Ayurvedic Oil Pulling and Why You Should Start

Oil-Pulling, a concept of cleansing by swishing a spoonful of oil in your mouth.

It seems to be a growing interest, but it’s been around for thousands of years! In the Charaka Samhita, a Sanskrit text of Indian Medicine, it’s well over 3,000 years old.

Before we get into the many benefits, we need to understand what it is, and just how to do it!

Oil Pulling, or in Sanskrit, “Kavala Gandusha” is essentially the Ayurvedic mouthwash. Ayurveda’s teachings are mostly centered around constant cleansing and detoxification. So, it makes sense this is a daily ritual on the path of Ayurveda.

Sucking on oil feels as weird as it sounds. In the morning, on an empty tummy, take a spoonful of oil and put into your mouth. Swish and Swish, up and down, push, pull, and draw the oil through the teeth.. Side to side. (I know, the texture might be weird, and it might taste weird) Keep on swishing! Aim for at least 5 minutes at first, but you can work your way up to 20 minutes. As you’re moving this oil around your mouth, it will trigger enzymes to help pull ama, or toxins from the blood. Pretty cool if you ask me, your body is constantly on your side and helping you when you allow it the attention. :)

When time is up, the oil could be a milky color, frothy, and thin. That’s perfect, you did it! Now spit it out into a trash can.. NOT in the sink, you could risk clogging your drain! ..Oh, and this oil CANNOT be swallowed! You just pulled out so much bacteria, mucous, and toxins!

This is something that can be practices multiple times a day, but it’s def best to do so in the morning.. Before you eat ANYTHING!

What Kind of Oil?

This can be a tricky question. The most generic kind of oil for this method is Coconut Oil. In Ayurvedic terms, one bases the oil used on their dosha makeup. (If you are interested in understanding your body’s unique makeup, there are PLENTY of Dosha Body Type Tests online.) Certain oils will have different effects!

When searching for an oil that suits your body best, I would highly recommend the label including “organic” “unrefined” and “cold-pressed.” You are putting this oil into your mouth, and believe it or not it is doing a loooooot to your body.

Having something with Prana (life force) is highly important. The intention is to feel your very best, and to cleanse the body. So keep that in mind when choosing what oil to use!

Benefits:

• Cleans Teeth/Removes Plaque

• Eliminates Bad Breath

• Strengthens Teeth and Gums

• Promotes Good Oral Health

• Improves Sinus Health

• Promotes Healthy Detoxification and Cleansing

• Boost Energy Levels

• Reduces occurrence of disease and illness

• Alleviates Arthritis

• Reduces Headaches

• Benefits skin and blood disorders

• Improves Psoriasis

• Reduces chronic Inflammation

• Heart & Brain Health

As you can see, this is a POWERFUL and EFFECTIVE practice, if not one of the best, to improve your health. The best part- it's readily available, you can do it yourself, and it’s natural!

Remember, the human body make-up is as unique as a fingerprint! With that being said, experiment with what time of day, what kind of oil, and the duration. Personally, I have a hard time keeping it in my mouth for a full 15 minutes because of the taste. ( I usually use coconut or sesame.) I have started putting a couple drops of lemon essential oil and let me tell you.. GAME CHANGER! I’ve also seen people putting ground herbs in, like turmeric, or mixing a couple different kinds of oils together.

I have had a profound experience implementing this into my daily rituals, and I encourage you too as well.

Namaste, Amalia May

Meditation

What do we all have in common? What is it that we all are striving for? We are all very very different individuals, but we all share the desire to feel comfortable and happy, avoid pain and difficulties. You can find comfort, in any situation, through your breath. Breath is like a big ole hug to your mind body spirit.

Okay, I KNOW your first thought when you see the word “Meditation” is sitting twisted like a pretzel with your hands making fancy shapes staying reealllly still for hours wondering when this “enlightenment” will start kicking in. Hey, is this thing working?!?!

Well, first off, remove ALL expectations.

The truth is, meditation can look like, feel like -BE like anything at all. My favorite is a nature walk, breathing and watching the individual leaves dance on trees. It helps me build connection with Mother Gia-making me feel more grounded.

It can be painting, dancing, reading, running, walking, gardening, ANYTHING. It’s crazy, you really can find stillness in motion.

A moving body or still body, both are good. The body benefits from movement and the mind benefits from stillness.

So, if you’re ready and willing to try meditation, let’s do it!

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Meditation in Motion.

We all have that something that brings us joy, and if you don’t have an activity or hobby that brings you peace and happiness, I highly suggest you do some soul searching, it’s really important to have things that make your insides bloom and fill you with so much joy!

