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How Does This Ayurvedic Home Remedy Improve Wellness?
CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW
An aromatic chest rub is a penetrating salve that opens up the lungs and circulation, having a general clearing effect. Chest rubs dilate the airways for easier breathing. Their pungency also dilates vessels and stimulates the heart - greatly enhancing immunity. They break up mucus for release from the body.
Aromatic chest rubs are a classic home remedy for respiratory congestion, cough and constriction across the world. Many will recall, as children, a caregiver rubbing a sticky, nose-clearing salve on their chest when a cough or cold took hold.
Making your own, personalized chest rub couldn't be easier. This comes with the added benefit of not covering your pajamas in sticky gel!
Why Do Chest Rubs Work?
Aromatic compounds like menthol, limonene or thymol dilate the blood vessels, relax muscles and ease pain. In fact, the aromatic nature of chest rubs is the key to the cold-busting power of chest rubs. In Ayurveda, aromatic is a subtaste of pungent, meaning it can penetrate deep into the tissues.
But unlike spicy pungents, aromatic pungents relax smooth muscle tissue, which is how these formulas dilate blood vessels and bronchial tubes. These actions ease symptoms and can make sleeping when unwell a little easier.
Make Your Own Chest Rub
Choose Your Carrier Oil
Coconut oil (melted)
Olive oil
Almond oil
Shea butter
Choose Your Essential Oils
Eucalyptus
Mint
Citrus aurantium (orange)
Thyme - Thyme is effective but irritates the skin
Tailor the Strength to Your Needs
Strong formula for before shower (max 10 minutes on skin):
10 drop thyme essential oil
25 drops other oils of choice
Add to 2 tbsp carrier oil
Apply 1/4 - 1/2 tsp to chest before shower
Weak formula to be left on skin:
1 drop thyme
2 drops other oils of choice
Add to 2 tbsp carrier oil
Apply to chest before bed
Caution: Eucalyptus is contraindicated in infants. If planning on using this on small children, the menthol from mint may be too potent. Essential oils are potent. Always dilute and patch test essential oils on a small section of skin before larger application. Research the herbs and/or check with your medical doctor before using.
SUGGESTED USE
Please follow label or as directed by your practitioner.
Biocharacteristics of Chest Rub with Essential Oils
Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics
(gunas).
Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance.
By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick.
Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold).
You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic.
Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food.
Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body.
Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food.
Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods.
Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion.
Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste.
One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes.
The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below?
According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine,
people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person.
Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness.
Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency.
Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses.
The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history.
The 3 functional body types
(doshas),
are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha).
Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy. They are easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry.
Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. They tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed.
Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. If they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Anabolic people tend to be stable and grounded.
Herbs or spices with volatile essential oils that present strong aromas. Aromatic oils shock, refresh and numb tissue, with the end result of relaxing, opening and clearing stagnant fluids in tissues.
Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Chest Rub with Essential Oils
Experiences are Personal
Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary.
The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.
Expectorants help you eliminate mucus from the lungs. These herbs often work by increasing the quantity of mucus, or thinning the mucus. Expectorants are indicated when phlegm congests the lower respiratory tract.
Strengthens the lungs. Lung tonics include antifibrotic, vessel tonic, or nourishing herbs with an affinity for the lungs. They aid recovery in acute or chronic lung conditions.
An agent that kills microorganisms or inhibits their growth. Antimicrobial is an umbrella term that can be broken down into specific categories of target microorganism, such as anti-bacterials, fungals, and virals.
A vasodilator is an herb that widens the blood vessels by the relaxation of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls, thereby increasing circulation systemically or to a local area.
Chest Rub with Essential Oils may be beneficial for these symptoms. The suitability of any herb supplement for a condition is highly dependent on the individual.
Please see your doctor before using this herb supplement to treat a medical condition.
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.
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