The benefits of oiling your belly button are countless with its prevalence in Ayurveda and Western Medicine!
Something we have seen since childhood is how our parents and grandparents used to massage oil on the body. And, of course, there was good reason for it. It is believed that oiling your body with certain essential oils could have therapeutic benefits. It is especially believed that oiling certain body parts, like the navel, can benefit your overall well-being, which we will explore in this article.
Oiling Your Belly Button and Ayurveda
In Ayurveda, it is believed that the navel is where our life starts since it acts as a bridge between the mother and her baby as the fetus develops inside her womb. Most importantly, the navel is the linking chamber and home to several important veins and blood vessels extending to different organs within our body. Besides that, the navel is also considered to be the center of balance where a lot of powerful energy is stored, making it the source of life and vitality.
For ages, applying oil on and near the belly button in a process for navel therapy or naval oiling has been a prevalent practice in Ayurveda. Navel therapy, or the Pechoti method, is the ancient practice of detoxifying, known in Sanskrit as “nabhi chikitsa.” To elaborate, it is via the pechoti gland located inside the navel through which essential oils are absorbed.
Benefits of Oiling Your Belly Button
1. Keeps the Belly Button Clean
We are always diligent about keeping our bodies clean, but one area that we might accidentally overlook is the belly button. As mentioned above, the navel is a crucial part of your body that you need to keep clean. But instead of scrubbing such a delicate area with soap and water, you could try navel therapy.
Use cotton dipped in oils such as sunflower, grape seed, or jojoba oil to dab around your navel area to keep it soft, supple, and clean.
2. Reduces the Chances of Daily Infection Occurring
Following up on the previous point, it is necessary to keep your navel clean and supple because otherwise, it becomes the ideal place for parasites like bacteria and fungi to breed and multiply. Consequently, this causes infections, which can even spread to other parts of your body.
Some essential oils like coconut oil and tea tree oil, known for their antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, and mustard oil, renowned for its antibacterial properties, can help contain and kill infections. You could apply any of these oils to your belly button twice a day.
3. Can help relieve an upset stomach
We are often affected by digestive issues such as stomach aches, nausea, bloating, constipation, or gas. One of the main benefits of oiling the belly button is that it can help alleviate such symptoms and help improve your gut health. Using essential oils like ginger and peppermint oil with a carrier oil such as coconut oil can help achieve amazing results regarding bloating and constipation as oiling your belly button can stimulate the digestive system for the better.
Besides that, there are several benefits of applying castor oil on your belly button, among others. The aforementioned coconut oil and even olive oil can help your digestive issues as well.
4. Can help reduce abdominal and menstrual pain
Besides the digestive issues mentioned in the previous point, abdominal pains can occur for several other reasons, one of the most pressing of them being menstrual cramps. Since the navel is at the center of the body, oiling your belly button stimulates blood flow to the abdominal area, thus promoting healing and relieving pain.
If you have been diagnosed with endometriosis, you can follow the simple tip of oiling your belly button with warm castor oil. Thus, all you need during your periods is some warm castor oil and a hot water bottle to deal with any painful symptoms.
5. Boots up immunity
Yet another benefit that you can get from oiling your belly button is that it can help boost your immunity. This is not just because the essential oils you would be using would have anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory properties and others.
The navel is home to the most important veins and arteries connecting different organ systems in your body, and massaging this area would improve circulation, thus kickstarting your immune system. Oils such as tea tree oil and neem oil are particularly effective in boosting immunity.
6. Align the chakras inside the body
As believed in Ayurveda, the navel is not just the center of the body but also the center of powerful energy. Thus, balancing the Navel Chakra by massaging oil onto your belly button can help balance your energy and improve your creative energy in all different spheres of life, especially if you use grapeseed oil.
You could also choose to use rosewood, sandalwood and other such essential oils while keeping in mind their concentration, as too much can irritate your skin.
7. Can help relieve joint pains and aches
Massaging certain oils on your belly button, an age-old remedy derived from traditional medicine like Ayurveda, can also provide relief from joint pains and aches. As you already know, oiling your belly button improves circulation, especially through veins and arteries to your joints.
This is why massaging certain oils like eucalyptus or peppermint oil helps reduce joint aches and inflammation. Of course, oiling your belly button with castor oil also has therapeutic benefits for joint pain.
8. Improves skin health
Massaging oil onto your belly button can improve circulation through blood vessels, providing essential nutrients, and help improve your skin health. It can also help with the appearance of the skin by helping prevent skin disorders like eczema, acne, and psoriasis.
Go for a mixture of neem oil and coconut oil, and put a few drops of this concoction on your belly button for 10 minutes each day. You can see the difference for yourself!
9. Can help with face pigmentation
Got an important event coming up and pimple and acne also make an appearance? That’s so not a good combination! But there are ways that you can prevent these unwanted guests from popping up on important days. The first way is to massage a few drops of neem oil on your belly button to bid farewell to pimples and acne.
Another thing you can try is to massage a mix of lemon oil and almond oil onto your belly button, leave it on for 15 minutes, and repeat every day till you see a difference.
10. Insomnia
Massaging the belly button with oil can stimulate the production of hormones that aid in promoting relaxation as well as restful sleep.
Go for essential oils with fragrances and compounds that can help put your body to rest and rejuvenate, thus helping you in case of insomnia.