Do something you love. Find the thing that fills you with happiness and excitement. For me, it’s dance, but like I said it could be ANYTHING.

It is here that you will find a sense of effortless ease; “flow.”. A way of being, doing or moving that requires minimal to no conscious awareness.

You will often find this feeling while being creative; writing for example, drawing, painting, or a puzzle. Or perhaps running, DANCING, hiking or riding a bike?

You know the feeling… The feeling where hours could pass and you haven’t had a single thought. You are so immersed in the art, the song, the moment.

That my friend, is CONNECTION between you and your soul.

HEYO! This too, is a kind of meditation -the act of being so immersed in what you're doing, removing your ego and thoughts from your body- it’s enabling a few moments of liberation and freedom from the self.

So, as I was saying, Meditation isn’t necessarily going to be what you expected.

The chances are it will be messy and confusing and hard! At first it will be difficult, then it will become unpredictable.. And then it will become somewhat maybe even enjoyable and then when you are able to let go of all these emotions, thoughts and feelings, good AND bad, here you will find yourself meditating without even really trying at all. Personally, even after a few years, I still struggle to get in that zone every now and then.. But do not give up on yourself. This practice will overflow into every other aspect of your life.

Meditation is that ease of mind and connection with your truth.

It could be hours at a time, or a couple of minutes as you wait for your coffee in the morning.

Whatever meditation looks like for you, embrace it.

Let the practice be whatever it wants to be.

You want to be a Yogi?.. sometimes the most advanced practice is the one where you surrender to the breath & Universe,embracing unpredictability whole-heartedly!

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Moment of Stillness.

Just be still. How often to you intentionally sit still?

Sit, Lay, be in whatever position you find comfortable. Grab some pillows if you’d like.

Allow your hands rest on your thighs or knees. Open hands indicate receiving, and closed hands offer a grounding experience. Perhaps you’d rather prefer to cradle your hands in one another, or maybe pressing your thumb and index finger into one another, creating the mudra “Jnana”.

Now, breathe. Really feel these breaths enter your body and flow down to your belly. Let this breath fill you.

Close your eyes.

Open your heart. Open your mind. Connect to your breath.

Thoughts will inevitably flow in and out-but let them flow.. Like waves on a beach.

A wave rolls up, kissing the shore on the inhale.

And then slowly melts back in to the ocean on the exhale.

Bring awareness to the cool air as it enters your nose, then feel the gentle warming as the breath fills your body; your chest, lungs and belly.

Rid yourself any tension, guilt, shame, fear- releasing stress and concern with every out breath.

Inhale deeply for a count of three. Expand the ribcage with your Prana (breath), filling your entire body with energy and vitality.

Hold your breath at the top, feel that life force awakening every cell. Feels good, right?

Then exhale for a count of four. Slow, steady, controlled.

Hold at the bottom. Enjoy these moments of quietness and space. Then fill your lungs again.

Allow your thoughts to wander. Don’t try suppress them. Notice the way they roam in and out of your mind. To and fro. Mental ebbs and flows.

It’s really important not to judge yourself for these thoughts.

Just as you watched those thoughts enter your mind, watch them leave again. Not attaching to anything that pops up in that pretty little head. When you have trouble doing this, bring your focus back to your breath. In and Out.

Find comfort in the knowledge that your body knows how to breathe all on its own. It is not something you need to concentrate on or try hard to do. Our bodies will inhale and exhale even without our knowledge, just like a reflex. But turning our attention to the breath is where the magic lives!

There is much to be learned in the rise and fall of our lungs.

Notice the way your body melts, and your nerves quieten just from a few moments of breath observation and awareness.

Know that you can come back to this place, this feeling, whenever you need to.

Trust that your breath- your Prana-is so incredibly powerful beyond both measure and comprehension. Meditation is a step in the right direction for learning how to harness that force and use it consciously and with intention to better shape your life.

Namaste,

Amalia May

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Facial Cupping

Amalia May | Massage Therapist | Yoga | Come Alive Herbals

Cupping Therapy has gained so much attention in the past few years.

If you hear someone talk about ‘Cupping’ you probably think of Micheal Phelps with flaunting his dark purple bruises at the Olympics.. Or maybe Netflix’s Goop series. It’s gaining popularity, but it’s an ancient

way to health. As a form of natural medicine, a gentle heated suction was placed locally on one’s skin to treat imbalances and disease. This modality originated in China, Egypt and the Middle East and still commonly used. I think it’s really cool it’s dated back so far in history and still so popular. Almost every spa offers a form of cupping. In my treatment room, I also offer Facial Cupping.

I know. Sounds weird. But don’t worry. Your face won’t be covered in those "dark hickey looking things" and it shouldn’t hurt...it should actually feel really soothing and relaxing.

