Niika Quistgard on Shirodhara

I just came across this lovely article on Shirodhara, and wanted to share.
Written by Niika Quistgard, founder and director of Rasa Ayurveda in the southern state of Kerala, India.

'In clinical studies, shirodhara has shown marked potential to alleviate insomnia, reduce anxiety, and diminish high blood pressure.
According to abstracts of a study published by K. Uebaba of Int. Res. Center for Traditional Medicine of Toyoma Prefecture, Toyama, Japan in Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine. “Physiological changes during shirodhara have been shown to  similar to those of meditation, including α-wave dominance in the frontal area and a decrease in heart rate and CO2 excretion. These findings indicated a change in the function of the frontal lobe, limbic system, brain stem, and autonomic nervous system.'

This has been my experience with shirodhara. It seems to bring the mind and nervous system into a state similar to meditation. And if we've been overstimulating ourselves with media, caffeine, loud music and non-stop computer use, we can certainly benefit from some meditation or shirodhara.

Traditionally, Shirodhara has been applied to treat insomnia, memory loss, headaches, mental tension (anxiety, worry, stress), ADD, TMJ, exhaustion, emotional imbalance, various disorders of the head, neck, eyes, ears, nose and nervous system, and certain skin diseases.

It's one super treatment that benefits a range of health issues.

Click here for Niika's full article.