What is an Ayurvedic Massage?

For me, an Ayurvedic Massage is so much more than a massage. It became a ritual, a way of coming back to the body, coming back to oneself. Call it a tool. 

As I described before, the term used for health in Ayurveda is called swastha, which literally translates to ‘being anchored in oneself.’ So the massage is a way of coming back to the body.

Holistic

Whereas other (more 'Western') types of massage are more focused on physical symptom relief, Ayurveda goes much further. I work with the physical as well as the emotional, the spiritual and the mental body, since everything is connected and in the end the same thing. When I would focus on just relieving the symptoms on the spot you feel pain, you might experience some relief for that moment and maybe some time after. Yet we are not addressing the cause of the symptom, so chances are high they will come back. And if we don't address the cause, then it will for sure return and you will keep yourself in a cycle. So the goal is not only to focus on the symptoms directly, although I will, as well as focusing on relaxation of the whole body.

The body’s natural capacity to heal itself

Your body holds the innate capacity to heal itself! Yet the problem nowadays is that we have so much disconnected from the body. So within the ritual, the focus is on gentlesness, softness, kindness. Something we might miss in our daily lifes, as we can be so hard on ourselves. So you can finally feel safe again in yourself, allowing yourself to feel and come into the body so that you can allow a natural process of healing where we reach the core of the issue. We resolve the stress that's causing the pain. We allow you to feel so the body naturally adjusts to come back in its perfect position.

The process

Imagine yourself laying on the massage bed in a room of the perfect temperature. You feel safe, you feel held, you feel welcome, you feel seen. A space where you can finally allow your body to relax through calming sounds, no overstimulation, softness. The smell of some natural insense or essential oil, nothing too activating or perfumey, but rather gentle. We don't want to overstimulate the body in a society that's this overstimulating already. We want to signal to your body, 'it is safe now you can let go'.

Within 90 minutes, I will cover your whole body, bit by bit, with a comforting warm oil that feels so deeply nourishing and nurturing to the body, to the skin, to the soul, to your being. The oil will help to remove any physical toxins (ama) that are released through the massage, as well as focusing on energetic blockages by making use of marma-points. These are energetical points in the body, similar to what many may know as acupuncture. Here energy can get stuck and by applying pressure we can allow the energies to flow again through the nadi’s, which are the energy channels of the body.

Digestion

When those toxins get released it is very important for the body to be able to get rid of them. That's why I will also massage the intestines and the digestive organs to stimulate the digestion and to help process and eliminate all the toxins.

Yet again I am not only talking about the physical toxins and digestion. A lot of stress and trauma is stored within the belly, because the belly is such a delicate and sensitive area. It's not protected by bones, so the first thing we do when we are stressed is to contract the belly to make it harder. That's why a stressed body often comes with a tense belly. We don't even always notice this, but this can cause severe digestive issues, fatigue, pain in the body, headaches, bloating and the list goes on and on. All symptoms caused by stress from disconnection with ourselves. 

So this is what an Ayurvedic massage, a ritual in my eyes, will look like. I can help you come back to yourself, feel safe and enjoy life again, because I believe we are all designed for pleasure.