Welcome to Season 3 of the Body Wisdom Podcast with Dr. Michele.

This season the podcast will be focusing on healthy habits. As your host, I’ll be recording solo episodes which will answer some of the most common questions I’m asked as a physician such as “how do I build a new habit?” "which habits are essential to get healthy again?" "what can I do to lose weight?" "how can I look and feel younger again?" "how can I start exercising again if I haven't done it in years?" and more. I will also be coaching patients and clients live on-air, and conducting interviews with other health & wellness experts. Of course, I am always open to new topic ideas, so if there is a topic you would like me to address or if there is a question you would like answered, please reach out. Email me directly at [email protected].

Today Dr. Michele answers the question "Why Is Self-Massage So Important?"

I hope you enjoy the show!

About Dr. Michele:

As a physician & surgeon, certified Ayurvedic and Autoimmune health coach, yoga/anatomy teacher, and overall health & wellness expert, Dr. Michele Summers Colon is an Advocate for Women's Health. Her passion is helping women help themselves to heal their body. She is the author of Body Wisdom: 10 Weeks to Transformation, the creator and host of the Body Wisdom with Dr. Michele Podcast, and the leader of the Body Wisdom Membership Program.

She has been interviewed and quoted in many prominent publications including USA Today, US News & World Reports, Health Magazine, Yahoo! Makers, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. One of Dr. Michele’s greatest strengths is her ability to help women create balanced, healthy lives by looking at the whole picture. She combines the best of Eastern and Western medicine to create individualized health & wellness plans for her patients and clients. For over 24 years, Dr. Michele has dedicated herself to maintaining a private medical practice and providing exceptional care to her patients while at the same time studying holisitic and integrative medicine. Dr. Michele believes that food is medicine and that yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation are the keys to perfect health.

Dr. Michele has a Bachelor’s degree in Physiology from UCBerkeley, a Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences and a Doctorate degree in Podiatry from Barry University, and graduated from a Foot & Ankle Surgical Residency in Los Angeles. Dr. Michele is also certified in Ayurvedic as well as Autoimmune Health Coaching, Yoga, Reiki, Reflexology, and Laser Therapy. Dr. Michele specializes in Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Therapeutic Yoga to provide the most healing, relaxation, and rejuvenation to her patients and clients. Dr. Michele has studied Ayurvedic Medicine extensively and has worked with some of the best practitioners throughout the United States to bring Ayurveda to the forefront of medicine.

Combining yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation is one of Dr. Michele’s passions so that she can spread the word to as many people as possible that this is the path to perfect health.

Show Notes:

Why is self-massge so important? Because our hands are healing. In Ayurveda, the left side is the feminine or the goddess, and the right side is the masculine or the god. And we use them both to create unity. Self-massage is a very topical habit, but it is also about creating unity consciousness by bringing all the body parts into one.

Self-massage makes your whole body feel better. In Ayurveda, daily self-massage is called Abhyanga and is part of how to have a body. We should be doing it every day. We can change our aging trajectory by doing self-massage every day. We can actually break up scar tissue and increase the flexibility of our skin and joints.

What you put on your skin affects how you touch your skin, and how you touch your skin affects how you feel, your self-confidence. From research we know that self-massage helps us feel more grounded in our body, we feel like we have more control of our body, it affects how we age, and it deeply affects self-esteem and how we feel about ourselves. Your identity starts to shift as you get more grounded in the layers of tissues in the body.

In Ayurveda, we know that we have 7 layers of tissues, or the 7 dahtus. We are affecting all 7 layers of tissues when we perform self-massage on our body, from the bones to the nerves to the reproductive fluids. This is huge for people dealing with fertility, birth, and even menopause as we start to recycle some of the hormones and fluids of our body.

Self-massage affects all the levels of the body and moves stuck energy in all levels of the body, including the subtle body, the physical body, the energy body, the mind, the emotional body, the intuitive body, and the bliss body. For people with low energy, we can do it in a way that energizes the body using vigorous strokes. We can do a dry brush massage to energize the body too. The more you use your hands to touch your body, the more you will know about your body and the more intuitive you will feel.

Let’s talk for a minute about the issue of touch. Some people are touch averse and don’t want to touch themselves. It could be from a history of abuse or other psychological or physical issues. If this is true for you, just stay with the feet. Just start here. Do your foot massage with oil before bed every single night. And this habit of self-massage can actually be a healing process for you, beginning with your foot massage and then moving up to your arms and legs and then moving on to using oils mixed with essential oils.

You can even make your own body oil (see downloads below). 

Dry Brushing: Some people are oil averse and just don’t like oil on their body. If your body is really oily already, you are fine to just dry brush (could be true for Kaphas), but if you are Vata, your skin is probably dry and needs the oil. It stimulates your circulation.

Resistance can come up about giving up lotion vs using oil. Our skin absorbs 60% of what we put on our body. Lotions have toxins, carcinogens, pesticides, and preservatives in them so we want to avoid using lotions on our body, especially Vata types with rough dry skin (because they will absorb so much more of it). We want to use oils which are pure and free of these ingredients like raw, virgin organic, cold-pressed, or first cold pressed oils (it hasn’t been through a heat process to change its chemical composition). This also applies to make-up and anything else we put on our skin like sunscreens.

 In summary, start with your feet. Make your own oils. Do it everyday, even if it's just for a minute each day. Make it part of your daily routine. 

For podcast listeners, I have created some easy-to-follow instructions for you…to help you learn how to massage yourself. This is self-care at the next level! Also included in this instant download is a cheat sheet, showing you how to make your own massage oil.

Click here for your: Self-Massage Instructions.

Namaste,

Dr. Michele

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If there is a topic you would like me to address or if there is a question you would like answered, please reach out. Email me directly at [email protected] or schedule a coaching call with me so we can dive deeper to find out what is going on and come up with a plan of action for you: drmichele.com/schedule

Today’s show was brought to you by the Body Wisdom Membership Program. For more information, head on over to my website drmichele.com and click on the JOIN NOW or WORK WITH ME tab. All of the information is there about my group programs as well as 1:1 coaching.

If you have questions about your health that you would like me to answer on air, you can email them to me or go to my website drmichele.com/get in touch to contact my team.

If you have questions you’d like to discuss with me directly, sign up for a coaching call at drmichele.com/schedule.

Contact Information and Important Links for Dr. Michele:

Dr. Michele can be found online or by email. Dr. Michele is currently accepting new 1:1 coaching clients as well as new members into her Body Wisdom Membership Program. 

If you have questions about the Body Wisdom Membership Program or about how you can make lifestyles changes to improve your health, check out the Dr. Michele website or sign up for a coaching call with Dr. Michele here: drmichele.com/schedule

Namaste,

Dr. Michele

Here's Where You Find Dr. Michele:
website - drmichele.com
email - [email protected]
twitter - @doctormichele
facebook - @doctormichele
instagram - @drmichele