Popular Eastern Massage Techniques Used in Spas

You may know the name or see them on a spa services menu, but not know what it does or what to expect. Find out if these massages appeal to you before plunking down your money. They are not the traditional rub down, but they may be just the thing to fix that ache in your back. Pain without a specific origin or without a precise nature to it may stump many Western medicine doctors if they cannot find the source of the problem on an x-ray or MRI, but these massage techniques are often helpful to these sorts of problems.

There are many massage techniques that help relax your muscles and have therapeutic benefits. Many people can benefit from massage since few people employ basic body posture techniques when standing, sitting, walking and lifting items which all leads to excessive wear and tear on the joints. Massage can also relax the mind and even helps with stress headaches. Some basic forms of massage include reiki, Thai, lymphatic, shiatsu. The intent is different but each has its own form of benefits. A massage may be a combination of these different types depending on your individual needs.

A Reiki massage is based on Tibetan practices and is done to balance your body's energy channels. You lie down fully clothed, the therapist says a silent prayer and puts her hands on or over the energy channels, starting at your head. It is possible to not be touched the entire session if your therapist is able to feel the energy coming from your body without touching you. Another words, this is not a massage that will rub that knot out of your back or soothe your calves after you have had a tough workout, but many people do report feeling heat or a release of their body in areas they feel tight. Others report feeling nothing and wonder what just happened. It does require someone sort of in tune with this sort of thing, but it is an interesting experience to try.

Another kind of massage is Thai massage which focuses on yoga like stretches to heal your body. This is good to improve your range of motion especially if you have had an injury or illness. You wear loose clothing and lie on a floor mat. The masseuse starts at your feet and works up towards your head. Both sides of your body and stretched and treated. The therapist will help you stretch while pressing your pressure points (sort of sensitive areas with multiple nerve endings or chakra cross sections depending on how you view the makeup of the body, but these points can easily get knotted or irritated and some gentle pressure with a thumb or elbow releases this tension and you are in less pain because of it.) with her thumb or elbow or palm and will rock you back and forth a bit as an alternative to her moving her hand back and forth like a traditional massage. This helps break up any tension in the pressure point.

A third kind of massage is Shiatsu massage. This is an external massage of the lymph nodes to help drain excess fluid from the tonsils, spleen and other areas that are involved in your bodies' waste removal and the delivery of nutrients. The principle is that this massage helps flush out the bad stuff and keeps the stagnant fluids moving so that your body flushes out the bad stuff, is less bloated and functions more efficiently. This can work on a bloated face after a night of heavy drinking, or on your lower stomach area when you are bloated from PMS right before your period. This is a massage that does perform a benefit to those who cannot fathom the logic behind reek and Thai massage, but you should make sure your therapist knows what they are doing by asking how much training they have in this type of massage - known as Manual Lymphatic Draining. Worth a try to see if this alleviates your horrible PMS and menstrual cramps or gets rid of water retention that just won't quit.

The final kind of massage is shiatsu. This feels closer to the standard massage you might be expecting but actually it is based on Chinese principles of balancing the chi or energy in your body. This is applying pressure along these meridians - which run the course of your body - head, neck, spine, arms and legs - moving up and down the body to help the body heal and strengthen itself. The practitioner will observe you for obvious signs of what might be causing your pain. For instance, are you carrying a large handbag on one shoulder and slumping to one side? This can hurt your back, hip, shoulder, and neck and throw off your posture - yet you can't figure out why your neck has a crick in it all the time. Where do you perceive your body carries its weight and is stressed by it? This determines where in your body your energy is "off center" and then it can be addressed. Where you are off center may not be the area in pain, it can be your feet, your hips, or how you carry something. You will be clothed (wear loose clothes) and on a table. The therapist will tap, rub, and stretch your body along the meridian lines, doing your front and back. She can often make recommendations to aleve your pain based on what she finds. Sometimes small aspects of shiatsu are applied in a more generic massage but not with the full benefit of a traditional shiatsu.