devo digest

When it comes to calming the body and relaxing the nerves, there is much to be said about asian massage approaches and how many have claimed on the effectiveness of their technique. Involving the manipulation of one’s soft tissues with the use of kneading, rolling and pressing strokes, along with possible pushing and pulling of one’s muscles, it greatly eases many of the body pains, relieves the tensions, relaxes the mind, and stimulate one’s body tone. Many indeed favor oriental approaches, especially for how much around the world have claimed to have benefited from it, yet not all are comfortable about the pressures involved as in the Korean deep-tissue massage, Tui Na and the Shiatsu, nor all the stretching characterized by the Thai massage. Among the perfect alternatives that bring in the same characteristics of asian massages that still embody the oriental concept are the fire cupping and the hot stone massage.

Fire cupping is a technique that involves flame in vacuuming out pains and tension on certain body points. Using glass cups or similar items, the suction it creates on one’s tissues as the trapped heat reacts on the confined small space inside the cup results to a force similar to having deep-tissue massage without the use of direct skin contact. The treatment being very common in Asia and is performed in different modalities in home settings, Westerners are willing to pay $60 for an hour of fire-cupping session which is definitely a lot cheaper than going to high end spas for basic body rub downs.

Hot stone massage, like fire cupping, involves the use of heat as well. However, this approach uses heated rocks to deliver the pressure the body needs while the heat gives the relaxing effect and the relief needed by tired muscles. Varying sizes of rocks may be used on certain parts of the body since larger areas would need more pressure. However, it also depends on the client’s tolerance as some rocks could get really heavy and smaller patients may require a smaller sized rock. Heated in clay or oil, a trained therapist places the rocks over special body points where the pressure is needed and allows the heat from the material to transfer onto the person’s tissues and muscles.

As both fire cupping and hot stone massage involves heat so there could be some risk involved. However, the therapies that perform such approaches in asian spas are trained and in fact, use such techniques as their way of life. Others, even, do not bother of the little bruising that usually comes with the areas involved in fire cupping or the red skin over where hot stones are placed in hot stone massage. For many, the wonderful feeling of being like a new man after every therapy is what matters most.