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Oil Massage or Abhyanga  - with the cold and dry winter months upon us, the nourishing and lubricating oil massage called abyanga is highly recommended.  Essential for Vata mind/body type on a daily basis as much as possible - every second day for pitta and at least twice a week for kapha types. Organic Sesame Oil is great but might be a bit to heating for Pitta body type which might prefer almond oil.  Coconut oil might be too clogging at this time of year. It is best to "cure" an oil before using. This is done by taking your bottle of oil and putting it in a pot with one drop of water.  As soon as the oil is heated enough the water will crackle. This prevents over heating of the oil. I have known people who heat the oil so much that it explodes into flame - not a good idea. So once your oil is gently warmed. Cool is back down and put it back in your bottle. You can warm up a bit of oil as you need it for your massage of abyanga but you do not have to re-c...

After the heat of summer and the body's response to the cold weather, we start to build up more Agni (loosely translated as heat or fire) in the body. All the Agnis in the body (stomach, liver, pancreas) become more active to compensate for the heat loss to the cold environment. Therefore we need richer food to feed the Agni or fire to maintain it. But the food should not be clogging as the channels of the body naturally shrink in the winter.  Clogged channels prevent flow of prana or life force. If this increase in Agni or fire is not fed then the lubricating elements (Kledaka Kapha) are burned up, Vata increases fanning the fire which begins to burn higher and the proper formation of tissues is effected: all 7 tissues - plasma, blood, muscle, fat, bone, bone marrow, and reproductive tissues. One very interesting point is that the plasma (clear blood ) supports the nourishment of the skin so if plasma is "burned or drying " by excessive Agni then the skin becomes d...