturing, grounding and nourishment, self-massage is well worth adding 10 minutes to your daily routine. And if you already apply body lotion coming out of the shower, it actually replaces that step so you won’t have to add any time to your daily routine!

HOW TO SELF BODY MASSAGE WITH OIL

Try this on both days of a weekend so come Monday, you’ve got the hang of things and can implement it in your routine quick and easy. Do this before showering in the morning or before bed if you’re having trouble sleeping. And don’t worry: you won’t smell like the oils afterwards because the shower’s water will get rid of all smells.