AYURVEDIC
YOGA MASSAGE
Ayurveda promotes the notion that health is not a state defined by lab tests or yearly check ups. Health is a continuous and participatory process that embraces all aspects of life: physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, spiritual, familial, social, and universal. According to PHD Ayurveda Doctor, David Frawley, this practice can be referred to as Dharmic medicine. It represents a Dharmic approach to everyday living, and is used widely as conscious healing based upon natural law.
Ayurvedic Yoga massage is a dynamic therapy created by Kusum Modak in Pune-India, involving full body massage, breathing exercises and various supported yoga stretches to provide a relaxing, detoxifying and rejuvenating experience. This technique combines the ancient wisdom of Ayurvedic massage with the Iyengar Yoga method to balance the nervous, respiratory and circulatory systems. By rebalancing the physical body, this massage eliminates toxins, realigns posture, improves muscle tone and increases range of motion. The massage is performed on a mat using pressure (applied by hands and feet), traction, and conscious breathing, preparing the body to receive passive yoga stretches. The Ayurvedic herbs used for the massage purify the blood and organs to speed up detoxification and stimulate the natural flow of energy. These factors make Ayurvedic Yoga Massage the ideal complement to any cleanse or detox.
ABOUT MASTER KUSUM MODAK
Ayurvedic Yoga Massage, was and continues to be developed by Master Kusum Modak of Pune, India, who has tirelessly dedicated her life to creating and spreading this work. She has combined her knowledge of Ayurveda and Traditional Ayurvedic Massage with Yoga, learned directly from BKS Iyengar, to create her own unique approach to Ayurvedic massage.
KUSUM'S CHAI TEA
Ingredients
1 tbs of black tea
2 cups water
1/2 cup milk (or 2 tablespoons dry milk powder)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger 1 tsp of Kusum’s Masala * Demerara/brown sugar or sweetener to taste
Preparation
Boil water in a saucepan with the ginger, add the black tea and the masala. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the aroma spreads throughout the kitchen. Boil the milk, I personally use the dry slim milk powder, use a tea strainer and press it with a spoon to get the best flavor in the cup. Sweeten to taste. Tip: Enjoy with your favorite cookie, Marie cookie or graham cracker. You can add lemon grass when boiling the tea . ura.
VEKHAND: THE GOLDEN POWDER
Vekhand: What is it?
Ancient practitioners of the science of Ayurveda, as well as Chinese and Native American Indian healers first recognized that herbs were the repositories of the most concentrated form of nature’s intelligence. The plant Calamus, “Vacha” in Sanskrit has been used in Ayurveda for centuries and prescribed in many formulations as one the top ten herbal medicines. The root loosely resembles the appearance of drywood with a sweet, and earthy scent. Crushed in the form of a powder, Calamus produces great effects when incorporated into Ayurvedic Yoga Massage.
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Benefits include:
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Improves circulation in the body
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Promotes the removal of toxins
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Invigorates the skin removing dead cells. Helps to maintain youthfulness through blood circulation and skin cell regeneration
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Balances the effects of Vata
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Stimulates the nervous system activity on the body
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Helps to fight depression and confer immunity on the system
What is Doshas?
The central concept of Ayurvedic medicine is the theory that health exists when there is a balance between three fundamental bodily bio-elements or doshas called Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Doshas are the forces that create the physical body, they determine conditions of growth and aging, health and disease. Typically, one of the three doshas predominates and determines one's constitution or mind-body type. Kapha, meaning water in nature, makes up majority of body’s tissue. The digestive system is primarily Pitta or fire and the nervous system is Vata or wind.
By understanding individual habits, emotional responses, and body type, practitioners can adapt their yoga practice, food intake, massage therapy (oils) accordingly. The same applies for Ayurveda treatments focused on alleviating any doshic excesses (illness) via powerful herbs and/or through the improvement of general lifestyle practices such as massages, pranayama, meditation and yoga postures.
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Before coming to your Ayurvedic Yoga Massage treatment is important to take the Doshas Questionnaire to know which specific oils will be appropriate for your mind-body type. Download the Questionnaire HERE.