Balinese Massage

Balinese Massage is one of the traditional Indonesian massages and is gaining more and more popularity as a massage treatment in the West. In Bali a treatment can often take up to two hours and often comprises of a full body massage, a body scrub followed by a flower bath and finishing off with a sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi. It is easy to include the Balinese massage in Western spas. Although the massage is thorough and deep in Bali, in the West we can adapt it to a more pampering massage helped with the use of essential oils. This makes it a wonderful treatment to give for any massage therapist, concentrating on some of the more therapeutic aspects of the treatment. What would we like to achieve with Balinese Massage? As with any massage, the main goal of the Balinese massage is achieving a relaxed state of mind and a relaxed physical body. The Balinese believe that in order to have true relaxation there must be a good flow of blood and oxygen throughout your system. It is believed that when the blood and oxygen are flowing freely then the qi, or energy, will flow freely too. Mental relaxation is only one of the goals of Balinese massage. The massage is also designed to deeply relax tense muscle tissue. Ideally, the Balinese massage will work every muscle in your body. The massage style employs a variety of techniques to do that, including acupressure points, palm pressure and gentle stretching, as well as standard massage techniques like sliding, hacking and kneading. This massage is not a delicate one, you can definitely feel it deep in your muscles. Oils used are: cajeput, rosemary, black pepper, eucalyptus, camphor and ginger. It is this balance of massage, acupressure and reflexology that allows the Balinese massage to bring a release to deeply tense and knotted muscles. The massage works especially well on aching joints and muscle strains. In fact, sports injuries are often treated with a Balinese massage. Since Balinese massage works the muscle tissue at such a deep level, it is often compared to Ayurveda or the Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage. During the day, students will learn how to give a full body Balinese massage incorporating, standard massage techniques with Thai massage techniques, acupressure, aromatherapy and stretches.