Is a Sanskrit word meaning “oil massage”.  The purpose is to nourish the body/mind on a deeper level.  The oil helps keep imbalances from arising and provides a ‘protective’ coating between you and the stresses of your day.  Daily abhyanga practice acts as a recharger and rejuvenator, and those who do practice this on a daily basis state that they have greater stamina, feel a deep state of calmness and contentment, and their skin looks great. 
During an Ayurveda Body Treatment (ABT), a blend of organic seed oils and essential oils are applied to the client’s head and body.  The warm oil is applied with light friction and gentle pressure with specific strokes that are designed to stimulate, clear, and balance the energy patterns of the body-mind.

Shirodhara

Is a Sanskrit word meaning; shiro head and dhara flow.  It is described as an application of a slow, fine stream of warm, customized organic oil poured continuously over the third eye, forehead, and scalp.  The treatment calms the mind by inducing slower brain wave function, allowing for deep relaxation.  It relieves tension and discomfort in the head, neck, and shoulders, and alleviates headaches, anxiety, nervousness, and other stress-related symptoms.  Shirodhara allows for expanding awareness and feelings of well being, balance and joy.

Practitioner & Client

This treatment is a group effort between the client and the practitioner.  The consciousness of the practitioner is an integral part of the treatment.  When the therapist is consciously involved in the treatment for the client, the ego is in control and the treatments are limited by it.  In the Vedas, it says the heart is the seat of consciousness.  The flow of consciousness from the heart is blocked when the ego/mind take control.  When the therapist taps into the experience of the heart consciousness during the treatment, it stirs a corresponding awareness in the client.  A well-grounded therapist allows the client to connect with their own higher consciousness as the source of healing.  When the client becomes self-aware, their body-mind can recognize an imbalance, and from this place of stillness and knowing, the body-mind can heal.

These treatments initiate a self-healing response.  The therapist is not a healer but one who facilitates the ability of the client to heal themselves beginning with balanced Vayu (wind) flow.  The heightened internal awareness triggers spontaneous healing on the cellular level where we bury our stress, trauma, fear, and emotions.  This treatment has the intention, not to heal a specific imbalance but to allow the client’s conscious awareness to come to a state of balanced Prana flow so they become more Self-aware and allow healing to begin.

When the therapist experiences a meditative state while performing the treatment, the session is as effective for the therapist as it is for the client.  

This treatment stimulates lymph, blood circulation, and supports hormonal balance.  It helps detox and strengthens all the tissues of the body, therefore supporting the immune system by utilizing the five different Ayurvedic energies in the body, that all move in different directions.  

Prana – inward moving energy (towards the navel)
(ether)    Body and mind
   Inhaling and swallowing

Samana – balancing energy (periphery to center)
(fire)          Linear, periphery to center
      Digestion, assimilation

Vyana– circulatory energy (center outward)
(water)    lymph, blood, hormones

Apana– downward moving energy (navel downward)
(earth)     elimination
                Feces, urine, menses, birth

Udana– upward and outward energy
(air)         expression, work
                 Exhale, speech, muscles, memory

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