Week 52 - learning an Indian head massage course

So quite clearly I'm ecstatic.  The end of this challenge has come and I couldn't be more relieved.  However, I don't want to detract from this final week of learning so I've decided I will do one more final post next week, summing up the entire year with a top ten and my final thoughts.  

In the meantime week 52 was a lovely, relaxing way to end my project, although, I have to say it was a lot more relaxing for my friend Nicole than it was for me.  My final foray into endless learning was a course in Indian head massage.  Fortunately for Nicole I had to take someone with me to practise on and learn all the techniques.  

Massage was one of those things I had on my list at the beginning, I knew I wanted to do some sort of course as I've always had very strong hands and am fairly intuitive with massaging other people.  I'm also obsessed with having them myself so feel like I know what works and what doesn't.  An Indian head massage course was perfect as you can do it in a day and you don't have to deal with massage tables, oils and all the undressing kerfuffle.  Its just nice and easy.

I did the course with London Therapists at the home of the owner, Claire Mendelsohn.  She was very  warm and welcoming to both myself and Nicole and set us up in her teaching room where the beautiful sunshine poured in.  She told us briefly about the history of Indian head massage, the benefits of it and how it has been practised for over 1000 years.  In India everyone learns about massage; babies are given them daily from birth until they are three years old and weekly after that.  It is an integral part of life and Indian head massage in particular springs from a rich tradition of family grooming. Originally, it was developed by women using different oils on their hair to keep it strong and lustrous.  These days, barbers use some of the same techniques with their male clients and also tend to offer them "champi" (head massage) as part of the treatment.  The word "shampoo" actually comes from this Hindi word meaning "massage of the head".

We then got straight into it.  Nicole made herself comfortable and Claire took me through everything.  She would demonstrate a few moves and then I would copy, with Claire making sure I did each one absolutely correctly.  There are three stages of an Indian head massage. The first stage is working on the neck and shoulders with nine different steps, each one being repeated three times and on both the right and left side of the spine.

                                        

Its funny, whenever I have given a friend a massage in the past, I've used loads of pressure and just done what I've felt comfortable with, most likely doing things that I know I like.  But, here, even though I know Nicole likes quite a lot of pressure, I did feel a little nervous and slightly tentative with each stage.  I'm sure it was just because I wanted to perfect and understand the proper positioning of my hands with each move, before using all my strength.  Each move has a particular placement of the hands and all relate to the meridian theory which is that energy circulates and nourishes a person through specific pathways (or meridians).  So these movements trace the meridians of the head and face, which help balance the body's systems and strengthens the flow of energy around the body. 

The second stage of the massage concentrates on the scalp and this is the stage where several of the techniques might be used when you go to the hairdressers.  I think I'm probably in the minority when I say how much I hate going to get my hair done.  Its utterly boring for me sitting there for so long having my hair mangled with, I don't enjoy the sitting around doing nothing, but I do enjoy having my hair washed with the expectation that a massage comes with it.  More often than not its disappointing but just sometimes, its a delight.  Anyway, I tapped, scrunched, brushed, rubbed and plucked at Nicole's scalp and then moved onto the final stage of the massage; the face.  This part was the easiest in terms of technique and knowing instinctively how much pressure to apply.  

After going through each stage step by step, Claire sat back and allowed me to give Nicole the entire massage from beginning to end.  She even put on some delightfully generic "massage music" and I put on my delightfully generic "softly spoken therapist" voice and asked Nicole to sit back, relax and take a few deep breaths.  I used the notes only briefly to remind me of the next step, but I remembered every single stage, all the right hand placements and techniques, with just a few pauses and corrections as I went.  The whole thing takes around 20 minutes.  Nicole seemed elated by the end, having essentially had the massage three times and was very relaxed.  Job done, excellent reaction.  

Obviously in a way, I would have liked to have been where Nicole was sitting and am also devastated that I can't practise on myself.  However, I think its a really nice thing to be able to give someone and I love that I've learnt the proper way to give someone a decent and authentic massage. I feel like its a bit of a gift.  I also think its a great thing to have up my sleeve for bribes.  Ha! Shall we say £20? Start queuing up people.