Month: May 2015

Sweat Treatments (Swedana)

Sweating leads the doshas to fluidity, making it easier for it to flow out of the system. It opens up the pores and rids the body of impurities through the sweat glands.

There are two principal ways of inducing the sweat.

• External application of heat or retention of body heat such as by exercise, use of heavy clothes, or blankets, fasting, use of alcohol etc.

• Active heating done within a well heated chamber, medicated steam, sauna, hot water bottle, sunbathing, exposure to fire (or use of an infra red lamp), plasters of hot substances such as mustard, hot baths, or showers (especially with medicated oil or water), and hot packs.

Plants such as castor root, pnarnava, barley, sesame, kulttha, black gram, jujube and the drumstick plant all encourage the body to sweat more easily. However, this therapeutic sweating should not be used on persons who are pregnant, persons with bleeding disorders, who have used alcohol recently, persons who are very fat or very thin, persons with diarrhoea, jaundice, anaemia.

Patients suffering from fainting, dizziness, nausea, fever and similar ailments should not undergo the sweat therapy.

Benefits

• The steam bath improves peripheral circulation. This in turn reduces high blood pressure.

• It also helps the absorption of medicinal particles present in the herbal oil and augments the elimination of impurities in the system through excretory and secretory outlets such as sweat glands, kidney and liver.

• Besides, the medicine used for herbal steam bath will help to reduce stiffness, pain and swelling.

• Due to the elimination of excess water from the body, the person experiences lightness.

Ayurvedic Massage

In India there are various systems of massage in practice along with the Ayurvedic treatments. One of the most advanced and sophisticated systems is the Kerala massage and Marma therapy. This system of massage is a sister discipline of one of the most ancient schools of martial art known as “Kalaripayattu.” Researchers are of the view that this fighting art is even older to the Shaolin Temple traditions.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: What is Kerala Massage Therapy?

Self-massage can be done on a daily basis by almost anyone, in order to maintain good health and practise on-going prevention. The massage should be done with the oil that is appropriate for one’s constitution.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: Do It Yourself Ayurvedic Massage

The renowned Ayurvedic scholars of Kerala have developed specialised forms of therapies, which have excellent clinical effects. Some of these therapies are known as Sekam (pizhichil), Kizhi, Dhara, Sirovasthi, Sirolepam, Pitchu, Thalam, etc. A whole lot of new forms have also made their appearance in the recent years, some of them invented by the new generation of practitioners and entrepreneurs. Some traditional names have also undergone a change to suit the current population and have been designed to appeal to the foreign tourists.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: Specialised Forms of Ayurveda Therapy

What are Trigger Points? Trigger Point (Myofascial)

• A trigger point is an area of hyper-irritability, within soft tissue structures characterized by local tenderness and sometimes referred phenomena. These referred sensations can include pain, tingling, numbness, burning or itching.
• Not all trigger points refer pain, some are just localized. Each person is different depending on his or her life history.
• Localized areas of deep tenderness and increased tissue resistance that often produce referred pain.
• The origin of the trigger point is thought to be changes in the chemical balance in a local area, irritating the sensory systems.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: Trigger Point Massage Therapy

SWEDISH MASSAGE

A Swedish gymnast, Per Henrik Ling, originally developed Swedish massage in the late 19th century. He developed a method of massage and gymnastics known as Swedish Movement Treatment or Swedish massage. This was the first systematic application of therapeutic massage in the West. It was based on European folk massage, oriental techniques from the Middle East and the then emerging knowledge of modern anatomy and physiology.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: Basic Techniques of Swedish Massage

The traditional oriental view of health is quite different from the modern, technological medicine in the West. In Eastern philosophy, illness is placed in the context of a holistic approach to life, and in particular the concept of an energy-based system, from the idea of a universal energy, or the highest level of spirituality, down to the lowest forms of life, much of Eastern ideology is an energetic one, with all parts of the human body interconnected and infused with a vital energy, and all life-forms similarly interdependent on an exchange of energies.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: The Oriental Massage Techniques

Guidelines for Giving Deep Tissue Massage

Be in communication with the person. Find out, what areas need to be addressed and how the person feels to start with. Is there pain, tightness, numbness or tingling anywhere?

Continue reading Massage Therapy: Guidelines for Giving and Recieving Deep Tissue Massage

Shiatsu is a Japanese word made up of two written characters meaning finger (shi) and pressure (atsu). The word Shiatsu literally means “finger pressure”. It is a traditional Japanese healing art and a form of physical manipulation. But it is very different from most forms of massages practised in the West, since there is no kneading, friction, or smooth flowing strokes. Instead, pressure and stretching are used almost exclusively. The practitioner uses the palms, fingers, thumbs, knuckles, elbows, knees, and even the feet to work on the hundreds of ‘tusbos’, or acupuncture points, along the body’s meridians or energy channels.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: Japanese Massage – Shiatsu

There are some basic rules that should be followed before the practice of Shiatsu.

Wear comfortable, loose fitting clothes made of natural fibres. This will help with the flow of energy or Qi. The room should be warm, quiet,, have adequate space and be neat and clean. If not, this can have an adverse effect on the flow of Qi.

Continue reading Massage Therapy: Basic Rules When Practising Shiatsu