The Encyclopedia of Ayurvedic Massage provides massage therapists with all the necessary information to begin Ayurvedic treatments as part of a spa menu or massage therapy program. These treatments can also be shared with friends and family. You will learn ten therapeutic and luxurious Panchakarma treatments plus an Ayurvedic facial.
Panchakarma is an Ayurvedic program that has been performed for thousands of years in India and renown for its deep cleansing, rejuvenation, and life-extension benefits. Each treatment is described in step-by-step detail with accompanying black and white photographs. You will also learn the background to the history and philosophy of Ayurveda.
Ayurvedic massage has been practiced for over five thousand years and thus evolved into precise protocols that have been shown to de-congest the lymphatic system and still the mind and body by lowering metabolic rates and inspiring feelings of peace and calm.
Dr. John Douillard, CAP, DC owned a Panchakarma clinic for over 30 years where he managed a team of therapists and administered these very same healing treatments to thousands of patients.
From the Foreword by Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP
In the West, we are just beginning to appreciate the hidden pearls of wisdom sewn in the 5000-year-old fabric of Ayurvedic medicine. To understand the difference between Eastern and Western mindsets, consider the fact that Ayurvedic massage practices, for example, are as much a part of daily life in India as is shampooing your hair in the United States. There are millions of elders in India who have had a massage or have massaged themselves since the day they were born. Imagine being 80 years old and having had a massage every day of your life – that comes to nearly 30,000 massages! This is commonplace in India.
Not only have these practices been time-tested and proven throughout the ages, they were also developed based on principles that have only recently come into vogue in the West. Thousands of years ago the entire system of health care called Ayurveda evolved around the premise that mind, body, and spirit were one. Rather than thinking of them separately as we do in the West, Ayurveda has been treating them holistically, and Ayurvedic massage is just one element of the fabric that directly addresses the inseparable nature of mind, body, and spirit.
While I will elucidate the many pathways and mechanisms through which Ayurvedic massage attains these results, remember that Ayurveda has been practiced for thousands of years as one fabric – not three. As a result, experiencing the Ayurvedic massage techniques produces an integration of mind, body, and spirit unknown to most Westerners. I have been administering these treatments since 1986 and hear patients say every day that they have never felt so calm, gone so deep, been so still, or sensed such rejuvenation as when they finished an Ayurvedic massage.
This is the first time, to my knowledge, that these extremely detailed and coveted Ayurvedic massage descriptions have been published in such explicit detail. This encyclopedia is designed for massage or spa therapists and interested health care practitioners to instruct them in (not merely introduce them to) the world of Ayurvedic treatments. While each therapy is described step by step, with accompanying photographs, the information in this volume can never take the place of direct, hands-on, supervised instruction. At LifeSpa, we used this encyclopedia as our training manual for certifying practitioners in Ayurvedic massage.
I feel very honored to be able to present this therapeutic system in its fullness to the reader and have done so in the hopes of protecting the integrity of this very precious knowledge. These techniques were passed down from father to son for thousands of years, never leaving the trust of the family or tribe. I have been fortunate to have been privy to this knowledge for the past eighteen years. While Ayurveda is becoming more popular in the West, particularly in the spa and massage industries, I feel it is important that practitioners in these fields have an authentic body of knowledge to work from. These treatments as I describe them have a precise effect that will or will not be realized based on the intention and consciousness with which the therapies are offered. To ensure that these therapies last another 5000 years it is important that we in the West offer the treatments in the name of Ayurveda in the authentic nature in which they were passed on to us. Please use these Ayurvedic massage therapies with the gratitude and respect that a 5000-year-old tradition deserves. It is that tradition that has made this encyclopedia possible.
Editorial Reviews
“With great clarity and precision, Dr. John Douillard has provided a detailed guidebook to the profound system of Ayurvedic massage, bringing this ancient method of yogic healing into practical focus for everyone to use in its many different forms. All those seriously interested in Ayurveda or in bodywork can benefit from this monumental work, which represents an important new dimension of Ayurvedic healing now available in the West.” – Dr. David Frawley, Ayurvedacharya, Director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies, author of Yoga and Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Healing
“It is with open arms that I welcome such a detailed yet comprehensive reference guide for massage and spa therapists. John Douillard has laid a wonderful foundation in his Encyclopedia, for the principles behind Ayurvedic massage and the emerging Ayurvedic spa treatments that are derived from ancient healing practices.” – Tara Grodjesk, Founder of TARA Spa Therapy, Inc.
“Dr. Douillard offers a straightforward and very practical guide to implementing traditional Ayurvedic therapies into a spa menu. His honest style of presentation, which comes from deep in the heart, should help us realize the profound benefits of these treatments. May this work become standard in quality spas throughout the world.” – Melanie Sachs, Dip OT, Ayurvedic Spa Educator and Lifestyle Counselor, author of Ayurvedic Beauty Care
“Dr. John Douillard has taken details from the various Ayurvedic traditions in which he has trained and synthesized them into techniques that are well fitted to today’s world—ever retaining Ayurveda’s focus on healing mind and spirit as well as body. The Encyclopedia of Ayurvedic Massage is a worthy successor to Dr. Douillard’s previous books and a valuable incarnation of Ayurveda’s ancient wisdom in modern words.” – Robert Svoboda, Ayurvedacharya
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