Abhyanga Snana – Are we bathing right?

Summer is upon us; This brings some fond childhood memories back for me, especially growing up in southern India – the summer holidays, endless board games, binge watching TV, no homework or studying and the best of all, ohhh the yummilicious mangoes! But, with summer, also comes the blazing heat, skin tanning and the temperature imbalance in the body but life goes on, right! What are some of the things that you do to beat the heat and stay healthy and cool? We’d love to know, please leave it in the comments.

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Change in seasons and weather conditions in a tropical weather like ours brings with it seasonal flu, cough and cold due to the imbalance in body temperatures and its adverse effects on the body. One of the easiest and enjoyable ways to keep our internal body temperature regulated is to indulge in weekly oil baths. This was ardently practiced in our household and was looked upon as a “Sarva roga nivarini” offering us protection from the known and unknown dangers to our health. 

Lets dive into our topic for today – Oil bathing and its benefits

Let us look into the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of Oil Bathing – 

It seems like a no brainer but there are some key pointers on how to follow the oil bathing procedure to ensure the benefits are maximized.

1. What day of the week – There are specific days of the week recommended for men and women based on the moon cycles and their effect on our energies. That is a bigger subject for another day, But, for now, just to keep it simple, Saturday is commonly recommended for an oil bath
2. What time of the day – As close to sunrise as possible or at least 3 hours from the time of sunrise.
3. What oil to use – Ideally, coconut or sesame oil during the summers and mustard oil during the winters. Some people prefer to make a cocktail of these oils and that works too. But sesame oil on the top of the head works best to regulate body temperatures. 
4. How to apply – Start with the head by taking a handful of oil in the palm of your hand and massaging it on the crown of your head with gentle taps periodically, repeat this a few times and you will feel the internal heat getting released. Then, apply the oil to the rest of the scalp and hair shafts. While applying the oil to the body, massage it in with a few extra strokes on dryer skin patches, but, particularly around the navel and stomach, rub the oil in circular motions around the navel to help the blood and lymph flow around the digestive tissues. Soak in the oil for about 20-30 minutes.
5. How to wash it off – Bathe in lukewarm water using very mild shampoo or shikakkai for hair and body cleansing ubtans made of natural ingredients. Massaging the ubtan also helps exfoliate the skin and your skin adorns a healthy glow after washing off. 
6. After care – Dry off by rubbing gently using a cotton towel and wear loose, light clothing to relax and to help absorb Vitamin D. Since the lowering of body temperature will naturally make you feel sleepy, it is ok to take a nap in the afternoon. But, this makes people with a certain body composition feel sick. So, try with a short nap and see if this works for you.

What are the benefits of oil bathing, you ask? Here they are… 

Regular practice of oil breathing helps our body on multiple levels – 

On a physical level, it helps regulate internal body temperature and help flush out the lymph nodes of all the accumulated toxins. Lymph fluid, like blood also passes underneath our skin to collect and flush out the toxins from our body, and by gently massaging the skin with oil helps this process along and allows for your beautiful radiant skin to shine from within. On a skin level, this process helps exfoliate, moisturize and even out skin tones while reducing cellulites and boosting collagen production.

On a mental level, your mind is thoroughly relaxed and rejuvenated from the massage and from the internal chemical changes. Any act of love like touching, hugging and massaging another secretes the “happy hormone” called oxytocin, so not to mention that this could be an excellent partner activity that you could do to each other to bring more romance into your relationship.

On a spiritual level, our body is protected by an auric energy field around us. This is the energy that is defined by our presence, the life force in us that defines who we are and what we bring with us into this world. When we meet other people and talk about “Vibing” with them well or not so well, it is because of their energy fields and their composition. Practicing regular oil baths provide some significant intangible benefits like wading off the negative energies and nurturing the positive energies in the energy field that makes up who we are. 

I understand that we live in a world of specializations and even as a consumer, we have also been primed to look for specific products to address specific concerns, but as much as there are products designed to address specific concerns, they are only efficient in the short term and are a reductionist approach to living a healthy life. But, ancient traditions, by extension we at Kal & Kai, have an integrated way of providing solutions that are holistic and help get back in touch with our internal core wisdom of our life force to keep the body in equilibrium.

So, at the risk of sounding weird,  let’s all massage and get massaged. Happy rubbing 😉

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