Tag Archive for: abhyanga

One Step at a Time: Step Four

I also began abhyanga during this process as step four.  I was intrigued by the idea of a daily morning massage because my rational was who wouldn’t want to feel like they started their day with a massage.  The first issue I ran into was the smell of the sesame oil that I initially purchased in the cooking oil aisle.  There was a burned smell that made this process repellant the first day.  I transferred over to the sesame oil in the cosmetic area.  It was later suggested to me that I might try cold pressed, unrefined sesame oil but I am waiting until I am done with my current bottle of oil. I am notoriously not a morning person and my sleeping patterns varied widely on any given day.  After about a week of step four, I found that I would go to bed early so I could easily get up early to complete the abhyanga and not feel rushed.  I also realized that I was waking up more easily (sometimes without the aid of an alarm) and less resentfully.  I looked forward each morning and was delighted to engage in this practice.  There was a whole ritual of waking up, putting the kettle on, relaxing in bed until the kettle’s light whistle would start and heating the sesame oil. This process was definitely the highlight of my day.

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One Step at a Time: Accomplishments

I felt that my experiment was not as concise as I would have ideally hoped but the issues that I addressed in this experiment were items that I had long ignored.  I have managed to cut caffeine out entirely of my food intake along with the chemicals I was ingesting from the Diet Coke.  My withdrawal symptoms have disappeared and my agitation level has dropped drastically.  My water intake has increased to about 50-75 ounces per day.  The level of difficulty that I had starting the meal modification step surprised me the most.  I couldn’t believe how resentful I was of this portion of the experiment.  I feel like my success rate in this area was about 60%-40%.  I would like to get it up to Susan’s ideal of 80%-20% and am hopeful that with continued focus, I will be able to achieve this goal.  The abhyanga was a smashing success and provided the additional results of smoothing my extremely dry skin, decreasing caffeine withdrawal agitation in the morning, and made waking something to look forward to.  My next goal in the continuation of this experiment is twofold.  I would like to focus on eating more vegetables and fruits while reducing my bread intake.  I would also like to integrate two additional self-care items into my morning routine:  tongue scraping and swishing.

 

 

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