28/10/2021
Massage? I've been living and breathing it for the last 20+ years.
I began training in Tuina Massage in 1999, which gave me a broad understanding of body mechanics and whole range of manual techniques.
In 2003 I started to study Traditional Thai Massage. I fell in love with this style because it closely mirrored the slow and connected pace I had known in my Tai Chi and Contact-Improv Dance practices. Thai Massage feels like a sort of dance, where space and touch lead the movements. At around 2006 I started to switch my focus to Ayurvedic Massages, with its profuse use of oils and flowing strokes. This really peaked later at around 2011 when I began to work at Ashoka, an Ayurvedic Panchakarma Retreat Centre, where I was exposed to the whole gamut of Ayurvedic body treatments, which include not only medicated oils but also, massages with powdered seeds and roots (Udvartana), or with herbal poultices (Pinda Swedana). In 2017 I was initiated in Kalari Massage, a more sports orientated set of healing practices which spring from Kalaripayattu, the South Indian martial art.
