Abhyanga: The Practice of Anointing the Body

Abhyanga is one of the practices that first drew me deeply into Ayurveda because it begins with something simple: oil and touch. From there, it can become a much deeper study of the body. The word is commonly translated as “oil massage,” although I think that translation can make it sound more casual than it is. Abhyanga is part of the Ayurvedic tradition of dinacharya, the daily practices used to care for the body and maintain balance. It is not only a treatment you receive. It is something you can learn to practice at home.

I have spent many years working with people through different forms of bodywork. A treatment with an experienced practitioner can go places that self-treatment cannot. But I also know people are better off with practices and routines of their own. Working with yourself regularly opens you to your inner world, introduces you to your own rhythms, and prevents stuckness and illness.

With abhyanga, the medium is oil. In Ayurveda, oil is not chosen only because it allows the hands to slide over the skin. Oils have different qualities, and Ayurveda pays close attention to qualities. Sesame oil, one of the traditional oils used for abhyanga, is warming and substantial. Coconut oil is cooling. Herbal oils may be prepared for very specific purposes.

This way of thinking is central to Ayurveda. We look at the qualities that are present and then consider what we are introducing.

If the body is cold, what happens when we bring in warmth?

If there is dryness, what happens when we bring in oil?

If there is excessive movement, what happens when we bring in slowness?

Learning the practice

For home abhyanga, I like to warm the oil first. You can put the bottle into warm water for a few minutes. It should feel good on the skin, never excessively hot.

Traditionally, the whole body can be included. Begin at the head and scalp. Work the oil into the scalp with the fingertips. Massage around the ears and the outer ear itself. From there, move down through the neck and shoulders. On the arms and legs, you can use longer movements along the long bones and circular movements around the joints. Spend time on the hands. Move each finger. Work around the palms and wrists. The abdomen requires a different quality of touch. It is softer work. Circular movements can follow the direction of the large intestine: upward on the right side, across the abdomen and downward on the left.

Continue through the hips and legs and eventually to the feet. In Ayurveda, the feet are given considerable attention. I also know from reflexology and from years of massage that working carefully with the feet can affect the way a person experiences the entire body. Work on one foot carefully for several minutes and feel what happens.

When the massage is complete, leave the oil on for a period before bathing. Ten or twenty minutes is a good beginning. Traditionally it may remain longer depending on the treatment and the person. Then take a warm shower or bath.

This is the basic structure. It is not difficult to learn. What takes longer is learning to process the intelligence in your hands. When people first learn massage, they usually think a lot about technique: Where do my hands go? How much pressure should I use? Am I doing this correctly? Technique matters, but eventually the hands have to become less mechanical.

If you massage your leg every day, you begin to recognize your leg. That may sound almost too obvious, but most people don't actually know the texture of their own bodies very well.

You begin to notice the difference between muscle and tendon. You notice the shape of a joint. You notice areas that are warm and areas that are cold. You may find tension that you weren't aware of because it wasn't painful. Over time you begin to recognize change.

The body is communicating constantly, but pain tends to be the communication we pay attention to because pain is difficult to ignore. There is much more information available before we reach that point. Abhyanga gives you an opportunity to listen with your hands.

Oil and the nervous system

There is something very simple happening when warm oil, pressure, rhythm and touch are combined. The skin is a sensory organ. The quality of touch changes the experience. Fast, irregular contact does not feel the same as slow, continuous contact. Cold does not feel like warmth. Hard pressure does not feel like broad pressure.

Ayurveda developed its understanding of oil massage through its own medical framework, not through modern neuroscience, and I think it is important not to rewrite one tradition in the language of another. At the same time, modern research on massage and touch gives us another way to understand why these practices can influence stress, heart rate, pain and autonomic activity.

The practice changes with the person

Ayurveda does not provide one-size-fits-all answers. It asks us to look more closely than that.

Who is the person?

What is their constitution?

What imbalance is present now?

What season is it?

What climate are they living in?

How old are they?

What is their digestion like?

What is happening in their life?

This is why a person who benefits from warm sesame oil in December may want something entirely different during a hot summer. It's also why simplifying the practice into a dosha quiz isn't particularly helpful. The doshas are useful, but Ayurveda is teaching a much larger skill: observation. You must learn to recognize qualities and relationships. Abhyanga is a beautiful place to begin because the feedback is immediate. You can feel what warm oil does. You can feel the difference between five hurried minutes and twenty minutes when your attention is actually on the body. You can compare oils. You can observe the practice through different seasons.

After a while, you know because you have practiced.

Bringing abhyanga into modern life

Traditional practices don't need to remain locked inside treatment rooms in order to remain meaningful. But we also don't need to reduce them until there is almost nothing left. There is a middle path.

Learn the practice. Understand where it comes from. Give it enough time to experience what it actually does.

Maybe abhyanga becomes a daily practice during a certain season. Maybe it becomes something you do several times a week. Maybe there are periods when you need it more.

What matters to me is that the practice becomes available to you.

Abhyanga begins with warm oil and two hands. Stay with it long enough, and it teaches much more.