Ayurvedic Bodwork, Shirodhara, Abhyanga, etc. (long)

[Rose]

I've been looking for posts on these things for awhile, and after not finding much I deicded to start my own thread. Please point them out if you know of other threads about this! I think it could have easily fit under "Spa Techniques" because it is becoming so popular in the spa industry, but I prefer to see these things more as Holistic Therapies, especially when paired with Ayurvedic theory and philosophy.

Abhyanga - I learned to do this at the Ayurveda Center of Hawaii where I did the Abhyangas and Swedanas for her PanchaKarma people. I really love this form of bodywork. I love the scents of traditional ayurvedic oils, I love the rhythm of the strokes, and have usually gotten a really great response when I offer this massage in my practice now. It is very different from swedish, the strokes move away from the heart, a lot oil is used and the focus is on moving the energy and lymph, rather than working on the muscles.

Shirodhara - I learned this treatment from a video recently from http://www.sacredstonehealing.com I did the homestudy course and practiced on more than 10 people who gave me short written reviews. I had seen it done at the Ayurveda Center, but never learned it there. In this treatment a warm stream of oil flows over the third eye for anywhere from 20-60 minutes. I usually do about 25-30min. The oil I use is the Shirodhara blend from Banyan Botancials, an all organic blend with consciousness stimulating herbs. I am using this set up of equipment: https://securewschent01.websitecomplete.com/nhinterstocker/shop/showProd.asp?prod=1010 and I sort of like it. I am doing it "manually" meaning when the oil runs out from the top vessel, I switch out the pitchers on the bottom and pour the warm oil back into the top. It's hard not to be clumsy with this. The treatment is supposed to be very still and silent and once or twice I have banged the copper pots together (luckily with my guinea pigs!) I heat the oil to between 100-110 degrees. I use a meat thermometer to check. It's seems around 106-108 is ideal for my clients. After awhile I decided I wanted the pump so I wouldn't have to be pouring anymore with the risk of being clumsy. However, when I ordered the pump from the same company, it seems to pump too fast and I can't figure out how to adjust it. I have to email them about this. It will pump out all the oil from below and then start making a hideous noise and I have to turn it off.

When I went to Kripalu recently I got some of their Ayurvedic treatments and when I got shirodhara there the equipment was totally different so after the treatment I grilled the therapist about where I could get it. It was a pretty cool system with a heater, pump, and collection unit all integrated, and even hooking up to the table. http://www.shiroplus.com So cool! I really want to get this but I've already invested $700 in the equipment I have now. It would be hard to see spending another $600 for new stuff.

I do get quite a few clients wanting Shirodhara. Many of my existing clients who see the equipment or read my menu have their interest peaked. I also get some one time tourists coming in who get it. Normally people like to get it paired with either a 1 hour massage or 1.5 hour massage. So they don't miss out on the massage part and still get to try this cool thing. I could probably charge more than I do, but I try to keep my costs down with the oil, and clean up has gotten easier now that I've got a system down. (Clean up consists of 3 very oily large pots to clean out, and wiping down the vinyl I put on the floor for oil protection). So I charge $85 for a one hour Shiro, which includes foot and neck/face massage. My regular one hour massage is $65. A 90 min treatment inlcuding full body massage and Shiro is $120

Udvartina - I don't offer this treatment yet, but I'd really love to. I got it at Kripalu and it was so divine! They take grains (like chick pea flour) and mix it with warm/hot oil and scrub your whole body. My therapist was so awesome and the work was deep enough that it was like getting a massage and a scrub at the same time, and the scrub was not too harsh. I think grains are an ideal scrub ingredient. When I've taken some into the shower to scrub down after doing a self Abhyanga they really do wonders for the skin and feel very gentle at the same time. Anyway, this treatment was like getting your back (and everywhere else) scratched and rubbed at the same time. SO SATISFYING! But messy. She put sheets on the floor surrounding the whole table to catch the flying goo, and I had to go rinse off afterwards, even after she had done a brushing with the towel.

Oils - I use a variety of oils for my clients when I do these treatments. For people who are very adverse to oil and want it to wash out easily I use something that wouldn't be considered traditional: Soothing Touch Fragrance Free Lite. It says "Natural Ayurvedic Forumula" on the bottle, but I'm not sure how true that is. One thing that I think Ayurveda would not agree with is that it has a water dispersant in it, which they don't even specifically identify. They just say "Natural Water Dispersant." It's made with sunflower, rice bran, grapeseed, and a few other oils. It is very light on the skin and washes out easily. When people are okay with oils I have a few choices. What I think is the most traditional are the oils I get from http://www.oilbath.com TriHealth in Hawaii, they get their oils made right in Kerala and they smell amazingly divine (in my opinion!) They are also very expensive. A 5 liter bottle of the Dhanwantharam is around $110 or $120 wholesale, and then $30 to ship. So I use that sparingly, mostly in the Abhyanga, which takes between 4-8 ounces per treatment. Another oil I just bouhgt a small amount of that I really like are the Sarada oils, http://www.tarikausa.com/tarikaproducts.html I have used the Tridoshic and Vata oils and the vata oil has a strong smell that I don't particularly like, while the Tridoshic I like a lot. This may be my new option for Abhyangas when the expensive stuff runs out. The other oil supplier I use is Banyan Botanicals. They are really great about having all organic oils and herbs. Their most expensive oil is $80 a gallon. Their organic sesame is $30, which is very reasonable. I use the sesame to dilute other more expensive oils, mainly I mix it with the Shirodhara oil.

