Ayurvedic Massage has been in use since ancient times and in modern days even it is being utilized as a great healing remedy for several problems of human body. A proper body massage is consisted of the strokes, shaking, vibrations, kneading, tapping, squeezing, which are provided on required areas of the body to release stress and heal the problems. Each stroke of massage has its own purpose in the body to serve. A proper body massage should be provided maintaining all the requirements of it, including time, strokes, intricacies and sequence etc. Hence, massage should always be done by a professional massage therapist.


Intricacies of Massage
To provide a proper massage one should maintain the intricacies of it. One should look at the formation and function of the musculature and follow the natural contours and flows of the body to provide the most effective massage. Working counter to the natural formation of the body creates imbalances and diseases. To understand the intricacies of massage, one need to study the three prime regions of the body- the region from the base of the spine to the head, the region from the pelvis to the toes and the region from the collar-bones to the fingertips. The massage should be given regions wise. The regions are detailed below:


Base of the Spine to the Head: The shape of the muscles in the first region is round and the energy flows in this region from top to button and vice versa. In the formation of the limbs in the embryo, this part develops first. The head develops first, and then the rest of the fertilized ovum undergoing mitosis and meiosis becomes the rest of the torso, up to the base of the spine. Thus, these parts are actually accumulated as a unit and so should be massaged as a unit.


From Pelvis to the Toes: In the second region, energy moves down from the pelvis to the feet. The circulation is downward as this part keeps in contact with the earth and it is the lower region of the body. This part of the body is designed for the function of pushing.


From Collar-Bones to the Fingertips: In the third region, the upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, palms and fingers form a co-ordinated unit to draw energy into the body. This is the pulling section. In both the second and third regions the formation of the musculature is linear, and the energy flows from the torso downwards and outwards.


Sequence of Massage
For a perfect and proper body massage, it should always begin from the front portion of the upper and then the back side of it should be massaged. After this, lower legs should be massaged followed by the foot massage maintaining the same front and back principle. Then hips and sides should be worked upon along with the lower back moving upwards then to cover the upper back portion. Then the front portion of the body would be having the massage followed by arms. Finally, massage of the head should be started; head should always be massaged at the end.