Oil

I want to update you on all things post-retreat —how things are going with the oil, and the vitamins, and the ginger tea. But let me back up and tell you about my Abyanga/Garshana massage. 

Omg.

Garshana is the part where the massage therapist wears rough silk gloves and gives you a regular Swedish, with long, strong strokes, but no probing. 

The Abyhanga part follows, and this is when very warm oil is applied the same way, except there’s a definite focus on the joints, marma points, and energy lines. 

Very demure. Very mindful.

At the end, they cover you in hot, wet towels for about five minutes; then, the excess oil is wiped off.

It was fantastic!

It was $215, and I gave her a $40 cash tip. 

 Afterwards, I sat in the sauna for a half hour. And once showered and de-greased, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I positively glowed. 

I asked the therapist at the end: If you could give one piece of advice to anyone (including me), based on your expertise as an Ayurvedic massage therapist, what would it be? 

She didn’t even hesitate: “OIL,” she said. “Most doshas need oil. Everywhere. And if you can afford it, Panchakarma. They used to do Panchakarma here at Kripalu, but not anymore.” 

They don’t do the Shirodara oil drip anymore either, but when I made the appointment, the guy at the desk said they were considering bringing it back. *Fingers crossed*

So that night, of course, I got on Amazon and ordered myself a big bottle of Daily Massage Oil.

I’ve been applying it all over my body before my shower/bath almost every day.

I must say it takes some time, though, this oiling.  Time I don’t have some days, but here’s what Sharon said about consistency: “Don’t aim for perfection,” she said. “Just aim for 70% of the time. That’s fine.”

Why is it whenever anybody says: You don’t have to be perfect,” I just wanna cry?

Permission to not be perfect. …….Sigh.

So that’s basically what I’ve been doing since I’ve been back: Aiming for 70%.

But today, I had a realization while I was oiling, that it wasn’t about the oil.

I mean, yeah, the oil has herbal properties that have therapeutic effect when absorbed by the skin.

 But my realization was that it was the act of massaging itself, that was having a focusing effect on me. I am always distracted and up in my head. I never focus on the space between my toes, for example, or pay too much attention to the sides of my knees. 

But here I was, stark naked with a bottle of oil in one hand, consciously looking at, and wondering at, the backs of my knees and the line of my hip. I was actively paying attention to my physical body: what it looked like and how it felt.

If I were a dog at that moment, and had me for an owner, I would be wagging my tail.

Too much of the time, my body is just my brain’s slave. 

I can be quite the slave driver. 

And it was only as I was massaging my own body—as per doctor’s orders—that I realized how shitty I treat myself most of the time. 

And maybe the lesson of this whole Ayurvedic adventure, was to bring me to this realization. And try to be 70% better.

 Golden Milk, and castor oil, and ginger tea, of course.

But it’s really the noticing and the slowing down that’s going to make the difference.