Castor Oil, Bodywork and Transformation

It has proved particularly well on scars, scar tissue from injuries and places where the fascia has become stiff.

Each foot has 26 bones. In ancient times, when people were barefoot, the tissue between the bones in the foot stayed flexible because the bones were always being jostled around on the the uneven ground which forced movement to the fascia between the bones.

Today, almost everyone wears shoes, which keeps our feet in the same position for many hours at a time. Over a lifetime of wearing shoes, the tissue between the bones of the feet start to become stiff and inflexible. And because flexible feet are important for balance and are what the rest of the body stands on, that inflexibility eventually makes its way up the body.

One of my mentors advised I use castor oil packs on my feet every night for a month (*please see note at bottom of page*). Over the course of that month I noticed myself becoming more grounded and more able to "go with the flow". Places in my upper body that had tension started to let go of tension and I felt more agile. I noticed a shift my feet also shifted the muscles in my ankle and then around my knee and thigh.

This shift worked its way up the body and left me feeling a lot more comfortable in my body.

How to use Castor Oil

The most common use of castor oil is to create a pack by saturating a piece of natural flannel with warm oil and applying it to the proper body part for about 20 minutes, with plastic wrap on top of the flannel and then more warm wet heat on top of the plastic.

After 20 minutes, remove the pack and massage the area.

So, for example, if you had a torn rotator cuff from an injury several years ago, you would use the pack as instructed and then massage the area that has the scar tissue from the injury.

This pack also works on exterior scarring. After applying the pack for 20 minutes, massage the scar and stretch out the area around the scar.

In the example with my feet, I didn't have time to use a pack every night, so I would simply take a hot bath in the evening and work the castor oil into the feet afterward. Then I would put socks on and go to bed. While I don't think this approach is as effective as using a pack, it still had an enormous effect on my life.

*VERY IMPORTANT*: If you are heating castor oil on the stove top, ALWAYS keep an eye on it because it can catch fire easily. And do not let the oil get too hot because it can burn the skin. Personally, I don't think it is even necessary to heat the oil. I would rather warm the body part up by taking a shower and then apply the oil to the warmed skin.

If you are going to use castor oil on your feet, it is important do strengthening exercises for the muscles of the foot. Yoga balancing poses are a great way to strengthen the foot and the arch. I like the balancing poses from Bikram Yoga. You can check some of them out at South Pasadena's Biram Yoga website.

These pictures contain expert yogis that are very flexible, but the point is that poses that require you to stand on one leg will be good for strengthening the arch and, therefore, a wise practice to take up when you are working with castor oil.

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