Facial Cupping’s intent is to boost blood circulation and stimulate the cells in charge of collagen production. Basically, this can brighten your skin, minimize the look of wrinkles, dark circles & saggy skin, and fine lines. Over time, it even can tone your jaw by redirection your lymph and decreasing puffiness. This is a small fraction of all the awesome benefits to this modality.

I am going to walk you how and why I think it’s important that you implement this into your life. (Note that a trained professional is the #1 option here, but with the way the world is right now.. this might be your best bet. I usually do this two or three times a week as ritual- oh boy that spa bill would add up!!)

* In my opinion, I honestly don’t see anything wrong with doing this at home if you are cautious. I think it's a cool way to build a relationship with the skin you are living in. Just.. PLEASE don't wing it, scroll to the bottom of the page and follow my steps...*

Here's how it can help you.

Facial Cupping:

• Alleviates Migraines

• Relieves TMJ

• Minimizes wrinkles dark circles, fine lines, and scars

• Decreases puffiness

• Tones jaw, chin, neck

• Brightens skin

• Relax facial muscles (...do you catch yourself clenching your jaw during the day?)

• Improves nutrient delivery

• Improve your daily moisturizer and product absorption

• Helps anxiety

Who doesn’t want to brighten and tone up their face naturally while also aiding facial stress?

And I am not joking. It feels AMAZING. Anyone that has had a treatment done can attest that it feels really freaking good.

Personally, I feel like I have just have puffy face syndrome.. or maybe I don't drink enough water before bed.. or maybe sometimes I don't get good sleep. Here's a raw picture of me some mornings, as you can see, I have inflammation and puffiness written all over my dang face. Just a few minutes of facial cupping to a brighter, slimmer, more awake look.

How Does It Work?

Under the Skin

Your Lymphatic System. Facial Cupping stimulates your lymphatic system- in short, this is what helps drain out toxins and everything your body doesn’t need... just keeping your insides clean. When done right, this method creates a systematic “flushing” of the drainage system to carry out all the crap or kick stagnant fluid in gear. Because cupping uses a suction aka the negative pressure aka the “vaccum” effect, it allows breathe and life to flow back into the area! Through this magical process, it helps TMJ, relaxing your muscles, and everyone’s favorites like brightening your face and tightening up loose skin.

Where Do I Buy a Set?

There are different kinds of cupping sets- glass, plastic, silicone- suction, fire and probably more I don’t even know about. But when it comes to your face, I suggest sticking to the specific silicone small cups. You can find them here.

How Do I Do It?

Where you move the cup, the fluid will follow. Remember, we want to go in the same pathway that the lymph system flows. But let’s back up. Where do we begin?

I usually start by stimulating the face in some way. This could be a light massage with your finger tips, a exfoliate of some sort, or dry brushing.

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Step 1:

Before we get down to it, we need to put on some kind of oil or salve on our face and neck so the cups can move around more easily.

Step 2:

Stimulate the collar bone area. This is where the fluid under your skin will drain into.

Step 3:

Squeeze. I usually start at the neck or chin. You begin the cupping treatment by grabbing one cup (or both if you are really coordinated.. I am not. Lol) holding between your thumb and your fingertip, pinching it and placing it on your skin to create a seal.

Step 4:

When I go to release the cup, I start moving it in the direction of the lymphatic lines. It’s really important you start moving your cups right away.. If you don’t, you’ll look like you got in a fight with an octopus.

Step 5:

Continue this process until you cover every part of the face.. You can take your sweet time and go a half hour if you want. Your face might get a bit red, but it will go away. That’s just proof it’s doin’ it’s thang.

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A Few Things..

Don’t get too crazy. Remember this is a gentle treatment and it’s very stimulating to whats right under the skin, so a little suction actually goes a long way. It could break capillaries, or collagen fibers.. And that’s pretty much the complete opposite of what we want here. If you have touchy skin, this might not be for you. I’m not a doctor and my intent is not to offer medical advice. Please talk with your Doc before you dive in. So, with that being said, if you have touchy sensitive skin but have an issue you think cupping would help, maybe hold off on this DIY and set up an one on one appointment with me. You can shoot me an email amaliamaylmt@gmail.com to schedule an appointment.

And PLEASE DRINK WATER!

I love this modality, the biggest thing for me is decreasing morning puffiness and helping me through anxiety. I hope you try it out and and enjoy this awesome health source. The more I learn about how smart the human body is, the more I appreciate it. Your body is caring for you 24/7, tending to every part of you without you consciously having to think about it. Your body is on your team, but sometimes it needs a friendly push into gear when it’s stagnant and still.

Namaste, Amalia May :)