In humans, the health of the skin goes hand in hand with the health of the digestive tract. Our skin and digestive tract function as the body’s barricade to obstruct infiltration of pathogens,allow entrance of nutrients and expel the body’s wastes. A properly functioning digestive system means effective avoidance of skin diseases, whereas, skin purified of its impurities and toned to vitality means healthiness of our digestive tract.

Skin massage with oil is extremely advantageous for our skin, whether done by oneself or by a professional masseur. Massage causes skin’s softening and subdues Vata’s erratic traits and its roughness, dryness, lightness and coldness. You can also allay muscle and joint stiffness and make your body movements more rhythmic with regular rhythmic massage sessions. Massage provides bodily relaxation requisite before you take up more strenuous physical exercises. It also improves blood circulation and metabolic waste excretion.

Massage Tips for Vs

The sense of touch is acute for V people in comparison to P or K people. Accordingly, touch can be both severe and therapeutic for Vs. Touch helps reinforce the consciousness level of Vs critical for their existence in the material world. And, with massage, the sense of touch can also be mellowed down for Vs. A monthly or weekly visit to a professional masseur will preserve their health and mental soundness. For better results, the massage session must be scheduled for the same time on the same weekday.

Ayurveda also endorses the use of medicated oils in food and application of the same on body for Vs to harmonize their Vata and deal with Vata-lead effects. Vs are also vulnerable to radiation-caused damage and must consume and apply vegetable oil for effective safeguarding.

V individuals should use almond, castor, sesame or mustard oil for great outcomes although any oil would do them good.

Massage Tips for Ps

These individuals must seek variety in their massaging, acupressure, shiatsu, polarity and other things that they engage in. Innately, P tissues are sensitive and irritable and only your thoughtful maneuver can prevent the stage of their further exacerbation.

When massaging, Ps should use cocoa butter, olive oil or coconut oil mixed with aromatic oils like sandalwood or lavender.

Massage Tips for Ks

Ks should go for solid and severe massaging that feels harsh on skin so as to trigger the passive circulation and expel cellular wastes. These individuals should totally avoid oil or use it scarcely. However, for lubricating their skin, Ks should go for sunflower or safflower and for mustard oil during winters.

Tips for General Body Massage

Individuals with dual constitutions ought to opt for their massage technique depending upon their own conditions or the season of the year. For the purpose of massaging, you should extract the oil of the plant that grows or can be grown in your region. Your oil selection must depend upon – season, climate and individual constitution. Use heating oils (mustard or sesame) in winters and cooling oils (coconut or olive) in summers. Wet oils (sesame or castor) in dry climates and drying oils (safflower) in wet climates are ideal for application. Sandalwood oil is one of the best medicinal oils owing to its assuaging effect on such properties of other oils that increase Pitta and Kapha as well as for its stimulation of coolness and mental stability. PKs should apply corn or sunflower oil. VKs should use sunflower, corn, almond or mustard oil and massage, recurrently. On the other hand, most oils do well to VPs and these individuals must get frequent massages.

You can blend 1 liter of any oil suitable as per the present conditions with 30 ml of any fragrant oil, such as, sandalwood when you want to take up a general body massage. To this, VK, VP and V types with extremely poor blood circulation can add 5-10 ml (1-2 teaspoons) wintergreen or eucalyptus oil per quart to their primary oil.

With the exception of castor oil, unmedicated vegetable oils must be avoided for rheumatic joints. Pure jasmine oil (one ounce per pint) is beneficial for aphrodisiac effect and pine needle oil has counteractive effects for muscle spasm. You can use castor oil for any body part at any hour of the day and adding a little garlic oil to castor oil makes way for the purification of the rheumatic part as garlic oil acts as a counter-irritant.

Categorically, you must never use mineral or vegetable oil colored with chemicals or perfumed in any way. You can also enhance the core heat of your massage oils by storing these in red bottles and exposing the bottle to Sun’s heat on a daily basis for 40 days. The enhanced heat is curative for Vata and Vata-Kapha physical conditions, like, pains and aches. Likewise, you can make your oil cool by storing it in a blue bottle and exposing it the Sun for forty days which proves curative for burns, scorching heat and other high heat Pitta physical conditions.

You should follow the energy flow of your body in case you are massaging yourself to prevent diverting Vata from its right direction. Massaging in the direction of your hair growth will ensure the same. You should move from your hands and feet towards your trunk and move outwards from inwards while massaging. A little bit of extra oil is beneficial for vital areas, such as, joints, heart, navel, anus, genitals and other unoiled sense organs. You should also apply oil generously over all hairy areas, such as, armpits, head, chest and pubes. Nutrition of the hair is associated with the nutrition of bones and oiling your head hair helps balance Vata in your mind. You should oil your scalp once a week and let your head absorb the oil for at least twenty minutes before you wash it out. Massaging with oil proves relaxing for your body and brain and increases the strength of sense organs.

Massaging the soles of your feet works as a good substitute in case you lack time for a fulsome body massage. Feet massaging is also advisable for sound sleep. Oiling your great toenails every night is good for enhancing the vision of weak-vision eyes. However, if your digestive tract is full of ama, you should refrain from massaging. You can detect ama with the appearance of an obnoxious coating on your tongue in the morning, abnormal excretion routines and excessive fevers.