Massage Therapy in Nepal

Nepal was absolutely wonderful. It is hard to explain how one of the poorest countries in the world holds so much beauty. Trekking in the Himalayas was beautiful beyond compare. Also, after sampling some of the healing arts, I am now thoroughly impressed by the quality of care available there. I admit there are way too many massage hacks working the tourist trade, but with careful interviewing and selecting I found 4 practitioners of particular skill.

One in particular, Jelly Rai from Pokhara, had some special abilities. On the day I saw her, I had come down with a fever that made everything painful and difficult. Every muscle on my body was sore. My head was cloudy. I had no energy at all. I saw her only hoping for a massage, but as soon as she started working on me I felt comforted. At about the half hour mark of the treatment I literally felt the fog of the fever lift from me like a veil. It was instantaneous. I had never felt anything so powerful and quick like that before. Instant healing? As a trained massage therapist, it is almost my duty to be skeptical. I followed a week long series of treatments and training sessions with her and found that her technical skills are nothing special. She does have a good intuition at treating, but for the most part, she uses very simple techniques and a lot of repetition. She used an Indian ayurvedic cream called MOOV which I purchased to try on my clients. I previously only used special homeopathic creams for clients that were in acute pain. And I only used the creams after a session to help them get through the rest of the day, but I am curious about how effective these creams can be during a session. The most important thing about Jelly was that she prayed. In what was once the only Hindu country in the world, Jelly is unique in that she converted to Christianity. She has a very strong faith and would pray during the session. She would pray for the client’s well being. She would pray for healing a particular ailment. I found it surprising, but I shouldn’t really. There are so many different kinds of Reiki, Traditional Chinese Medicine, energy channels, chakra healing, crystal healing and other types of energy healing out there. How are they any different than any of the world’s ancient religions? How is a therapist praying for your healing any different than a therapist trying to remove energy blockages? I will not say if any of this does or does not work, but I can tell you that myself and my travelling companion all had similar results and experiences under her care. I find myself inspired.

Another look at approaches that have profound effects takes us to the barber shop.  The barber shop in Nepal is a real institution.  It is surprising just how precise these people are with an electric or straight razor.  Each superb haircut is followed up by a head, face, neck and shoulder massage.  I found the experience nice but rather uncomfortable because of the unergonomic position I was in.  (Yes, being a massage therapist can make you a very picky massage client)  Nevertheless, all critiques ended the minute the barber started pummelling my head.  I have had tapotement on my head before in China and Thailand, but at the barber shop it was relentless.  Hands curled into a loose fist repeatedly knocking me on either parietal plate (top sides of the skull).  Within seconds I had literally turned to butter.  By the end of the session, I couldn’t talk anymore.  I tried it on a friend later and it had the exact same effect.  Instant stress and tension relief.  And of course, I will be using it on my clients in the very near future.