Nasaya - is putting herbalized oils in the nose and I have found this a great thing to add for clients at the end of Ayurvedic treatments if they have any sinus issues. I love the Anu Thailam I get from Tri Health, which has been very successful for one client in particular and myself. It's a very strong, very spicy oil. Banyan also has a Super Nasaya oil that is more mild.

Ayurvedic Training - I am really looking towards getting some more. I have been studying it on my own for awhile. My life right now does not have room for some residential program, which I find many of them are. I plan on taking the Institute of Vedic Studies (Dr. Frawley) home study course, which comes highly regarded. This mainly teaches the theory and "life style consultant" thing which I would like to have to be able to give more appropriate body treatments to my clients. I would also like to get some more hands on training. I am in New Mexico, so I am near the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, although that school (even their short courses) seem kind of expensive, and most require more formal study than I've had. What I'm looking at right now is maybe going to Kripalu once a year for some of their 5 day courses on Ayurvedic bodywork. It is farther away, but the prices seem reasonable and include room and board, which simplifies things a bit.

Panchakarma / Poorvakarma - I'm interested in offering a modified "for cleansing and relaxation" version of these services. A package with a consultation, Shirodhara, Abyhanga, maybe something else and a sweat in a sauna or steambox (neither of which I have yet). That is what I see in the future!

I don't know if each of these topics should be given their own thread or what. I'm basically trying to gauge interest. If there's anyone who does any of these treatments, please chime it! I'd love to hear about how you do it, what equipment and oils you use, where you learned, etc.

 

[katlvr125]

I don't have experience with Ayurvedic treatments myself, but I love learning about new things. I just want to thank you for posting such detailed descriptions. It's a great addition to the articles on MassagePlanetL. Hopefully other (experienced) people will add to your thread!

 

[Mundane]

My only experience with ayurveda is as a recipient of shirodhara. It was wonderful. Thanks for the information, shivashiva.

 

[kaynoxdemon]

I agree on the THANK YOU!

 

[Joe C]

ShivShiva

I just returned from Kerala where I received a certificate in Ayurveda massage and panchakarma. I'm looking to set up a practice and came across your fascinating post. The post being a few months old you may not see this one.
I considered getting the traditional massage table from India (droni) but they can be expensive when you tack on the cost of shipping. I opted for a portable model bought from a company in Miami. I am very interested in the shiroplus shirodara equipment you mentioned but the website link is no longer operable. Oils I find are better purchased in India and shipped unfortunately our FDA does not approve of this and decided to have a friend in India ship oils to me a few bottles at a time 'disguised' as 'gift' packages. I know a lot of folks from India who live in the US and they are urging me to get started. Your post was interesting and encouraging and am hoping to make a connection with you through this.
My aim is to provide AFFORDABLE panchakarma since so many places charge exorbitant prices.

 

[" ? "]

Lawrence, I'm so glad you posted. Where did you study in Kerala? There were several places I was looking into there for a similar program. I'd love a review of your experience there, including cost, length of program, what you learned, quality of teachers, etc.

Now I have planned a two week seminar in June/July with Vasant Lad on Panchakarma, including some hands on work with massage, shirodhara, nasaya, swedana, etc. It's in albuquerque and I'm very excited.

I'm disappointed that the link wasn't working. It was working just a couple weeks ago, because I check back there often to gaze at the lovely shirodhara set-up and wish I had it. I'm hoping maybe they are just having website difficulties and that it will be up soon.

Also, regarding the droni, I have seen a US website that sells a traditional droni (for people interested, here is what they look like) but I can't find it now. Yes, they are expensive, but for treatments using a lot of oil, probably the best. The only way to go for pizichil (sp?) where they pour oil over your body for the whole treatment and need to recollect it and keep pouring. I do not have one but would like to in the future.

I'm interested in you getting oils from India. Why would the FDA not like it? I know that at least one oil company here, Tri-Health, gets all their oils from india. As well as Sarada. Perhaps you need to have a license of some sort? I know that Tri-Health has their oil manufactured by Kerala Ayurveda Pharmacy but I tried contacting them and got no response. You probably have to buy a LOT of oil from them, I'm guessing.

I wish you the best of luck in providing affordable panchakarma. I wonder what you consider affordable and how you plan on doing this? Mainly I see the cost of panchakarma being so high because of how time consuming it is. From my limited understanding of it so far, it seems a practitioner is with the client for around 3 hours each day. Even not counting supplies, oils, set-up and clean-up, (which would all be considerable) at $65/hr (my hourly price) that would be $195 per day. Then consider that you are doing it 3-7 days in a row, and the price quickly rises. Even if you charge $800 for a week of panchakarma treatments, which I would consider very very inexpensive for the amount of work I would be doing, how affordable is that? Most people would have to be fairly well off to invest in that kind of thing, not to mention taking the time off of work and daily duties to allow for it in their own schedule.

Can you put a $ amount on what you would consider affordable pancha karma? And how you would allow for this in your practice. What is your job now, are you already a massage therapist? This point of the topic has really piqued my interest because I have always seen panchakarma here as being expensive.

I'm so glad to see another Ayurveda person on here! I hope you continue to post and that we can learn from each other.

 

[Ryde-On]

I am very interested in Ayurveda, though I haven't gotten too deep into it yet (lack of $$, for starters) but I would love to go to India to learn it first hand. It's one of my dreams that I really hope to make happen. I've searched for info on the net, but it's hard to tell which places are the best, or even legit, ya know? I need to look into it deeper... suggestions are more than welcome.

 

[Zachary]

Just wanted to let you all know, as of today, April 22, 2008, the Shiropluswebsite is working.

 

[June V]

Ayurvedic Bodwork, Shirodhara, Abhyanga, etc. (long)

Thank you for all the great information.

http://www.reikimassages.com