Dry brushing
- Johanna Hämäläinen
- Feb 10, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 12, 2024
If you're new to dry brushing, then it's a great tool to add to your week, if not day-to-day! An easy selfcare practice to implement by yourself, there is no need to go to a spa. For example, the writer bought herself a new, bamboo spa brush (so soft!), that reaches more easily on the back than the previous, round Ecotools one.
The benefits seem to be endless, from exfoliation to removing toxins.
"How to practice dry brushing
To dry brush, use a natural fiber brush with a long handle. The long handle will help you reach all areas of your body. Follow these steps:
Start at your feet and move up your body.
Brush your skin using wide, circular, clockwise motions.
Use light pressure in areas where your skin is thin and harder pressure on thicker skin, like the soles of your feet.
Brush your arms after you have brushed your feet, legs, and mid-section. You should brush upward towards your armpits.
After dry brushing, take a cool shower to help remove the dry skin.
After your shower, dry off and then consider adding natural plant oil, such as olive or coconut oil, to moisturize your skin.
When you first start dry brushing, it’s best to begin with light brushing. As you get used to it, you can increase the pressure.
Avoid sensitive areas and anywhere the skin is broken. These include areas with:
rashes
wounds
cuts
infections
Also, never brush an area affected by poison oak, poison ivy, or psoriasis. Don’t dry brush your face unless you’re using a softer brush made for that purpose."
To add to the list of donts, is a sunburnt skin or even thinking of a future sunburn.
Also, if it's not yet mentioned, always circle the brush towards the heart, because of the body's lymphatic drainage. Many recommend dry brushing in the mornings as opposed to evenings, for their invigorating feelings.
Ayurvedic knowledge is precise and vast, even regarding dry brushing! The similar inter-connecteness reminds me of Chinese Medicine. Like eveything Indian is, was and has been, thorough.
"This traditional Ayurvedic practice, also called garshana (pronounced gar-shun-uh), promotes lymphatic cleansing and is a powerful way to support the natural process of detoxification in the body.
Garshana is traditionally done using raw silk or linen gloves, though many prefer to use a natural bristle body brush. This technique is recommended especially for people who have signs of ama, which may include lethargy, sluggishness, feeling physical or mental dullness, constipation, and a taxed immune system.
Dry brushing is also an excellent practice for the kapha time of year, from late winter into spring. Snow is melting, water has saturated the earth, and flower pollen is carried on the breeze—this is the time of year when kapha can begin to accumulate in the lymph or the sinuses and create stagnation throughout the body.
If your skin is on the drier side or you are prone to vata imbalance, it is important to do abhyanga (Ayurvedic self-massage) with warm oil after dry brushing to lubricate the skin. This helps to bring vata dosha back into balance by calming the nervous system.
The Benefits of Ayurvedic Dry Brushing
According to Ayurveda, the lymphatic system (rasa dhatu) is directly connected to the health and harmony of every other dhatu (tissue layer) in the body. The practice of dry massage is one of the most effective ways to support the proper health and flow of the lymph, which in turn offers immense benefit throughout the body.
Here are some of the main benefits of practicing garshana1:
Increases muscle tone
Improves skin texture, luminosity, and suppleness
Reduces the effects of stress on the body
Promotes weight management by supporting healthy metabolism
Supports natural detoxification
Improves lymphatic circulation
Enhances circulation and healthy blood flow
Stimulates areas that accumulate cellulite"
X Johanna
(c) Dry brushing steps: https://www.healthline.com/health/dry-brushing#how-to
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