Oriental Massage Therapy

The term Oriental massage is used to describe any type of massage that originates in Asia. These forms of therapy though different in approach often share a similar philosophy.

In many Eastern societies, it is believed that an energy force flows through your body. In China, this force is called qi (chi). In Japan and Korea, it's called ki. In India, it's called prana. This energy flows through channels in the body known as meridians, sen, Nadis or energy lines.

In some traditions, there are as few as 10 energy pathways and in others as many as 200. If one of these many pathways is blocked, it causes pain and even disfunction in the body. Unblocking these pathways is the primary focus of most types of Oriental massage.

These types of massage include modalities such as, Thai massage, tuina, shiatsu, and Ayurvedic bodywork. Though these modalities have some similar objectives they go about reaching those objectives in different ways.

In Ayurvedic massage a lot of oil is used. In Thai massage the person being massaged is passively moved into various yoga-like positions. In shiatsu the therapist uses static finger pressure to unblock meridians. In tuina vigorous rubbing is preformed.

These are only a few examples of these types of massage therapy. There are many others, including:

• ashiatsu
• acupressure
• watsu
• Zero balancing
• hilot
• amma
• Balinese massage
• acupressure
• Chi nei tsang
• Hoshino therapy
• Marma therapy

Every style of therapy has it's own benefits. Try different types of bodywork to see which one suits you best.

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