Cars aren't your only possession in need of oil.
Why midlife women need oil for just about everything
I turn on the heat in my house every winter and my skin rebels. When I was younger a little moisturizer helped. Now? Alligator Skin! Thankfully I’ve learned a thing or two about Ayurveda and skin care. (I should practice more consistently than I do).
There's a reason everything gets drier during midlife – skin, hair, joints, and all those mucosal membranes from lips to vagina. Eyes, ears, nose, hands, feet – winter cold just amplifies what's already happening. And while everyone keeps preaching "hydration," Ayurveda offers a different answer: oil.
For women in midlife, this dryness is more than seasonal. These changes echo through our entire physical being, and Ayurveda's ancient wisdom holds profound insights about protection and nourishment.
Vāta in Perimenopause: Inside and Out
In Ayurveda, we understand vāta doṣa as the energy of movement, space, and air. It naturally increases in two situations we're facing simultaneously: winter's cold, dry weather and the consequence of aging as we move through perimenopause and beyond. This creates what I call the "double dryness" effect – when seasonal and hormonal changes amplify each other's impact on our tissues.
Research confirms what Ayurveda has long recognized: our skin barrier function declines significantly during perimenopause. Estrogen, which helped maintain skin hydration and collagen production, begins its gradual retreat. The skin becomes thinner, drier, more vulnerable. In Ayurveda, we understand that what happens in our outer tissue layer reflects changes in deeper tissues.
My Love Language is Oil
The Sanskrit word for oil, sneha, shares its root with the word for love. I've always found this coincidence fascinating, but that's for another day. It points to a sublime understanding of nourishment.
Traditional oil massage, abhyanga, works with this understanding. Abhyanga is the application of warm oil (traditionally sesame) with specific strokes. We're addressing surface dryness while supporting lymphatic movement and nourishing the muscles, tendons, joints, and nerve tissue beneath. We're also creating a protective barrier that allows deeper tissues to maintain their own intelligence and moisture balance. This becomes crucial as both winter and hormonal changes increase our body's tendency toward dryness and depletion.
The Art of Oil Massage - Abhyanga
In classical Ayurveda, abhyanga is likened to oiling the wheels of a chariot. Just as oil ensures smooth functioning and longevity of the chariot's parts, abhyanga nourishes the joints, skin, and tissues of the body, enabling fluidity, strength, and balance.
The application of oil during abhyanga is metaphorically seen as the merging of external nourishment (oil) with the body's internal energy (prāṇa), fostering rejuvenation and vitality.
The practice is deceivingly simple, as are most essential Ayurvedic solutions. Warm oil, mindful application, time for absorption. But within this simplicity lies profound medicine for both seasonal and hormonal transitions. Here's how to work with this practice:
Choose your oil wisely. Sesame oil, traditionally recommended for winter, becomes even more valuable during perimenopause. Its warming, nourishing properties help counter both seasonal and hormonal vāta. For sensitive or pitta-dominant constitutions, a mixture of sesame and coconut oil or sunflower oil can provide protection without overheating. If you don't have these, any healthy cooking oil will do – almond, olive, avocado. Each oil has its own properties... but that's for another day.
The massage itself becomes a ritual of protection. Long strokes on long bones, circular motions on joints. Pay special attention to your lower back, the seat of vāta. Feel how the oil creates not just moisture, but stability. Notice how your tissues respond, how they seem to drink in this liquid nourishment.
Let time be part of the medicine. Allow 10-15 minutes for the oil to penetrate before bathing or showering. During this wait, you can do stretching or cardio. Why before and not after? The wait time and exercise allows the oil to be absorbed – the more heat, the more the pores open. If you shower afterwards, the pores open even more, removing displaced impurities while allowing more oil to travel through the seven layers of skin.
Beyond Winter
While this practice feels especially relevant in winter, its benefits extend far beyond the season.
Regular oil massage builds resilience throughout menopause, strengthening tissues and supporting skin elasticity. But there's more – abhyanga is powerful immune support by strengthening the skin's role as our first line of defense.
The light lymphatic type of massage also assists the system in creating and distributing appropriate T and B Lymphocytes Cells which battle foreign microorganisms such as viruses.
While the Ayurvedic texts didn’t have the language for Lymphocytes this is it points to when they praising the benefits of regular oil application.
Unlike moisturizers which only deal with surface moisture, Ayurveda promotes deep tissue intelligence. Not just temporary relief, but lasting protection. Not just skincare, but profound self-care.
Timing Your Practice
In winter, morning abhyanga after sunrise and after internal cleansing aligns with nature's rhythms and provides stable energy for the day. You want to be warm during the abhyanga. Skip midday application when digestion is strongest. But you can do it early in the afternoon after you've digested your lunch.
Avoid a whole body evening practice after near sunset or after dark. You can however massage feet and lobes of ears with oil to improve sleep quality by calming the nervous system.
How often?
Well that depends. You can do it daily or weekly as long as you don’t stress out about it.
What's most surprising for midlife is that consistent abhyanga has a huge impact on mood and mind. There’s good reason that the saṇskrit word of "sneha" has the dual meaning of oiling and loving. Regular practice reduces anxiety, steadies racing thoughts, and helps manage those lovely perimenopausal mood swings.
Think of it as loving, protection and nourishment for both body and mind.
The Invitation
Oil is powerful medicine during winter's cold and midlife's changes. It's simple, yet transformative - strengthening our skin barrier, nourishing deeper tissues, and reminding us to pause for essential self-care. Here's another one for another day... herbalized therapeutic oils... but I digress.
Sure, we could ignore all that Ayurveda offers about oil and resilience. We could rush through our days, letting both winter and aging deplete us. But why would we? When a few minutes of warm oil and mindful touch can make such a difference? And bonus - you'll sleep better too.
I need accountability partners for my abhyanga practice this winter. Want to join me?
Drop a comment below if you're interested in a group chat about building this ritual together.
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I believe Ayurvedic wisdom, like the air we breathe and the sun that nourishes us, should flow freely. Which is why most of my teaching will be available to all. Transformation happens when knowledge is accessible.
For detailed step-by-step abyhanga instructions, see my original guide here
Thank you for this! Shuffling off to buy some sesame oil promptly!
The only thing I use on my body these days is oil. Plain kitchen oil preferably organic usually avocado, olive or sesame. If we've learned anything from HRT it's that our skin absorbs things so I try to limit what I put on my body now. I need to get into a better habit of putting the oil on before my shower instead of after. I know how important it is but I've never been very good at it. You've inspired me to give it another try. I've been super dry lately and I'm usually like this until about March. Vata in Vata season in Vata life phase.Thanks for sharing your knowledge!